T.C.
SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ SOSYAL BİLİMLER ENSTİTÜSÜ
YABANCI DİLLER EĞİTİMİ ANA BİLİM DALI İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETMENLİĞİ BİLİM DALI
APPROACHES TO ENHANCING VOCABULARY LEARNING IN AN
EFL CONTEXT:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
YÜKSEK LİSANS TEZİ
DANIŞMAN
YARD. DOÇ. DR. ABDÜLHAMİT ÇAKIR
HAZIRLAYAN BURCU KIVRAK
ÖZET
ĠNGĠLĠZCENĠN YABANCI DĠL OLARAK ÖĞRETĠMĠ BAĞLAMINDA KELĠME ÖĞRENĠMĠNĠ HIZLANDIRMAK ĠÇĠN YAKLAġIMLAR:
KARġILAġTIRMALI BĠR ÇALIġMA
Burcu KIVRAK
Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ġngilizce Öğretmenliği Anabilim Dalı Tez DanıĢmanı: Yard. Doç. Dr. Abdülhamit ÇAKIR
Mayıs 2007, 91 sayfa
Bu çalıĢma, yabancı dilde bilinmeyen bir kelimenin anlamını "Derin ĠĢlem Süreci" diğer bir ifadeyle "yeni sözcükleri öğrenirken dahil olunan ileri derecedeki anlama ya da kavrama iĢlem süreci" uygulamasından geçerek öğrenen öğrencilerin, "Ezberleme" diğer bir ifadeyle "yeni sözcüklerin bağlam içermeyen sözcük listelerinin ezberlenmesi yoluyla öğrenimi" uygulamasından geçerek öğrenen öğrencilerle karĢılaĢtırıldığında kelime öğreniminin hafızada tutulması, tanınması ve hatırlanmasında daha baĢarılı olup olmadığı incelenmiĢtir. ÇalıĢmada derin iĢlem sürecini teĢvik eden iki teknik kullanılmıĢtır: "Bu Nedir?" (What is it?), "Anlamdan Öte" (More than Meaning). Ön-test, son test ve gecikmeli test olarak aynı testin uygulandığı deneysel bir çalıĢmadır.
ÇalıĢmaya Selçuk Üniversitesi Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu’nda öğrenim görmekte olan elli alt-orta düzey yabancı dil öğrencisi katılmıĢtır. ÇalıĢmada kullanılan hedef sözcükler öğrencilerin ders kitaplarından ve diğer alt-orta ve orta düzey kitaplardan seçilmiĢtir ve otuz iki olarak belirlenmiĢtir.
Öğrenciler sayıca eĢit iki gruba bölünmüĢlerdir. Deney grubundaki öğrenciler kelimeleri öğrenirken derin iĢlem sürecinden geçmiĢlerdir, kontrol grubundaki öğrencilere ise hedef sözcüklerin Türkçe karĢılıkların ya da Ġngilizce anlamlarını içeren bir sözcük listesi verilmiĢtir. Test A) sözcüklerin anlamları ile eĢleĢtirilmesi, B) cümleler içerisine uygun düĢen sözcüklerin yerleĢtirilmesi ve C) paragraflardan
oluĢan bağlam içerisine uygun düĢen sözcüklerin yerleĢtirilmesi gibi üç bölümden oluĢturulmuĢ ve otuz iki soru içermiĢtir. Testteki üç bölüm ile sözcükleri tanıma (A Bölümü) ve hatırlamayı (B ve C Bölümleri) ölçmek amaçlanmıĢtır. Grupların son-test ve gecikmeli test sonuçlarının t-test analizi kelimelerin hafızada kalması bakımından deney grubu ve derin iĢlem süreci yöntemi lehinde anlamlı bir fark olduğunu ortaya koymuĢtur.
Anahtar kelimeler: Yabancı dilde kelime edinimi, derin iĢlem süresi, ezberleme, Bu Nedir tekniği, Anlamdan Öte tekniği.
ABSTRACT
APPROACHES TO ENHANCING VOCABULARY LARNING IN EFL CONTEXT: A COMPARATIVE STUDY
BURCU KIVRAK
M.A. Thesis, English Language Teaching Department Supervisor: Assist. Prof.Dr. Abdülhamit Çakır
May 2007, 91 Pages
This study aims to investigate whether a word learning approach in which learners learn the new words through Deep Processing, in other words, “a greater degree of semantic or cognitive involvement while learning new words” leads to better retention, recognition and recall than one in which learners earn the new words through rote-learning, in other words, “learning new vocabulary through memorization of decontextualized word lists”. In the study, two techniques encouraging deep processing on vocabulary were practised: „What is it?‟ and „More than Meaning‟. It is an experimental study in which the same test as pre-test, post-test and delayed test was administered.
Fifty pre-intermediate level learners of English as a Foreign Language in the School of Foreign Languages at Selçuk University participated in the study. The target words used in the study were selected from students‟ course books and other pre-intermediate and intermediate level books and determined as 32.
Students who were assigned into two groups were equal in number. The students who were in the experimental group were exposed to the treatment of deep processing. On the other hand, those who were in the control group were given a vocabulary list including either Turkish equivalent or English meaning of the target word. The test consisted of three sections like A) matching words with meanings, B) using appropriate words for the blanks in sentences, C) using appropriate words for the blanks in paragraphs of a context-cloze test and included 32 questions. It was aimed by the help of these sections in the test to measure recognition (Section A) and
recall (Section B and C). The t-test analysis of the results of the post-test and delayed test of the groups revealed that there was significant difference in the retention of the words on the behalf of the experimental group and the deep processing approach.
Keywords: Vocabulary acquisition in foreign language, deep processing, rote learning, What is it? technique, More than Meaning technique.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
For many years, the significance of vocabulary acquisition was undervalued by researchers, theorists, teachers and others involved in foreign language learning/ teaching. Schmitt (2000) states that systematic work on vocabulary did not appear until the late twentieth century. The neglect of vocabulary in teaching has frequently been stressed in the literature (Nunan, 1991; Zimmerman, 1997). For the last two decades, thanks to experimental studies, vocabulary teaching has started to gain importance in English language teaching.
To facilitate communication, students need to be provided with opportunities to expand their vocabularies. Wilkins (1974: 111) puts forward that “without grammar very little is conveyed, without vocabulary nothing conveyed”. The importance of vocabulary in the classroom has been acknowledged by both teachers and students. However the learners are rarely taught how they should learn the presented material. In addition, teachers are expected to find a method to meet students‟ needs to learn more words. Moreover learners sometimes need the help of a way of meaningful learning, an appropriate classroom application to retain words.
The problem is the same at the School of Foreign Languages, Selçuk University. The researcher‟s observations in her classes and informal talks with her colleques and students reveal that EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners at this school also fail to recognize, recall and especially retain the target vocabulary as they forget the vocabulary presented in the text or by the teachers quickly. This challenge and the desires of the students to increase their vocabularies were the driving forces behind this study.
Cognitive psychologists have addressed the issue of learning in general during the last few decades and have tried to find ways of understanding the cognitive processes that a learner goes through, as well as to give teachers and learners better tools for learning (Sperber, 1989: 12, in Hauptmann J., 2004). Among these is the concept of “the depth of processing hypothesis” (DOPH) which is shown to be highly effective in helping to memorise learning material. It is the central idea of the DOPH is that „deeper‟
2 analysis of a stimulus leads to a more continual memory performance. The notion „depth‟ refers to a greater degree of semantic or cognitive involvement. This approach concentrates on the process of analyzing stimuli. It is suggested that it is the „depth‟ at which information is processed which determines its long-term retention, not the transfer from one type of memory store to another, but “a continuum from the transient products of sensory modalities to the highly durable products of semantic- associative operations” (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). That is deeper processing which leads to better memory performance. In particular, the idea that the nature of mental processing is crucial for long-term memory retention and memory performance is generally agreed on today.
Therefore, considering the related SLA (Second Language Acquisition) research and the problems that EFL learners are experiencing, the study addresses the issue of incorparating “depth of processing” approach into vocabulary introduction treatment for the purpose of promoting second language vocabulary learning and retention. In this study, “depth of processing” is considered as a medium for better memory performance on vocabulary learning over rote learning which is generally used as a way of learning target vocabulary in language classes. Thus the researcher examines the empirical evidence for the supposed superiority of deep processing over rote learning in terms of vocabulary learning.
1.1. Background of the study
Until the mid-1980s vocabulary was a neglected area in language learning (Laufer, 1997; Zimmerman, 1997). Maera (1982: 100) also implied that
This neglect is all more striking in that learners themselves readily admit that they experience considerably difficulty with vocabulary, and once they have got over the initial stages of acquiring their second language, most learners identify the acquisition of vocabulary as their greatest source of problems.
But in recent years, researchers have begun to re-emphasize the role of vocabulary in language learning. Today the learning of vocabulary is regarded as an important component of foreign language learning both by teachers and researchers (Coady, 1993;
3 Laufer, 1997). As McCarthy (1998: 140) points out, "No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings, communication in an L2 just can not happen in any meaningful way.”
With the recognition of the importance of vocabulary, many techniques and approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary have emerged (Oxford, 1990; Nation, 2001). These include word families, key words, formal groupings, mnemonic devices, paired associates and processing information approach.
Research has indicated that a word must first be noticed in order to be acquired. This fits well with the common sense notion that states, “no noticing, no acquisition.” After an unknown word is noticed, the relative degree of mental effort is thought to affect the degree to which it is processed. It is reasonable to assume that the more cognitive effort that goes into processing, the greater chance the word will be acquired. L2 research has supported psychological research in determining that the degree to which a word is processed directly affects recall and retrieval ability (Craik and Lockhardt, 1972; Craik and Tulving, 1975). Words that are not processed deeply are more difficult to recall than words that are.
1.2. Statement of the problem
Selçuk University School of Foreign Languages provides first-year students with an English preparatory program. The integrated based curriculum of the school is administrated through one course book which covers three language levels throughout the academic year (New Opportunities Elementary, Pre-Intermediate and Intermediate) and a reading book (Password 2 and 3). In their study Shmitt and Schmitt (1995: 136) puts forward “when studying language, most forgetting occurs soon after the end of the learning session. After that major loss, the rate of forgetting decreases”. Even though students are overloaded by vocabulary both in the course book and the extra reading book, they fail to recall and retain them later. As a result, the need arises to apply an alternative implementation to vocabulary teaching.
4 1.3. Purpose and Significance of the study
The students at Selçuk University School of Foreign Languages are not aware of the techniques they could use in learning vocabulary most of the time. Most of the teachers appear to present new vocabulary by means of traditional techniques such as verbal techniques - giving the definition and word relation or use of translation. Giving definitions or using translation are traditional techniques used in teaching the meanings of target vocabulary items. In Wallace‟s (1982) opinion, at one time almost all foreign language teaching was done by translation and he adds that this technique is still widely used in the classroom by most of the teachers. It seems to be preferred because it saves time and can be very quick to dispose low frequent items.
Moreover the course book studied throughout the academic year presents the vocabulary as a pre-teach vocabulary in a box at the beginning of the each unit of the book in the warm-up section. Later on no or limited practise is done including these vocabulary items. In their reading book students are given words in context and are requested to guess the words. However strategy use falls short as students still go on learning new words in traditional ways-they look up the definitions in the dictionary, write the words on the papers and go through rote memorisation- when they are on their own. In the light of these shortcomings, the purpose of the study is to help students to recall and retain the target words through two techniques of “deep processing”, as an alternative treatment. Due to the results of the study, teachers would be more aware of the effects of the techniques handled in this study.
1.4. Research Questions
In this study, the procedures in the study by Gök (2006) were followed. The design of the study–“true experimental design”1 (in a true experimental design, the proper test of a hypothesis is the comparison of the post-tests between the treatment group and the control group); the design of the pre-test, post-test and delayed post-test followed the same procedure. In this study the target vocabulary items and the level of English proficiency of the students were different.
1
5 The purpose of the researcher in conducting this study is to better understand the effectiveness of “deep processing” over “rote learning” on the recalling and retention of foreign target vocabulary.
The study is designed to explore the following research questions:
a. Is there a significant difference between deep processing and rote learning on the immediate retrieval of the words?
b. Is there a significant difference between deep processing and rote learning on the delayed retrieval of the words?
1.5. Limitations of the study
This study is limited by several conditions:
1) This study is conducted on young adult students at the Pre-Intermediate level of English proficiency at the School of Foreign Languages of Selçuk University in Konya. The students were chosen according to their scores in The Placement Test held at the beginning of the first semester. After nearly five months when the study was conducted, the students‟ language level which is supposed to be pre-intermediate might have varied. This variation may have effects on the measure.
2) This study only covers the selected thirty two content vocabulary items such as nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. However, these vocabulary items do not include technical terms. In addition, grammatical and phonological aspect of vocabulary is beyond the scope of this study.
3) The other limitation of the study is the number of the students in experimental and control groups. The number of subjects was 25 for each group. Due to small number of subjects involved in the research, the results will be limited to the subjects under study.
6 1.6. Definitions of the Terms
Rote Learning: It is a learning technique which avoids understanding the inner complexities and inferences of the subject that is being learned and instead focuses on memorizing the material in decontextualized word lists.
Depth of Processing Information Hypothesis (DOPH): A theory of memory that stresses the nature of encoding at the time of acquisition. It argues that deeper levels of processing (e.g., attending to a word's meaning) lead to better retention and retrieval than shallower levels of processing (e.g., attending to the word's sound).
Encoding: It stands for the processes of how items are placed into memory.
Retention: It is the storage of information over time.
Retrieval: It refers to the processes through which we recover items from memory by means of recall or recognition.
Recall: It is one of the principal methods of retrieval. It is a measure of memory in which the person must reproduce information learned earlier, as on a fill-in-the-blank test.
Recognition: It is one of the principal methods of retrieval. It is a measure of memory in which the person need only identify items previously learned, as on a multiple-choice test.
Mnemonics: It is called a memory aid. Mnemonics rely not only on repetition to remember facts, but also on associations between easy-to-remember information.
7 CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. An outline of vocabulary teaching
Throughout the history, there have been various methods of second or foreign language learning, each with different emphasis on vocabulary. Some of these teaching methodologies put great emphasis on vocabulary and some neglected it. Researchers such as Carter (1987), Coady & Huckin (1997) have driven attention to vocabulary instruction in their studies.
The Grammar-translation method, which consisted of rote learning of words, teaching and learning of grammar rules, and translating from the mother tongue to the target language and vice versa (Schmitt, 2000). In this rote method, vocabulary did not receive much attention. Students were expected to learn new words on their own, by using dictionaries and bilingual word lists in order to be ready to take tests where they had to translate texts.
Starting with the Direct Method in ESL/EFL context, the importance given to the vocabulary teaching has increased. It was stated that vocabulary should be acquired naturally through interaction, since the main goal of the method was the use of second language (Schmitt, 2000; Richards & Rodgers, 2001). According to Zimmerman (1997), in this method vocabulary instruction was explained by pointing out the objects in the classroom, and so was associated with reality. Abstract words were introduced by grouping them according to topic or association of ideas without the use of translation. Notwithstanding, this method had some weaknesses according to Rivers (1983). It was the idea that vocabulary is taught in context without much explanation, and also receptive vocabulary skills has given higher importance than productive vocabulary skills in this method.
Schmitt (2000) and Decarrico (2001) stated that The Audio- Lingual Method had also some weaknesses in dealing with vocabulary teaching. As it focused mainly on structure patterns, it neglected explicit vocabulary teaching. Vocabulary instruction was restricted to simple words which were thought to be suitable to the topic studied. As
8 Coady (1993) stated, learners were supposed to increase their vocabulary through exposure to language; therefore no explicit vocabulary instruction was needed.
Due to Hymes (1970; in Davies, A., 1989) who introduced „communicative competence‟ to language teaching, the Audiolingual Approach started to lose its effect. The appropriateness of the language rather than accuracy started to be given higher importance. The importance of the role of words in helping learners communicate meaning was emphasized by Rivers (1983). It was also proposed by Widdowson (1978) that native speakers can better understand ungrammatical expressions with accurate vocabulary than those with accurate grammar and inaccurate vocabulary. Inspite of its still subordinate importance as it was seen as support for functional language use, vocabulary teaching was given much importance together with fluency by The Communicative Language Teaching approach which focused on the appropriate use of communicative categories in order to provide students with opportunities to interact with each other and the teacher in natural situations. The CLT approach also gave vocabulary instruction secondary status to grammar. The only help on how to use vocabulary in CLT was taught through problem-solving activities and exercises where students had to exchange information (such as information gap exercises). Other than that, there was no guidance on how to handle vocabulary.
By the emergence of the Natural Approach it was proposed by Krashen & Terrel (1983; in Richards & Rodgers, 2001: 181) that a language is essentially its lexicon. According to this approach, grammar takes places at a secondary level; however, lexical development has the primary role in order to understand and produce the messages.
With the advances in computer technology, computer assisted research led to corpus studies that means vocabulary use in real language texts (written or spoken) have been examined and important corpora such as the COBUILD, the Cambridge International Corpus, the British National Corpus have been formed and these corpora helped ESL/EFL environment to design lexical syllabi (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). In the same line Thornbury (2000: vi) stated the importance of vocabulary is highly regarded and “this is partly due to the recent availability of computerized databases of words (or corpora), and partly due to the development of new approaches to language teaching which are more „word-centered‟”.
9 As seen vocabulary instruction has been neglected until a few decades ago (Hedge, 2000; Coady & Huckin, 1997; Schmitt & McCarthy, 1997; Zimmerman, 1997). However vocabulary is an area that should be given importance in language teaching as also River (1968) stated. In the same line, Krashen and Terrell (in Aksungur, 2000: 170) puts forward that “acquisition will not take place without comprehension of vocabulary”. As for Akın and Seferoğlu (2004: 1; in Harmer 1991:153) “If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh”. In Al-Kufaishi‟s (1988) opinions, it is posited that language learners are not able to understand other people‟s ideas and communicate their own ideas with limited knowledge of vocabulary and also they are not able to be successful in other skills- reading, writing if they do not have enough knowledge of vocabulary.
Bress (2005) implies that a student may not learn difficult words as well as a child acquires the first language. However vocabulary learning can be facilitated due to the teacher‟s help. He (2005) also proposes seven steps for vocabulary learning. First students should listen to the word or phrase in authentic-sounding dialogues. Then they are given time to examine the word in the context so that they can find out the meaning of the word. They study individually, in pairs or groups. They they are asked concept questions by the teacher to reveal their opinions about the meaning. Later the teacher supplies a phonological model in another sentence. Then the teacher attempts to elicit use of the word in a natural way. In the next step, the teacher sets a simulation and instructs the students to act the scenerio including the use of the word. Finally the teacher elicits and practises the words by means of review schedule. According to Nation (2001) as vocabulary is an inevitable part of language learning, learners are supposed to improve their vocabulary by means of important elements of vocabulary- speaking and writing activites.
Rivers (1968) suggests that teachers should arouse interest and a certain excitement in words. Students should be given ideas on learning vocabulary and guided on what to learn.
10 2.2. What is a word?
In conducting research into vocabulary, it is important to define the nature of a word. However, researchers have found difficult to define what a word is (Read 2000; Aitchison 2003). For example, is „fish‟ (noun) and „fish‟ (verb) the same word? Is „workman‟ one word or two words? The problem gets more complicated when multi-word units such as compound nouns and idioms are considered.
Read (2000) distinguishes between function words (for example, articles, prepositions, pronouns) and content words (for example, nouns, „full‟ verbs, adjectives and adverbs) in the language stating it is the content words that carry meaning and therefore considered the vocabulary of a language. Thus, when researchers assess vocabulary knowledge, they are most often assessing the content words of the language.
In defining the nature of a word, Carter and McCarthy (1988: 19) suggest that it is more „practical and convenient to look at words as being composed of meaningful bits of information and to use the word „word‟ as convenient shorthand for lexical items of varying kinds.‟
2.3. What is it to “know a word”?
In the learning process, if a word is known it means that it has been acquired. Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) suggest that acquiring a word requires more than just familiarity with its meaning and form. Nation (2001) describes the various kinds of word knowledge necessary to master a word completely. He describes lexical knowledge as taxonomy of components. Nation believes that knowing a word means knowing its form- spoken, written and word parts, meaning- concepts and associations and use- grammatical functions, collocations and constraints (Table 1). Nation (2001) further makes the distinction of receptive and productive knowledge of a word, suggesting that one can know a word receptively and/or productively. Receptive knowledge involves being able to recognize the word when it is heard or when it is seen, and recognizing its meaning etc. Productive knowledge of a word builds on the receptive knowledge, for example, it involves being able to spell and pronounce a word, being able to use it in the right grammatical patterns and with the words it usually
11 collocates with. In the same line, acquiring both the receptive knowledge and the productive knowledge of the word means the word is known. „Knowing a word is taken to include not only knowing the formal aspects of the word and knowing its meaning, but also being able to use the word‟ (Nation, 2001: 4).
Table 1. Nation‟s taxonomy of word knowledge (2001: 27)
Form Spoken R What does the word sound like?
P How is the word pronounced? Written R What does the word look like?
P How is the word written and spelled? Word parts R What parts are recognizable in this
word?
P What word parts are needed to express the meaning?
Meaning Form and meaning R What meaning does this word form signal?
P What word form can be used to express this meaning?
Concepts and R What is included in the concept? Referents
P What items can the concept refer to? Association R What other words does this make us
think of?
P What other words could we use instead of this one?
Use Grammatical R In what patterns does the word occur?
Functions
P In what patterns must we use this word?
Collocations R What words or types of words occur with this one?
P What words or types of words must we use with this one?
12 Constraints on use R Where, when, and how often would we (register, frequency …) expect to meet this word?
P Where, when, and how often can we use this word?
R = receptive knowledge, P = productive knowledge
2.4. Memory
2.4.1. Theories of Memory
The first known theory of memory was provided by Plato (plato.stanford.edu/entries/memory/.2007). He resembled memory to „wax tablet‟.
The wax tablet takes imprints … of information to be stored ... Repetition increases these „grooves‟; neglect makes them gradually disappear. Length of memory depends on the consistency of the wax. The harder the wax, the harder it is to get information indented on it, but memory lasts longer. If the wax is softer, it is easier to indent, but the memory is short lived. Retrieval is not addressed. For this, a separate theory is needed - that of a bird cage. Distinct, bigger birds are more easily retrieved from the cage than smaller, blander ones (Morris, 1978: 3-6; in Hauptmann, 2004: 33).
Ebbinghaus (Morris, 1978: 12; in Hauptmann, 2004) conducted an experimental study over memory and showed the close relationship between learning time, amount of mental repetition and durability of memory.
Atkinson & Shiffrin (1971) proposed two-store model of memory: short-term
memory (STM) and long-term memory, suggesting a diffrence between them. STM
stores verbal information only. Working memory is presented more contemporary term for short-term memory. The STM has limited capacity and information can be lost because of decay or interference. Rehearsal was seen as the key method of keeping information in this STM and for transfer to long-term memory (LTM). In LTM all information is continual.
13 Generally cognitive psychologists divide memory into three stores: sensory store, short-term store, and long-term store (Raaijmakers, 1993). After entering the sensory store, some information proceeds into the short-term store. This short-term store is called as short-term memory. Short-term memory has two important characteristics. First, short-term memory can contain at any one time seven, plus or minus two, "chunks" of information. Second, items remain in short-term memory around twenty seconds. In addition, any kind of information needs transferring into long-term memory for learning and retention.
As “the object of vocabulary learning is to transfer the lexical information from the short-term memory, where it resides during the process of manipulating language, to the more permenant long-term memory” (Schmitt, 2000: 131-132); preexisting knowledge is required in the long term memory to relate the new information to. In this way it is declared that by means of this kind of connection new words will not tend to be forgotten. Similarly Mayer (1998) states that learners need appropriate strategies to transfer information from long-term memory to short-term memory, which is called retrieval.
2.4.2. Stages of Memory
Memory works in three different stages (Figure 1): Encoding, storage (retention), and retrieval including recall and recognition in it (Baddeley, 2004).
Encoding: The first stage of memory is known as „encoding‟. In this stage the information is processed for storage. Once one comes in contact with information to be remembered his brain develops a “code,” which becomes a record of the experience. The memory can be affected at this stage if the information is not coded in a way that makes it easy to recall when needed. For example, one may recognize another one in the office where he works, but outside of that environment he may have difficulty in recognizing him or her. This is because the face was coded in association with work and outside of that coding strategy the memory is not recognizable. The context of the memory that is guided by our semantic memory system is lost.
14 Storage: This is the ability to hold and effectively store a memory. Rehearsal is one of the most important factors involved in retaining the information that one has been exposed to. Problems in this stage of memory often occur due to a lack of rehearsal.
Retrieval: This refers to the ability to reveal what is stored in the memory. Once the information is successfully stored, it must be retrievable in order to be useful. For information to be retrieved, it first must be stored effectively. Once effectively stored, cues and reminders can help us then retrieve the information. For instance, one remembers he needs to pick up milk before coming home but can easily forget as he goes through his daily routine. As he drives home and sees a convenience store his memory is jogged and he remembers the task. One simply needs help in retrieving the memory.
There are two ways of retrieval: receptive and productive. When one meets the word in listening or reading, he perceives the form and retrieves its meaning. When one wants to communicate the meaning of a word and retrieves its spoken or written form as in speaking or writing, it is called productive retrieval (Nation, 2001).
The two principles methods of memory retrieval are recall and recognition.
In recall the subject is supposed to reproduce the stimulus item. In recognition, the subject is required to say whether a given item was presented or not, which is also called yes/no recognition; or to choose the previously presented item from a set of two or more alternatives; that is forced- choice recognition (Baddeley, 2004: 7).
15 The flowchart for this theory of memory indicates that all incoming information first passes through Sensory Memory (SM) before it enters ShortTerm Memory (STM). There it can be maintained by rehearsal and either successfully encoded for storage in LongTerm Memory (LTM) or forgotten. In retrieval, the information passes from LTM back to STM, where it enters our consciousness. A summary of the characteristics of each stage of memory is below. (Tulving, 2007).
Table 2. A summary of the characteristics of stages of memory
SM STM LTM
Capacity Very large 7 (+/-2) Chunks Unlimited
Maximum Duration
1 Second 30 Seconds Permanent
Method of maintaining information
Not possible Maintenance
rehearsal Elaborative rehearsal and organization Method of retrieving information
Perception Serial, exhaustive search
Search with retrieval cues
Chief cause of forgetting
Decay Interference and
decay
Interference
Major
information code
Sensory Acoustic Semantic
2.4.3. Vocabulary Acquisition Considering Memory
In psychological theory our memoy is considered to have three independent systems as above mentioned: Sensory memory, Short-term memeory and Long-term memory. They differ in function and duration. The sensory memory keeps an exact copy of what is seen or heard. It only lasts for only a few seconds. It has limited capacity. After entering sensory memory, a limited amount of information is transferred ito
short-16 term memory if the information is categorized and interpreted by the user. In the
short-term memory, the information processed and possibly stored in the long-short-term memory.
In short-term memory also known as working or temporary memory, the information is stored while being processed. The information can be held in short-term memory for a limited period of time (15 seconds or a couple of minutes). However rehearsal seems to extend this duration. In his studies on memory span in 1956, George Miller who is an American psychologist puts forward that short term memory can process only seven single items of information at a time. Thus, number of information should be limited to 7 (plus 2) in order to have effective retention in short-term memory. In the same line, Moras (2001) considering vocabulary teaching implies that a teacher is supposed not to teach more than 7 (plus 2) words in his classroom at a time.
Hauptmann (2004) suggests that learners need appropriate strategies to transfer information from long-term memory to short-term memory, in other words, to retrieve information from long-term memory store. When one needs information that is stored in the long-term memory, he first has to locate it and retrieve it. Any kind of information needs to be transferred into long-term memory in order to accomplish learning and retention.
In Schmitt‟s (2000: 131-132) words, the importance of long-term memory for vocabulary is implied as:
The object of vocabulary learning is to transfer the lexical information from the short-term memory, where it resides during the process of manipulating language, to the more permanent long-term memory. The main way of doing this is by finding some pre-existing information in the long-term memory to „attach‟ the new information to. In the case of vocabulary, it means finding some element already in the mental lexicon to relate the new lexical information to. … Because the „old‟ words are already fixed in the mind, relating the new words to them provides a „hook‟ to remember them by so they will not be forgotten. New words that do not have this connection are much more prone to forgetting.
Keyword Approach is seen among the ways of searching for information in the long-term memory. Another is grouping the new word with the already known word.
17 Gairns and Redman (1986) imply that in the long-term memory our capacity for recall lasts minutes, weeks and years after the original input. They believe that eighty percent of the information one gets is forgotten within twenty-four hours of initial learning. They have also explained that one theory of forgetting suggests that information stored in memory is forgotten if it is not activated regularly. Otherwise, the new input will gradually fade and disappear in the memory. This is called “decay theory”.
In vocabulary teaching, it should be aimed to ensure that what is taught will be permanently retained in the long-term memory. In terms of vocabulary, comprehension depends on strategies that would be necessary to understand words and store them in memory, but the production of vocabularies depend on activities that would activate the storage by retrieving these words from memory and use them in appropriate situations (Carter and McCarthy, 1998).
Content words, which are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs derived from adjectives, are mostly problematic words. As they occur less frequently, they can‟t be easily remembered. Function words can be transferred or committed to memory rather quickly because they occur quickly and their numbers are few. They are also as considered as part of grammar.
In general lexical knowledge is more likely to be forgotten than other linguistic aspects, such as phonology or grammar. Productive vocabulary is more likely to be forgotten than receptive vocabulary. These two terms are defined as by Gairns and Redman (Gairns, R. Op. Cit. 64-65) as in the following:
We understand “receptive” vocabulary to mean language items which can only be recognized and comprehended in the context of reading and listening material, and “productive” vocabulary to be language items which learners can recall and use appropriately in speech and writing. (These items are often called “passive” and “active” vocabulary).
18 2.5. Retention of vocabulary
Learners tend to forget some of the learned words either partially or completely. There is a variety of vocabulary learning strategies to store the vocabulary in their long-term memory.
Gök (2006: 20-21) refers to Schmitt and Schmitt (1995), Nation (2001) and Thorne (2003) reviews some principles for the retention of vocabulary:
The brain stores vocabulary in semantic groups. Some words are more difficult to learn than others.
Organized material is easier to learn than seemingly random lists.
New vocabulary should be integrated into language already kown by the learners. The very act of recalling a word makes it easier to recall again at a later date, which is known as the „retrieval practice effect‟.
Words which rhyme can be recalled fairly easily. Providing the first few letters, giving opposites, giving translation and giving near synonyms are other strong aids o facilitate recalling.
The learner‟s mother tongue may also influence the ease of learning new vocabulary. Those speaking an L1 which has many similarities to English often learn by translating to a seemingly obvious equivalent, whereas if the L1 is completely different, learners are more likely to focus on the actual concept.
Learners have individual learnin styles and these learning styles determine the ost appropriate vocabulary learning method for each of them. Some learners remember by visual means, others auditoryor kinaesthetic. For most learners, visuals seem to enhance both retention and recall, but other stimuli, such as touch, may also be employed effectively by some students.
Learners need to meet a word several times before they are comfortable and confident enough to use it themselves, or to retain it. The number ranges from five to sixteen. Whichever the number is, it is obvious that „recycling vocabulary‟ is important and beneficial. The timing of this recycling also appears to have an effect; a great amount of the vocabulary which learners forget is lost within twenty-four hours of initial learning. The ideal therefore is to employ a system of “expending rehearsal”. This is a programme for reviewing where the intervals become longer between each review.
19 Although a strictly-timed system would probably be too burdensome and time-consuming in the real world, the value of reviewing the next day seems manageable and highly desirable.
Word pairs (i.e. a target word with its L1 translation) facilitate rapid learning but retention is likely to short-lived because of the shallow level of word knowledge. In order to be able to use a word appropriately and accurately, learners need to know much more about it than just its meaning. Ideally they should learn its spelling, pronunciation, grammatical behaviour, associations, collocations, frequency and register. As it is not always possible for every word to be presented as such a complete package, it is important that learners are made aware of particular irregularities or potential difficulties attached to vocabulary items and that they can add to records as their knowledge of item expands.
The deeper the mental processing that learners engage in when learning a new vocabulary item, the more likely learners are supposed to remember it. By deep processing it is meant that learners work out the meaning of the item by referring to their existing knowledge or they work on personalizing the meaning. If there is elaboration on the meaning, for example encountering the item in different contexts, subsequent retention is enhanced. Shallower processing is more sensory than semantic, remembering by seeing or hearing the item only, not fully engaging with the meaning. This means the learners meet the item in only one context, which makes the word much more forgettable in the long term.
2.6. Vocabulary Learning Strategies
Oxford (1990: 8) puts forward that through foreign language or second language learning strategies the learner makes his own learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective or more transferable to new situations
According to Schmitt‟s (1997: 207-208) taxonomy, vocabulary learning strategies as follows:
20 Table 3. Excerpts from Schmitt‟s Taxonomy
Dimension Discovery Consolidation
Determination Analyse part-of-speech Analyse affixes, roots Determination Check for L1 cognate
Guess from context Consult Dictionary Use word lists
Social Ask teacher
Ask classmates Group work
Group study/practice Teacher checks word lists Interact with L1 speakers
Memory Image of word meaning
Connect to related words Group words together Study word sound/spelling Keyword Method
Use physical action Use cognates
Paraphrase word meaning Underline initial letter
Cognitive Verbal/written repetition
Note-taking
Put L2 labels on objects
Meta-cognitive Use L2 media
Test yourself
cognitive Continue study over time
Skip/pass new word
Determination strategies
One group of determination strategies involves analysing the unknown word, its constituent elements, or the surrounding context to determine the meaning. Identifying the part of speech will offer some information; the learner might be able to identify the word as an entity, state, action or quality. Inflectional or derivational word parts could also be examined. Derivational affixes are far more numerous, yet they offer tremendous insights into word class and definition. Nation (2001: 264) refers to a study which found that 60% of words containing the prefixes un-, re-, in-, and dis- could be
21 understood if the base word was known. If the learners‟ L1 is related to the L2, then cognates may exist which facilitate guessing.
Dictionaries, while lacking the depth of processing that comes with guessing strategies, are commonly used by many learners of foreign languages. Although monolingual dictionaries may offer better quality information and also improve learners‟ ability to paraphrase, Schmitt‟s (1997: 209-210) survey of attitudes to learning strategies showed a clear preference for bilingual dictionaries. This might be due to the sense of security they provide.
To achieve the maximum benefit, dictionary skills have to be taught in the same manner as other skills. It is important that learners are taught when not to use dictionaries because they may be overused, resulting in the neglect of other strategies and increasing the length of time taken to complete tasks. Nation (2001: 239) suggests that inferencing skills should be prioritised, but that following up with dictionaries has a significant impact on retention.
Social strategies
Some social strategies can be used to determine word definitions. Teachers are a valuable source of information for learners, and they can provide information about L2 vocabulary in several ways. If the teacher understands the learners‟ L1, then a direct translation is possible. Although this may be the fastest and most appealing method for learners, there are notes of caution to be added. Learners receiving a translation of an L2 word may assume that it carries all of the functional and stylistic properties of its nearest L1 equivalent, and so use it in the same manner as they would in their L1. There is also the attendant risk that learners used to hearing L1 translations will become reliant on them, which is likely to have a negative impact on their ability to hold L2 conversations.
Teachers can also offer L2 paraphrases, synonyms, or example sentences using the unknown word. If the goal of learners is to use the L2 productively, then these methods will be more beneficial than translation. The teacher must, however, consider the knowledge necessary to use each word while also making an efficient use of class time.
22 Although this information could also be provided by classmates instead of teachers, some learners might feel that information from a teacher is more reliable. However, if classmates all work together at providing information, the whole class will benefit from improved paraphrasing skills and by becoming less dependent on the teacher. Social strategies can also be used to consolidate information. Students may make an effort to use the L2 together outside class, or seek opportunities to speak to native speakers, or even their teacher outside class.
There are clear benefits to practising L2 vocabulary in a less academic setting. Firstly, the more opportunities to speak a learner has, the more he or she will be able to experiment with new language. The experience of using the language for genuine communication is also likely to increase learner motivation, as well as active processing (Schmitt 1997: 211).
Cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies focus on the mechanical aspects of learning vocabulary. These methods may be required parts of the course, set as homework by the teacher, or the habits of individual learners.
Vocabulary notebooks are a valuable way of increasing learner independence. By giving learners the responsibility of choosing the words that they will include, the notebooks help to develop greater self-awareness, and at the same time, remove the teacher from some of the learning process. Schmitt and Schmitt (1995: 139) emphasize the necessity of giving learners the responsibility of selecting vocabulary to increase their sense of discovery.
One cognitive strategy that was commonly employed by learners in Schmitt‟s (1997) survey of learning strategies was repetition. In order to improve vocabulary, learners repeat the words either orally or in written form. This method lacks the depth of processing recommended by researchers, and seems to review only a limited amount of the knowledge that is necessary for communicative use. However, Nation (2001: 383)
23 noted that learners in the past have used rote methods to reach high levels of proficiency.
Other examples of cognitive strategies include taking notes and highlighting words, using the vocabulary sections in textbooks, and labelling physical objects. These strategies could all be said to assist noticing, an important first element in bringing an item into conscious attention (Schmitt, 1990). Once an item has been noticed, learners are more likely to focus attention on it, and so the process of acquiring the item has begun.
Metacognitive strategies
It is imperative that learners develop an awareness of their own learning and how they are able to improve most efficiently. The first requirement for a learner has to be finding sufficient opportunities to learn. English learners are fortunate in that there are a vast number of commercially produced pedagogic materials available, and the internet and other electronic resources are also easily accessed, thus providing EFL learners with an even wider range of potentially useful material. Once vocabulary has been encountered, it is vital that it is recorded and reviewed in an organised fashion. Without such a system in place, learning is likely to be haphazard and sporadic, as a number of the studies reviewed earlier in this chapter have shown. Finally, learners should also consider which words most deserve their attention. Since learners usually have a limited amount of time available for study, learning to skip infrequent or obviously technical vocabulary when it is not crucial to overall comprehension will greatly improve efficiency.
Mnemonics / Memory strategies
Researchers have identified a large number of strategies that learners use to aid recall of vocabulary. Schmitt‟s (1997) taxonomy, for example, lists no less than 27 separate memory strategies. One group of strategies involves using images when learning to form a stronger association with the word and its meaning. These images can be sketched in notebooks, formed in the mind, or even drawn from personal experience. This is a good example of how a deeper level of processing can be achieved.
24 There is another large group of strategies that link or group words together to assist retrieval. Using words in sentences can also be considered a memory strategy because the added context may make retrieval easier. Grouping L1 words spatially has also been shown to improve recollection (Bellezza, 1983, in Schmitt, 1997: 213). L1 words arranged into patterns can be recalled easier than when the words are in a list. Schmitt postulates that the same approach is likely to work for L2 vocabulary (1997: 213).
A final group of memory strategies uses aspects of word knowledge to consolidate meaning. This includes paying special attention to the word‟s orthographical or phonological form, memorizing affixes and roots, and learning the word class.
Memory strategies are grouped into four sets: Creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing well and employing action.
Memory strategies show very simple principles, such as organizing things in order, making associations, and reviewing. These principles all involve meaning for the purpose of learning a new language. The arrangement and associations must be personally meaningful to the learner and the material to be reviewed must have significance. (Oxford, 1990).
Oxford (1990: 40) also implies that
While many language learners benefit from visual imagery, others have aural (sound-oriented), kinesthetic (motion-oriented) or tactile (touch-oriented) learning style preferences and therefore benefit from inking verbal material with sound, mtion or touch. Certain memory strategies are designed to do this. In memory strategies, as in other kinds of learning strategies, “different strokes for different folks” should be the cardinal rule.
Mnemonics (meaning-aid memory) is another strategy language learners use to consciously remember the meaning of the words. This strategy can be verbal, visual or combination of both (Sökmen 1997).
25 Bolich and McLaughlin (2001) state that “mnemonics involve the presentation of information in ways that promote retention, and provide structured strategies for retrieval of the information”. Some of the mnemonic techniques are given as:
… pegwords (words associated with numbers, used to remember lists of items); phonetic mnemonics (associating sounds with numbers to remember a list of unassociated numbers); keywords (associating a similar-sounding word with a targeted word); acronyms (using the first letter of each word in a list to construct a word); acrostics (creating a sentence where the first letter of each word is the targeted information); reconstructive elaborations (mimetic, symbolic, or acoustic structures linking unfamiliar material with familiar terms, words, or pictures)…(Bolich and McLaughlin 2001: 41)
Thompson (1987) defines that mnemonics help learners “learn faster and recall better because they aid integration of new material into existing cognitive units and because they provide retrieval cues” (in Schmitt, 1997: 211). It is also stated that mmonics includes the kind of elaborative mental processing. Besides, this kind of elaborative mental processing is suggested as a means of long-term retention in the Depth of Processing Hypothesis, which is also the subject of this study.
2.7. Depth of processing information hypothesis (DOPH)
Researchers have been able to identify three characteristics related to studying that distinguish successful from unsuccessful students. One of them is that successful students favour a deep processing approach to their learning, as opposed to a surface approach.
Surface Processing refers to the notion that students who use a surface processing approach think of learning as the accumulation of individual pieces of information. They define their job as learners as acquiring information through memorizing facts and reproducing them on tests. Learners using this approach are further defined as those who lack purpose or strategies, memorize as much as possible, emphasize detail, attempting to assimilate without analyzing, integrating, and who are motivated by fear of failure. Whereas Deep Processing refers to the notion that students who use a deep processing approach see learning as a process of understanding not only the facts, but understanding the significance of them, how they fit together, and why these facts are important. They are further defined as ones who develop a strong sense of purpose,
26 select strategies appropriate to the task, vigorously interact with the material, relate new ideas to previous experience, integrate information, analyzing, synthesizing, question self, articulate the material, view testing and evaluation as opportunities to use new knowledge. (http://www.tss.uoguelph.ca/id/ta/tahb/tah3a.html.2007)
„Deep processing‟ approach in the name of The Depth of Processing Hypothesis (DOPH) was first proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972).
The central idea of the DOPH is that „deeper‟ analysis of a stimulus leads to a more persistent memory trace. The notion „depth‟ refers to a greater degree of semantic involvement.
The levels of processing approach states that deep, meaningful kinds of information processing result in more permanent storage in Long Term Memory (LTM) and lead to easier recall. This approach is also known as the "Depth of Processing Approach." This approach concentrates on the process of analyzing stimuli. With regard to Long Term Memory and level of processing it is put forward by Gairns and Redman (1986: 93) that
… may also be a very legitimate means of transferring items into long term memory where there is a direct mother-tongue equivalent and very little semantic coding is involved in the learning process. … However, … we indicated that a far deeper lvel of processing is required to commit items to long term memory.
The major proposition is that learners utilize different levels of elaboration as they process information. This is done on a continuum from perception, through attention, to labeling, and finally, meaning. The key point is that all stimuli that activate a sensory receptor cell are permanently stored in memory, but that different levels of processing (i.e., elaboration) contribute to ability to access, or retrieve, that memory. This approach has been extended by Bransford (1979) who suggests that it is not only how the information is processed, but how the information is accessed. When the demands for accessing information more closely match the methods used to elaborate or learn the information, more is remembered.
27 The theory of Craik and Lockhart (1972: 677-679) was supported through experiments. Schulman (1971) founded that semantic processing and performed obviously better.
Craik and Lockhart (Craik and Lockhart, 1972) proposed that information could be processed in a number of different ways and the durability or strength of the memory trace was a direct function of the depth of processing involved. Shallow processing (e.g., processing words based on their phonemic and orthographic components) leads to a fragile memory trace that leads rapid forgetting. On the other had, deep processing (e.g., semantic or meaning based processing) results in a more durable memory trace. Craik and Lockhart also distinguished between two kinds of rehearsal, maintenance and elaborative rehearsal. Of the two, elaborative rehearsal is the most effective in producing a more durable memory trace. Maintenance rehearsal defined as repeating the type of analysis already performed. Maintenance rehearsal merely holds information in STM; it doesn't increase the probability of LTM storage. Elaborative rehearsal is a type of rehearsal proposed by Craik and Lockhart (1972) in their Levels of Processing model of memory. In contrast to maintenance rehearsal, which involves simple rote repetition, elaborative rehearsal involves deep sematic processing of a to-be-remembered item resulting in the production of durable memories. Elaborative rehearsal results in increased probability of LTM storage of information. For example, if you were presented with a list of digits for later recall (4968214), grouping the digits together to form a phone number transforms the stimuli from a meaningless string of digits to something that has meaning.
As stated above, maintenance rehearsal involves rote repetition of an item's auditory representation. In contrast to elaborative rehearsal, this type of rehearsal does not lead to stronger or more durable memories.
Although there are numerous problems regarding Craik & Lockhart‟s original DOPH (many ideas have evolved and changed over the years, some even proved untenable or at least questionable, such as the crucial issue of an independent DOP index), as a whole their proposal has proved to be widely influential (it is cited in the majority of papers on vocabulary learning strategies/L2 vocabulary acquisition) up to
28 the present day. In particular, the idea that the nature of mental processing is crucial for long-term memory retention and memory performance is generally agreed upon today.
To sum up with Craick‟s (1979: 92) review, it is proposed that In the 1960s, human memory was thought about principally in terms of stores that were characterized asholding different kinds of information for various lengths of time. The generally accepted model was one in which the sense organs fed information into associated secory memory stores. The information was then transferred to a limited capacity short-term memory and finally into a permenant long-term memory. Researchers were concerned with such problems as the capacity of various stores, their coding characteristics, and the mechanism of information transfer between the stores. Robert Lockhart and I had both been involved with these types of questions in Sydney and London respectively but since coming to Toronto we had both developed serious reservations about the continuing usefulness of the stores metaphor. Presumably, different experimental techniques should yield the same values of capacity, decay rate, and so on, but they did not; perhaps the data could be interpreted within a rather different conceptual framework. Lockhart and I found that we held very similar views on one such alternative framework in which discrete stores were replaced by a continuum of processing varying from shallow sensory analyses to deeper, semantic analyses. We postulated that memory was the record of the operations carried out during perception and comprehension, and that deeper levels of processing were associated with longer-lasting memory traces.
Practical procedures encouring deep processing in vocabulary learning are examplified below by Gök (2006: 28) referring to Nation (1994), Schmitt and Schmitt (1995), Nation and Newton (1997), Sökmen (1997), Schmitt (2000), Nation (2001)
Visualizing the word
Associating the word to past experiences Relating the word to current events
Restating the word‟s definition in learner‟s own words Acting the word out
Explaining the learner‟s emotional response to the word Semantic mapping
Classifying words (putting newly met word and known words into groups and grade or scale them in one way)
Crossing the odd one out The keyword method
29 Working the word into a whole web of meanings (discovering, creating, and reviewing many comprehensible phrases using the word to be remembered)
Using flash cards (if an example on each card is put and the definition in learner‟s own words is written)
Creating analogies to make the word understandable to the learner Elaborative rehearsal of the word learned to see if learners truly grasp it Examining the etimology of the word
Thinking aloud about the word to see if the learner can discover connections, similarities and differences wih other words
Studying on polysemous in different contexts (the „Underlying Meaning‟ technique)
Describing a target word to the learner until the meaning is clear (e.g. the „What is it? technique)
Knowing a word (e.g. the „More than Meaning technique) Actively questioning (e.g. the „Power Questioning‟ technique)
Paired and group problem solving (e.g. the „Sense or Nonse‟ technique)
In this study the procedures the „What is it? technique and the „More than Meaning‟ technique were used.
2.8. Empirical studies on deep processing approach
Among deep processing techniques research related to keyword method is the one on which empirical study mostly was done. Using keywords is remembering a new word by using auditory and visual links. The first step is to identify word in one‟s own language that sounds like the new word- this is the “auditory link”. The second step is to generate an image of some relationship between new word and a familiar one- the visual link. For instance, to learn the new French word potage (soup), the English speaker associates it with a pot and then a pot full of pottage. Külekçi (2000) studied on keyword method. In his study he aimed to determine whether there were differences in terms of vocabulary recall and comprehension between the experimental group and the control group. The experimantal group was thought by the experimenter provided keyword method and the control group by the rote rehearsal. The researcher provided the experimental group with visual stimuli and keywords whereas the control group
30 with a vocabulary list to memorise. The research showed that the experimental group scored higher than the control group both in comprehension and delayed recall.
Atkinson (in Ellis, 1997) conducted a study in 1975. In this study 120 Russian words were target words. Students were divided into two groups as control group and experimantl group. The control group was supposed to learn these target words with their English equivalents on a computer screen. They only used their own learning strategies. The experimental group was supposed to learn the target words through Keyword method. When they had tests on the target words, they were asked to produce the English equivalents of the given Russian words. As a result the keyword group scored better than the control group.
Similarly, Hauptmann (2004) found that keyword method was more effective when compared to the conventional teaching. The members of keyword method group remembered in excess of three times more vocabulary than the members of the comparison group.
In their study Brown and Perry (1991) investigated three learning strategies which are keyword only, semantic (meaning through context), and keyword-semantic (keyword-context). The study was conducted over 60 Arabic speaking subjects. Considering three strategies, three experimental groups were formed. Each group was instructed during two days about the strategy they were going to use. After the instruction session, during four days subjects were supposed to learn 10 new words in 5 minutes. Then they were given a recall test. The results showed that keyword-semantic group overcame the other groups in terms of retention.
Sagra and Alba (2006) examined the effectiveness of three methods which are rote memorization, semantic mapping and the keyword method. The subjects were 778 beginner level second language learners. The rote memorization group was to memorize the first language translation of a new second language word by rehearsal. The semantic mapping group was given first language words conceptually related to the second language word in a diagram. The keyword method group was given words by means of associating the new second language word with a first language keyword that was acoustically or orthographically similar and connecting the first language keyword with
