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What are the college students’ perspectives towards the use of synonyms for learning english as a foreign language?

Abstract:

This work presents the perspectives of students regarding the use of synonyms for learning of English as a foreign language. This work was developed by using a case study as a methodological design. The participants of the study were 23 students enrolled in the Technical English I course from the Business Administration career and the International Business career of Universidad Técnica de Machala. The information was collected from direct observations conducted during the academic period of May-September 2017 and from two focus group discussions at the end of the semester. Thirteen participants were interviewed in the focus group, 13 students from the International Commerce career and 10 from the Business Administration career. For the focus groups, a questionnaire of three questions was applied which was previously validated by experts and aimed at exploring how the use of synonyms has helped the students learn English, its disadvantages, and which skills benefitted from the use of synonyms during the semester. The results of the study indicated that the students experienced an increase in vocabulary and improved their vocabulary comprehension. Synonym learning also helped them improve reading comprehension and writing skills. On the other hand, the students expressed that among the disadvantages of this technique, there are limitations related to the appropriate search of synonyms because of its multiple meanings. Similarly, another obstacle is the lack of vocabulary knowledge by learners which leads to employing too much time to find the synonym of a new term. Per the number of answers from students, the results reveal that the majority of participants consider that the use of synonyms brought more benefits than disadvantages to the learning of English language. In this way, it is concluded that the results of the present study confirm that the use of synonyms contributes positively to the learning of English as a foreign language. Hwever, it is necessary to consider factors that can condition its effectiveness such as the variety of multiplemeaning words and the proficiency level of students.