“THE ROLE OF CONTEXTUALIZED READING ACTIVITIES IN VOCABULARY RETENTION AMONG EFL LEARNERS”
Keywords:
Vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary retention, contextualized reading, EFL learners, incidental vocabulary learning, extensive reading, lexical knowledgeAbstract
The development of overall language ability and the acquisition of a second language both depend heavily on vocabulary knowledge. However, when vocabulary is taught in isolation, EFL students frequently struggle to remember newly learned lexical terms. This article investigates how contextualized reading exercises can improve EFL learners' vocabulary retention. The paper's goal is to investigate the ways in which various reading activities support long-term vocabulary growth and memory retention. The study's foundation is a review of important theories and actual data from reading and vocabulary acquisition studies. It focuses on how contextualized reading activities—such as extended, intensive, and strategy-based reading—affect vocabulary learning outcomes. The examined literature suggests that contextualized reading promotes deeper cognitive processing, recurrent exposure to lexical elements, and increased word recall and recognition in relevant contexts. The study concludes that contextualized reading exercises should be incorporated into EFL vocabulary training to improve learners' lexical development and autonomy since they are more successful in fostering long-term vocabulary retention than isolated memorizing strategies.
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