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Application of social network in traditional sciences education on the vocabulary acquisition of secondary English learner students

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Abstract

Learning vocabulary is probably the most challenging and time-consuming part of learning a foreign language. Researchers argue that social media could affect learners’ vocabulary acquisition. It is hypothesized that teaching science concepts could accompany vocabulary acquisition. We investigated the possible role of social networks (i.e. Telegram) in the improvement of vocabulary knowledge among undergraduate students from the Iranian University of Medical Sciences during September and October 2017. We conducted a quasi-experimental controlled before-after study and allocated female students to intervention and comparison groups at their academic major level (32 public health students as intervention, vs. 29 subject from nutritional sciences as a comparison). The intervention and comparison groups attended 6 lectures. The learners in the intervention group received additional video and text material through Telegram on a weekly basis and we had an open discussion regarding the important word and concepts. Students in both conditions were given a pretest at the beginning and a posttest at the end to measure growth in vocabulary acquisition. We used a linear regression model, adjusted for concept score, pre-test vocabulary score, lecture attended, education and marital status with pretest scores serving as a covariate. We have investigated 61 subjects, where, 32 participated in the Telegram group discussion related to the science concept. Six standard educational videos delivered through a filmed lecture distributed among the intervention group, each of which was approximately 500 words (ranging from 450 to 707) long. We have observed significant improvement in the vocabulary score of participant in intervention (before = 34.37 vs after = 46.03) and comparison groups (before = 32.79 vs after = 36.31). However, the intervention group significantly outperformed the comparison group, P < 0.05). the current study showed that online collaborative learning (i.e. using Telegram), as an assistance tool in education, can increase the communication between teaching faculty and students in such a way that resulted in significant improvement in the vocabulary score of SLL.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Notes

  1. Tier two consists of high frequency words that occur across a variety of domains

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Acknowledgments

Current study was parts of a research project titled “Evaluating the effectiveness of social network on public health and epidemiology concept and vocabulary acquisition among Public Health and Nutritional Sciences in Ahvaz Jundishapur University”. We acknowledge the students participated in this study. The study approved by the Ethical Committee, Deputy of Research and Development, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (IR.AJUMS.REC.1396.921).

Funding

The study supported by grants from Educational Development Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences (U-96151), and National Center for Strategic Research in Medical Education (960549).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of English, Bushehr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Bushehr, Iran

    Hossein Saadabadi Motlagh

  2. Department of English, Modern College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra, India

    Halimeh Khafaie

  3. Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ali Asghar Arastoo, Maria Cheraghi & Morteza Abdullatif Khafaie

  4. Educational Development Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Golestan St., Ahvaz, Khuzestan, 15794-61357, Iran

    Morteza Abdullatif Khafaie

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Contributions

H.K, H.S.M and M.A.K., researched, wrote, discussed and edited the manuscript. A.A.A and M.C contributed to the discussion and edited the manuscript. M.A.K is the guarantor of this work and, as such, had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

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Correspondence to Morteza Abdullatif Khafaie.

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Motlagh, H.S., Khafaie, H., Arastoo, A.A. et al. Application of social network in traditional sciences education on the vocabulary acquisition of secondary English learner students. Educ Inf Technol 25, 3071–3085 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-020-10108-4

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