An investigation into the effectiveness of ebooks in improving university students' academic vocabulary learning

This presentation reports findings of a project designed to facilitate students’ academic vocabulary learning via e-books. Academic vocabulary is a crucial skill for university students. However, due to the wide range of skills generally covered in academic English courses, the space for academic vocabulary learning in formal curricula is limited. This has resulted in academic vocabulary development often being relegated to independent learning activities for students. Such activities require strong student learning motivation. To increase such self-learning motivation, different approaches have been adopted, such as peer learning, apps, and digital games. However, very few studies have investigated the effects of using ebooks to engage students in academic vocabulary learning. This project attempted to bridge this gap by investigating the effectiveness of academic vocabulary ebooks that allow students to develop both passive and active lexical knowledge via a range of engaging activities on different electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones. The participants were 30 engineering students in a general English for Academic Purposes course. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. The project results are promising. The implications derived from the study bode well for future applications of such an approach to independent learning of academic vocabulary.