Discourse-based teaching of EFL vocabulary for Yemeni undergraduate students: Teachers' perceptions

Abstract

This study aims at investigating teachers' perceptions about the use of discourse-oriented approach in teaching EFL vocabulary at two Yemeni universities. It examines teachers' perceptions about the efficiency of using discourse-based teaching of EFL vocabulary. It also surveys the challenges of implementing this approach as perceived by Yemeni EFL teachers at the tertiary level. A teachers' questionnaire of a structured format was designed to collect data on both efficiency and challenges of implementing such an approach. It was distributed among forty (n=40) EFL teachers of English in the two Yemeni universities, following the convenience sampling procedure. A quantitative approach was adopted for analyzing the data where mean scores and standard deviations were calculated by using SPSS software (version 20). The results revealed that teachers hold positive perceptions towards the efficiency of discourse-based teaching of EFL vocabulary to a great extent with a high mean score (M = 2.64). It was also perceived that the implementation of such an approach is surrounded by challenges that are related to the teachers, the students, the materials and the teaching setting. It was perceived that discourse-based instruction of EFL vocabulary at the tertiary level in the Yemeni context is challenging to a great extent with a high mean score (M = 2.45). Based on the results, recommendations related to using such an approach along with the requirements to cope with the challenges were provided.