The Effects of Receptive vs. Productive Vocabulary Instruction

The purpose of this study was to synthesize research results on the effects of receptive instruction and productive instruction on vocabulary gains and retention, using the quantitative research technique of meta-analysis. A total of 18 primary studies were analyzed to observe the relative effectiveness of different types of vocabulary instruction (receptive vs. productive) and tasks (R0, R1, R2, P0, P1, P2) under those categories. The results showed that (a)little difference was found between receptive and productive instruction statistically, except that productive instruction had a long-term retention effect, (b) combined effect sizes for each category showed the pattern of P2 > R2 > P1 > R0 > R1 > P0; however, the differences among task types were modest, (c) productive instruction yielded higher effect size in productive vocabulary gains with receptive instruction yielding the same result in receptive vocabulary gains, and no statistically significant difference was found between the groups, and (d) the learning context of ESL and EFL, educational status, length of treatment, and the context of outcome measure were found to be moderator variables which affect the outcome of instruction in statistically significant ways.