Vocabulary and EFL textbooks: Investigating explicit vocabulary exercises in three English textbooks for Norwegian year 10 students

Abstract

Vocabulary learning is an essential part of learning a language. David Wilkins expresses the importance of vocabulary in the following way: “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (Wilkins, 1978, p. 111). The main aim of this thesis is to study three EFL textbooks for Year 10 in Norway, with focus on explicit vocabulary exercises. The main focus areas are context, multi-word units and memory. The analyses performed consist of a quantitative and a qualitative analysis. The quantitative mapped how many explicit vocabulary exercises are included in the textbooks, while the qualitative analysis gives a more in-depth perspective on how the exercises are designed.