A Comparative Study Of The Jigsaw And Information Gap Tasks In Vocabulary Acquisition

Among various linguistic items vocabulary has been considered as essential inlanguage teaching and learning. However, most previous research that focused on theconnection between tasks and vocabulary acquisition only measured students‘masteryof vocabulary knowledge superficially. The primary purpose of the present study is tocompare the effectiveness of the jigsaw task and information gap tasks in understandingnew words and retaining them, in terms of depth of vocabulary knowledge.Sixteen pupils aged between eleven and twelve were involved in the study anddivided into two groups. They were allocated either a jigsaw task or an information gaptask. This study consists of a pre-test, immediate post-test, delayed post-test as well as aquestionnaire. The pupils were required to carry out the chosen tasks, testedimmediately and then one week later. The results of the questionnaire are also discussedin order to establish the pupils‘attitudes towards their allotted tasks.The results revealed marginally higher scores in the immediate post-test for pupilsperforming the information gap task in terms of recognizing the meaning of words.However, this advantage disappeared when it came to the depth of vocabularyknowledge and word meaning retention. Pupils performing jigsaw task outperformedtheir counterparts performing information-gap task in productive vocabulary knowledgeand their retention. The gain in vocabulary among pupils who performed the jigsaw taskis most evident in the delayed post-test. This result is consistent with the pupils‘assertion that they enjoyed doing the jigsaw task more than the information gap task. Tosum up, the jigsaw task best promotes pupils understanding of words and their retention.