EFL Vocabulary Acquisition: Narrow Reading versus Reading plus Vocabulary-Enhancement Activities. A Case Study with Spanish Secondary School Students

This article examines the role of reading in vocabulary acquisition, focu ⴀ sing for the purpose on two different approaches: narrow reading (NR) and reading plus vocabulary ⴀenhancement activities (RV). In an attempt to assess the effectiveness of these two instructional approaches in the acquisition of English vocabulary by Spanish students in secondary education, a classroom ⴀbased study over a 6 ⴀweek period was conducted. Two groups of students took part in it, each receiving a different treatment. An adapted version of Paribakht & Wesche's Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) has been employed to measure students' knowledge of 20 target words. Both groups demonstrated noticeable vocabulary