Assessing young learners’ vocabulary learning via communicative tasks

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of communicative tasks on vocabulary learning among young second-language learners. Two groups of primary school first-grade students in Hong Kong participated–one receiving communicative task-based instruction and the other following the standard curriculum (control). The intervention, grounded in communicative language teaching (CLT) principles, involved storytelling and interactive tasks designed to promote vocabulary negotiation and retention. Pre-, post- and delayed tests assessed word recognition and production. Results from repeated-measures ANOVA revealed that the experimental group showed significantly greater gains in both recognition and production compared to the control group, though recognition improved more than production. While vocabulary knowledge declined over time–a common finding in such studies–the intervention demonstrated sustained benefits, with the experimental group retaining higher scores in delayed tests. The findings suggested selective learner engagement, suggesting task design and word relevance influence attention. Despite expected outcomes (e.g. recognition surpassing production), the study underscores the potential of communicative tasks to enhance vocabulary acquisition, albeit with challenges in maintaining long-term retention. Implications for integrating communicative tasks and optimising engagement in CLT are discussed.