INTRICACIES IN VOCABULARY INTAKE FOR EFL ADULT LEARNERS
Abstract
Vocabulary is the key linguistic item besides sound-pattern and syntactic rules (Hudson, 1996) serving notable tasks in language learning. For English as a foreign language learners (EFLLs), especially adults, vocabulary has become an intimidating notion that reflects in their reluctant behaviour when learning this language. This investigation intended to seek the individual processing factors that lead adult EFLLs to such discontented condition. Undertaking the study within the extent of qualitative case study, there were 26 adult EFLLs–non-English department students and lecturers aged above 25–to answer a questionaire set concerning the difficulties they have in English vocabulary intake. The result indicates that majority of the respondents (20 respondents) have problems with idioms, and the second major problem is the problems with synforms–the look-alike words or phrases–which is faced by 19 respodents. This interprets that most adult EFLLs in Aceh are still complying with fundamental topics in foreign language learning on the regular basis. Conclusively, knowing the factors emphasize the case of word meaning, the finding might gently suggest that English instructors for adult EFLLs can magnify more teaching approaches that leads to word-meaning preservation.
Keywords
vocabulary intake, EFL learners, adult learners, adult literacy, vocabulary retention