1.

Statement of problem
As young learners always encounter reading texts in a daily basis, it is essential for
teachers to prepare them to be a fluent reader. Nevertheless, most researchers believe that it is
difficult for second language learners to be one of them successfully. According to Grabe
(1991), the ability to comprehend text is one of the characteristics of a fluent reader. It means
that the reader should be able to understand what they are reading precisely. However, it is
one of the issues that the second language readers are facing as Grabe asserts that they
frequently have difficulties in matching their understandings of the text with the intended
meaning. These difficulties may be the result of not having sufficient vocabulary which the
learners need in order to decode the text in making meaning. They may affect the coherence
of ideas development which consequently hamper the level of understanding.
The relationship between the vocabulary acquisitions have been found to bring
effective outcomes in fostering the literacy development especially in improving the ability to
comprehending the reading texts efficiently. The National Reading Panel (2000) reports
thatvocabulary is one of the important aspect that teachers need to put into account while
developing the young learners literacy skills. However, only few studies that focus on the
vocabulary instruction for primary schools are found and these studies do not have much
emphasis on the teaching word knowledge but rather than word identification for young
learners of the primary schools. This may be related to some researches that have been
conducted over the past seventy years that phonics teaching helps learners to do better in word
identification, reading comprehension, and fluency (Martinez, 2007). This is because
mastering phonics skills enables the learners in identifying and recognizing words which
consequently will help them in acquiring vocabulary which is important in comprehending
their reading.
Furthermore, the Malaysian Education system itself through the introduction of
Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah (KSSR) gives emphasis on phonics approach in
developing literacy skills particularly reading for the lower primary grades (Charanjit, Arshad,
Habsah, & Tajulripin, 2015). The purpose of it is to develop the young learners word
recognition skills which will help them in basic reading literacy. Phonics however only allows
learners in enhancing their word identification skills as learners are able to decode the texts
effectively but not in inferring meaning of the words. Alternatively, it becomes a concern to
the researcher of this study that the young learners might be able to read the text fluently but
could they understand the text. In other words, it could be said that the learners may know
how to pronounce the words correctly but do they know the correct meaning of the words that
being read? Due to that, Nation (2001) claims that sufficient word knowledge is crucial to
reading comprehension because it helps the learners to understand message in the text and
determine the level of learners comprehension in comprehending the texts that they read. As
such, it will help learners to perform well academically due to having a good word knowledge
skills as it helps them to understand new ideas and concepts better. Chall and Jacobs (2003) in
their research found that word knowledge have an impact on the reading comprehension
achievement.
Additionally, there are a lot of researches that had been carried on examining the effect
of first language (L1) versus second language (L2) and how it affected vocabulary
acquisition. Koenig and Woodward (2012) for instance, found that the very young learners
who have a greater size of their native vocabulary are able to learn and acquire the second
language faster. However, only few researches were conducted to investigate the relationship
between the initial second language and the ability to acquire new target vocabulary
efficiently. Although studies by Collins (2010) and Lugo-Neris, Jackson, and Goldstein (2010)

found that learners with wider initial vocabulary outperformed the weak learners during the
vocabulary post-test, it could not be considered as portraying the whole population of second
language learners. As such, more research need to be carried out on this field of vocabulary
and how the size and depth of their vocabulary affected their comprehension. (yg ni sy
pindahkan dari bawah ke atas)
Past years studies and reviews indicate that the learners achievement of reading
comprehension are being affected by the size and depth of elementary learners vocabulary
(Baumann, Carr, Font, Tereshinski, Kameenui, & Olejnik, 2002; Chlapana & Tafa, 2014;
Stahl & Fairbanks, 1986). The studies also found that during the reading comprehension test,
appropriate selection of instruction that are being used by teachers prior to the tests helps the
readers to obtain higher vocabulary scores for the tests. However, there are not much research
on effective vocabulary instruction (National Reading Panel, 2000). Considering the
researches done are mostly on the kindergartens learners, it becomes the researcher of the
study concern that it is important to conduct some studies on the primary school learners due
their difference of age and language development between the kindergarten and the primary
school learners. Meanwhile, Chlapana (2012) claims that despite the important role of
vocabulary learning in developing young learners literacy, teachers are still inadequately
informed about effective vocabulary instruction techniques. This is supported by Berne and
Blachowicz (2009) and Bloodgood and Pacifici (2004) who found that most of teachers are
depended on the dictionary definition and sentence context in teaching the vocabulary
although Stahl and Fairbanks aforementioned some methods of vocabulary instruction may
be more effective than others (p. 73). Hence, it is crucial that teachers need to run away from
being dependant on focusing towards definition and find other methods in bringing
vocabulary into readers comprehension.
Many researches done on reading instructions and vocabulary has found that using
story books has become e one of the chosen strategies in introducing the new sets of words for
the vocabulary learning. It is believed that using story book readings strategies in the
classroom would provide rich language interactions among teachers with learners and learners
with learners as well as gives a wider opportunity for learners to use decontextualized
language. Meanwhile, Beck, and McKeown (2001) claim the story book reading strategies are
not being used optimally by the primary school teachers as well as unable to encourage active
participation among the learners in discussing about the stories that are being read. It shows
that teachers are unable to fully utilize the used of written text during the story books reading
so as to explore the range of the vocabulary in them through meaningful ways and engaging
activities. Teachers are found to be reading the stories directly to the learners without pausing
for a while in order to encourage learners interaction with the stories (Beck & McKeown,
2001). They also found that the questions that are being posed during the story reading
sessions are only for the purpose of clarifying the stories read and difficult words. Thus, this
situation hampers the opportunities for learners to interact with decontextualized language and
the story book readings are not really beneficial for the language vocabulary learning.
According to Marulis and Neuman (2010), there are a lot of researches that had been
carried out to explore the effective practices used in various story reading sessions with the
native speaker learners. Mol, Bus, & Jong (2009) for instance found that instructional that
encourage learners active participation and interaction during the story book readings
contribute significantly to the young learners vocabulary learning while Chlapana and Tafa
(2014) explained that questioning strategy namely open-ended questions that are being used
during the interactive vocabulary language learning instruction invites learners to actively use

their cognitive ability during the discussion of the words and stories that are being read. In the
case of second language vocabulary teaching, the researchers found that interactive language
vocabulary teaching that uses techniques of using facial expression and body language to
demonstrate the meaning of the words, asking labelling questions to scaffold learners in
providing the label of the words, and pointing to pictures to elicit learners attention and
knowledge of the words (Collins, 2010; Justice, Meier, & Goldstein, 2010). Alternatively,
some researchers found that direct vocabulary language learning that utilizes the closed-ended
questions in their story reading sessions are effective in enhancing young learners who have
small vocabulary size (Walsh & Blewitt, 2006). Therefore, these results can be debatable on
which instruction serves the best purpose on enhancing the learners vocabulary learning. As
the researches are being carried out among the native speakers, the results might be different
if it were being carried out for second language learners. This is due to the fact that learners
acquire first and second language differently (Nunan, 1991). Hence, the directness of
exposure towards new vocabulary given to learners would influence the level of
comprehension they have on the vocabulary recently acquired. It is therefore crucial for this
study to indicate the effectiveness of direct instruction against interactive instruction on
vocabulary and how both instruction types affect comprehension.
Researchers found that direct vocabulary learning instruction is able to enhance the
vocabulary learning among the kindergartens native speakers in learning their language as
well as the learners who are learning the second language with the condition that they are
become an active participant during the learning sessions (Jalongo & Sobolak, 2011; Marulis
&
Neuman, 2010). These researches are being supported by the studies that had been carried out
by Perkin (2008) in which two vocabulary teaching instruction were executed and the results
were being compared. The two vocabulary teaching instruction had different strategies in term
of explaining the vocabulary and encouraging the learners active participation during the
learning process. The first instruction embedded the strategies of giving minimal explanation
on the vocabulary that are being taught during process while the second instruction embedded
with strategies that offered more extensive and interactive interaction. He found that the
participants in the second instruction were able to score well during the test hence proved that
it has a greater impact on their vocabulary learning.
Meanwhile, Silverman (2007) found that interactive vocabulary learning instruction
during the reading sessions managed to help the kindergarten learners in enhancing their
second language vocabulary development. During the sessions, the learners were allowed to
take part during the discussion process by answering the poses questions as well as
participating in the vocabulary activities. Analytical talk also was one of the strategies that
was being implemented during the instruction. The researcher found that it allowed the
participants of the study to think critically about the meaning of the words and how to use
them correctly in appropriate contexts. The participants also were invited to act out events
from the story and the meaning of the words in order to help them to retain the learned target
words into their schemata. From the researches, it is proven that both direct and interactive
vocabulary learning instruction are able to enhance the vocabulary learning among the
learners. However, as the researches were carried out on the kindergartens learners which is
considered as the very young learners by Cambridge ESOL (2010), it may give different result
for young learners who are in the primary school years. Due to that, the researcher of this
study believe that it is important for her to carry out a study to measure the most effective
practice between the two vocabulary learning instruction which gives a greater impact on the
young learners vocabulary development.