Acquisition of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Vocabulary in Arabic Contexts: the Delimitations of Attrition

Abstract

Acquisition of vocabulary in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) is important for the learning of specialized subject matters. Such learning meets the problem of attrition or word loss due to prolonged time of desuetude. Students in Arabic-speaking classrooms who learn science usually learn English for Specific Purposes to brush up their language as a medium of learning their science courses. During this time, their vocabulary is more active than when they leave college after graduation. This is referred to as vocabulary attrition or word loss. However, a review of literature denotes a problematic vocabulary loss phenomenon in the ESP mental lexicon of students, especially when they do not use the language for a prolonged time span. This study set out in a Kuwaiti environment taps how vocabulary acquisition is affected by time of disuse and are then attired. This study outlines the scarce research base that deals with vocabulary attrition; it investigates word attrition as it occurs with ESP vocabulary in senior students at the Faculty of Education, Chemistry Department. It tries to tackle the following question: “How is the state of vocabulary (both general and scientific) of Arabic-speaking students of English after 3-4 years of inert use?” The subjects of this study were 30 students at Kuwait University in their senior year, and another 30 in their postgraduate study who have their ESP English in use for 3-5 years. They were native speakers of Arabic of both genders. They have had 12-15 years’ experience in the least with general English in the average and around three years of ESP. The results of this investigation demonstrate that the ability of the subjects to recall words (both general and scientific) that were learned a few years ago is certainly low in subjects who no longer use the ESP vocabulary for academic purposes.