LIMITATION OF THE RESEARCH AND SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES...

3. Limitation of the research and some suggestions for further studies

Without some extraneous limitations, the result of the study will be more reliable. First of

all, as each vocabulary lesson lasted only 45 minutes, the effects of the two teaching

methods may not be very significant. Second, the sample size was not big enough and the

subjects’ English language proficiency was low in general. Had the subjects been more

able students with higher English proficiency level, the study may have yielded different

results. Third, the effectiveness of using the target language to present vocabulary, as

Krashen (1988) emphasizes, depends heavily on whether the teacher is skillful enough to

present explanations in the target language so that the students understand.

More importantly, it should be noted that the subjects in this study have different

background and different learning style. It is impossible to find out a single method good

for all students. Different students may prefer different learning approaches. Further

research regarding vocabulary learning can focus on investigating the relationship between

learners’ style and different vocabulary learning methods.

For example, is the explicit vocabulary presentation method better for low-achievers? Is

the implicit vocabulary learning method better for autonomous learners? Moreover, this

study does suggest that the detailed study of how effective the explicit and implicit

vocabulary teaching methods are in VTVC context in terms of learners’ vocabulary

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growth, and how they can be used in complementary ways, is a promising line of inquiry

for investigating vocabulary acquisition.