Vocabulary Teaching Techniques in an Omani Government School

Abstract

Vocabulary teaching has been the subject of much discussion among the community of English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in government schools in Oman. It is considered to be one of the causes of the general weakness of students' levels of proficiency in English. This encouraged me to find out the answers to two basic questions: What are the vocabulary teaching techniques which a selected sample of ESL teachers in AbdulRahman bin Auff for Basic Education School, an Omani government school, use in their classrooms? Do the techniques that they use in their classrooms reflect the various methods of teaching vocabulary discussed in the recent literature on vocabulary instruction? In order to answer these questions, I conducted a qualitative case study in which I collected data through interviews, observations, and follow-up interviews. The participants in the qualitative case study were six EFL teachers who have different experiences and teach different grade levels. I based the analysis of the collected data on the constant comparison method of analysis in order to establish semantic themes or categories. The study shed light on the role that methods of vocabulary instruction play in explaining the general weakness of EFL learners' English language competence in AbdulRahman bin Auff School.