COMPARING THE IMPACT OF TRANSLATION-BASED AND EXPLANATION-BASED VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION IN ESL CONTEXT Muhammad Asim Khan , Hina Hussain Kazmi and Sajida Zaki ABSTRACT Learning vocabulary appears to be as crucial for mastering a language as grammar is. Therefore, considerable attention has been given to investigate various techniques for teaching/learning L2 vocabulary. However teaching/learning L2 vocabulary has received a significant attention, little consideration seems to be given to researching the effects of different techniques on learners’ vocabulary retention. Furthermore, while there appears to be some efforts made in this regard in other parts of the world, in Asian context such as Pakistan this significant area of investigation has been largely ignored. Thus, this small scale quantitative study conducted at tertiary level attempts to explore whether translating meaning of L2 words in L1 help learners retain the meaning longer than the meaning of L2 words explained in L2. The aim of this study is to understand the extent of the effectiveness of translation/explanation strategies on learners’ vocabulary retention and subsequently inform other teachers with similar educational contexts to benefit. For the study, data were collected through two post-intervention tests conducted with a week’s interval with seventeen (16) intermediate first year students divided in group-I (translation) and group-II (explanation) groups. The analysis of the data revealed that translation strategy was found more effective for long term and short term retention level as compared to the explanation strategy. The pedagogical implication of these findings for other teachers in the same context is that they should consider using the translation strategy for students’ better long term or short term retention of the meaning of L2 words.