The Impact of Images in Enhancing the ESL Vocabulary Breadth of Malaysian Year 4 Students

Abstract

The role of ESL vocabulary plays in language competence and literacy development is increasingly prevalent in language acquisition studies, especially so within the domain of second language acquisition research. In Malaysia, generally, the young learners face difficulties in their learning is due to their scarce vocabulary knowledge. This quasi-experimental study scrutinizes how the employment of images in Malaysian primary school level ESL classrooms via the adapted Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM) effects on students’ ESL vocabulary breadth development. Both the experimental group (n=35) and control group (n=35) consisted of Malaysian national primary school Year 4 pupils. The vocabulary recall and retention of the two intact groups were collated. The data of the two groups were collected from pre-tests, post-tests, and delayed post-tests. These collected data were statistically analysed and assessed. The analysis shown that the Experimental group demonstrated higher recall and retention implying the efficacy of PWIM in enhancing the ESL vocabulary breadth knowledge recall and retention among Malaysian young learners. This study and its findings are of significance to shed light on the development of the ESL vocabulary research. Besides, there is a dearth of thorough study pertinent to the use of images for language learning, especially for the Malaysian primary level 2.