O uso da atividade de contar histórias como recurso na retenção de vocabulário novo na língua inglesa com crianças na fase pré-escolar

Abstract

The present experimental study compares two approaches in the teaching of new vocabulary in English as a second language to preschool children, aiming to investigate in which of these two approaches it a higher level of retention of the target words was attained. In the first approach, called explicit or indirect, the target words were instructed by activities/games. In the second one, called implicit or indirect, the target words were instructed inside the context of two stories told orally without any vocabulary instruction. Six groups of students participated in this study with a total of 18 participants, of which 9 were exposed to the explicit approach and the other 9 to the implicit approach. Nine target words were selected to the experiment. All the students did the pre-test one week before the instructions and a post-test after 30 days of the instructions. The instructions in the explicit approach involved 4 different activities/games that took place during 4 systematic meetings along 15 days. In the i