IMPACT OF LEARNING TASKS ON RETENTION OF VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE IN PERSIAN EFL LEARNERS

ONE OF THE DIMENSIONS BY WHICH L 2 LEARNERS' LEXICAL KNOWLEDGE HAS BEEN INVESTIGATED IS THE RECEPTIVE VS. PRODUCTIVE DISTINCTION. THIS PAPER INVESTIGATED DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE TASKS ON RETENTION OF VOCABULARY. TO ACHIEVE THIS END, A QUICK OXFORD PLACEMENT TEST (OPT) WAS ADMINISTERED TO THE JUNIOR STUDENTS POPULATION STUDYING ENGLISH TEACHING AT ESFAHAN UNIVERSITY. BASED ON THEIR OPT SCORES, THREE INTERMEDIATE CLASSES WERE RANDOMLY GROUPED AS RECEPTIVE, PRODUCTIVE, AND CONTROL GROUPS. FIFTEEN TARGET WORDS WERE EXPLICITLY TAUGHT AND PRACTICED WITH RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE TASKS. THE GROUPS WERE TESTED ON RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE TESTS BEFORE, IMMEDIATELY AFTER, AND FOUR WEEKS AFTER THE APPLICATION OF WORDS. THE RESULTS WITHIN GROUPS REVEALED THAT ALL GROUPS SHOWED A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN THEIR SCORES BOTH IN RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE PARTS FROM PRE TEST TO POST TESTS. WITH REGARD TO RECEPTIVE TESTS, NO SIGNIFICANT DECREASE WAS OBSERVED IN TASK GROUPS FROM IMMEDIATE TO DELAYED POST TEST. IN THE PRODUCTIVE TESTS, ON THE OTHER HAND, ALTHOUGH RECEPTIVE TASK GROUP WAS ABLE TO RETAIN ITS GAINS FROM IMMEDIATE TO DELAYED POST TEST, THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DECREASE IN THE OTHER GROUPS OVER TIME. THE PRESENT STUDY ALSO EXAMINED THE RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE BETWEEN GROUPS TO FIND OUT WHETHER THERE WAS A SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE IN STUDENTS' RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY GAINS AMONG THE GROUPS. BOTH IN THE RECEPTIVE AND PRODUCTIVE TESTS, THE GROUPS RECEIVING TASKS SIGNIFICANTLY OUTPERFORMED THE CONTROL GROUP. HOWEVER, THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE GROUPS WHICH RECEIVED DIFFERENT TASKS, WHICH MAY SHOW THAT NONE OF THE TASKS (RECEPTIVE, PRODUCTIVE) WAS BETTER THAN THE OTHER TO INCREASE RECEPTIVE OR PRODUCTIVE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE.