ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education p-ISSN 2301-7554, e-ISSN 2541-3643 Volume 9, Issue 2, June 2021 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE 253 THE PRACTICES OF INTENTIONAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION FOR ASIAN EFL LEARNERS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW Peggy Magdalena Jonathans English Education Study Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Kristen Artha Wacana, Indonesia & Doctoral Student in English Language Education, Graduate School, State University of Malang, Indonesia Email: jonathanspeggyofficial@gmail.com; peggyj@ukaw.ac.id Utami Widiati Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang, Indonesia Email: utami.widiati.fs@um.ac.id Indri Astutik English Language Education Program, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Jember, Indonesia & Doctoral Student in English Language Education, Graduate School, State University of Malang, Indonesia Email: indri@unmuhjember.ac.id Devinta Puspita Ratri English Language Education Program, Faculty of Cultural Studies, University of Brawijaya, Indonesia & Doctoral Student in English Language Education, Graduate School, State University of Malang, Indonesia Email: devinta@ub.ac.id APA Citation: Jonathans, P. M., Widiati, U., Astutik, I., & Ratri, D. P. (2021). The practices of intentional vocabulary acquisition for Asian EFL learners: A systematic review. English Review: Journal of English Education, 9(2), pp.253-262. https://doi.org/10.25134/erjee.v9i2.4350 Received: 22-02-2021 Accepted: 21-04-2021 Published: 15-06-2021 INTRODUCTION Vocabulary acquisition has aroused attention of ESL and EFL practitioners from the second half of century. The acquisition and learning of vocabulary are indispensable from L2 learners to obtain proficiency and competence in English (Ahmad, 2012). With particular interests, intentional vocabulary acquisition has a profound implication for second language learners but has received minimal attention from EFL formal teaching settings. Since 2006, the publications of incidental vocabulary acquisition outnumber than those of intentional mode. Incidental is a byproduct of learning something else while intentional is by designing L2 learning (Yali, 2010). Both modes of learning are of different Abstract: This systematic literature review attempts to shed light on the practice of vocabulary acquisition in EFL contexts (incidental versus intentional mode) and the recommendation for Asia. Aiming to fill theoritical gap, the present study elucidates methodological-related variables dealing with vocabulary acquisition Asia EFL teaching mostly needed and relevantly applicable. The study serves as a call for Asia EFL teachers to elaborate all reviewed components into ELT practice and curriculum. PRISMA is applied for the study methodology while inclusion criterion used to key terms in search engines which found 13,653 articles, and resulted into 27 the most related studies within the 15-year-time frame after being circumscribed, comprising publication on incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition. The findings from the analysis indicated that extensive reading as the main input with additional of other skills. Exposure and repetition for meanings and retentions should be balancedly planned preventing from counterproductive effects. The explicit instruction needs of integration of interrelated components for the acquisition and learning to occur, namely input, media, time length, meanings, tasks, EFL teachers roles, L2 learners motivation, references, and evaluation. The larger the vocabulary size, the greater their engagement in L2 learning and real communication. The pedagogical implication recommends strongly intentional vocabulary acquisition with intentional vocabulary mode as supplementary since the two modes codeswitch in the cognitive domain. Keywords: vocabulary acquisition; intentional mode; incidental mode; codeswitching