چکیده:
This thesis reports a study investigating the following questions: 1} Do tasks developed around-prefabricated patterns lead to persistent errors? 2) Does rote learning of prefabricated patterns lead to acquisition of vocabulary? The above mentioned questions stimulate the following hypotheses: 1) A possible causc of fossilized forms (persistent errors) in ESL performance is rote learning of prefabricated patterns. 2) Rote learning of prefabricated patterns leads to acquisition of vocabulary. To achieve the above aim, 60 students were selected through the oxford placement test, and were divided into two groups. The students in one group reccived vocabulary treatment through repetition and rote learning. But the students in the second group received treatment through contextualization of vocabulary items.
At the end of the semester, an achievement test (Post-test of vocabulary) was administered to check which treatment had proved more successful in vocabulary acquisition. Since there were two groups along with Pre-test and Post-test, two t-tests were applied. The results showed that the difference between the means of the first group (experimental group in which meaningful learning was practiced) and the second group (the Rote learning group) is quite significant. The results supported the positive role of meaningful learning and the superiority of meaningful learning over rote learning. So, the null hypotheses were rejected.