Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: A study on the effectiveness
of the vocabulary index cards learning strategy and the kind of learners
who could benefit most from this strategy
Lai Y.S.
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Historical Background to vocabulary acquisition
“Vocabulary acquisition: A neglected aspect of language learning.”
That’s the title of Paul Meare’s article published in 1980. In the past, vocabulary
acquisition was only a by-product of language teaching or communicative
functions. Hence, research on vocabulary acquisition was minimal compared to
what was going on in other areas such as syntax and phonology. It was not until
the late 1970’s or early 1980’s that the tide gradually turned in favor of
vocabulary research. Linguists were gradually shifting their attention from
sounds, speech and language structures to social and functional aspects such
as meaning, discourse and speech acts. At the same time, cognitive
psychologists started to appreciate the influence of vocabulary learning process.
The input hypothesis proclaimed by Stephen Krashen (1981) was a good
example of it. This language acquisition model stresses competence more than
performance and competence is measured in terms of adequate words use.
Vocabulary has then become a main theme for many language-related studies.
1.2 The present situation in Hong Kong
In second language (L2) vocabulary teaching and learning, many problems are
desperately in need of some speedy answers. Many countries in the world such
as the United States and Canada are looking for methods to assist their newly
arrived immigrants to improve their English proficiency. Hong Kong is also
confronting similar but perhaps even more serious problems.
In fact, the decline in English standard has been a widespread concern in the
local community. The Subject Report of the Hong Kong Examination Authority
(1996) also agrees to this view.
“They (Candidates) must acquire a good command of a range of vocabulary,
especially on topics related to everyday life, common place names, common
English names, etc. as well as common idiomatic expressions.”
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In fact there is general consensus that the ability to communicate appropriately
and reasonably accurately in English is nevertheless an important skill that helps
sustain Hong Kong’s economic prosperity. To develop the skill, one has to have
an adequate command of basic grammatical structures and vocabulary, plus a
satisfactory level of understanding of their respective functions. More and more
applied linguists and language teaching professionals believe that accuracy of
language use starts with words. An effective learning strategy can contribute
very much in enhancing one’s vocabulary size.
1.3 The need for effective strategies
As a remedy, educational institutions and teachers of English have devised
various schemes and effective means to help enhance their students’ English
standards. These include organizing fun activities to encourage the use of
English campus, arranging informal meetings to promote the discussion of
current affairs in English, and making available a variety of interesting
self-access materials for self-learning purposes. Various teaching methods have
been popular at different times, but not all of them have been proved effective. It
will be worthwhile to test the effectiveness of different methods empirically before
one can decide which one may best be used in classroom situation or by
different learners. Even though some language teachers believe that vocabulary
does not need to be actively taught in class, many others still believe appropriate
strategies can provide tremendous help to increase learners’ vocabulary power
and language ability eventually.
1.4 Why choose the index card method
The innovation of independent learner strategies has aroused much attention
recently in Hong Kong. Yet, not much about it has been explored in the local
educational setting. In a Chinese society, English as a L2 is rarely used as a
natural medium of communication among local Chinese. It seems that to
promote and cultivate independent study skill, students should be encouraged to
put more efforts in learning.
Most L2 learners agree that one major difficulty to learn a L2 is to remember the
huge number of new words both in forms and meanings. What is more, forgetting
is in fact part of human nature (Baddeley, 1990) and the limited exposure of
English outside the classroom is another obstacle which makes it difficult for
learners to convert the vocabulary word from short term memory to long term
memory. If learners are self-motivated and the ‘motivated’ learners know how to
increase and create opportunities of exposure to the target language, then the
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efficiency of vocabulary acquisition will surely be enhanced.
Using dictionaries is a common vocabulary learning strategy in Hong Kong
classroom. No doubt, a good dictionary is just like a “silent teacher” who is
available around the clock. Yet, some ELT professionals share an opposite
opinion. They think that dictionary should be a tool of last resort (Lay, 1995).
Other ELT professionals like to prepare selected vocabulary lists to assist
vocabulary teaching and learning (Graham, Harris and Loynachan, 1993). They
claim that such lists can reinforce students’ memories of the spelling of the words.
In Hong Kong, some publishers also included vocabulary lists in their textbooks.
However, it is impossible to compile a vocabulary list that is appropriate for all
the students in a class with different English levels.
Semantic mapping is another popular strategy used in the Hong Kong
classrooms. Learners are encouraged to use concepts and relationships to
create a semantic map in which keywords are highlighted. Linkage is formed
between the above information and the new word so as to reinforce the memory
of the new word. Researchers have both positive and negative comment toward
this method (Nation, 1990). How well can this method help students memorize
the novel word is still a question at the moment.
Stroller and Grabe (1993) claim that the keyword method is the best memory
technique in vocabulary learning and teaching. To use the method, students
have to find a keyword in L1 that sounds like the target L2 word and an image
(such as picture) to link up the two words. This is again done to reinforce the
memory of the target word. Some point out that this method can be useful for
learning concrete words (such as stool) but not abstract words (such as truth)
(Gairns and Redman, 1986).
Schmitt and Schmitt (1995) suggest that the use of vocabulary notebook/index
cards can be an effective shortcut to achieve this. Ideally, the words recorded in
the notebook/index cards are chosen according to the need of individual learners,
thus learner autonomy is raised. As a matter of fact, learner autonomy and its
effectiveness have been widely recognized.
The introduction of effective learning strategies will undoubtedly be welcome by
most language teachers as well as teaching professionals. It is believed that
once this strategy is implemented in a larger scale, teacher’s teaching workload
can be partly alleviated and they can save time and effort in explaining words
that are already known to some of the students in class. As for the students, an
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effective learning strategy enables them to learn both in and outside the
classroom. It can enhance learners’ language proficiency (Nation, 1990) and
raise learners’ awareness to language acquisition and hence facilitates learning.
In view of the above reasons, the following action research was done.
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Chapter 2
Methodology
2.1 The research questions:
The research thus focused on two aspects:
1.
Does keeping index cards make vocabulary learning more effective in the
Hong Kong classroom?
2.
What type of learners with regard to personality can benefit most from this
learning strategy?
2.2 Subjects of the study
The subjects of the research came from two Form Three classes of our school.
Each of the two classes consisted of 20 boys and 20 girls. The 80 subjects were
the top 40 boys and 40 girls among 240 Form Three students in the school. The
80 ‘elite’ students were selected by their overall academic performance after the
end-of-term examination in Form Two. They were then divided into Class A and
Class B randomly. Since all the subjects were Form Three students from the
same school and nearby district, they were basically considered to be
homogeneous. Class A was targeted as the experimental group. Class B was
targeted as the control group. Both classes were taught by the researcher to
eliminate other unnecessary variables, such as teacher’s teaching style.
2.3 Instruments
In Research Question One, the dependent variable was ‘the learning outcome’
after the treatment and the independent variable was ‘the use of index cards
entries’ in vocabulary learning. It was hypothesized that the use of the above
method could enhance vocabulary acquisition.
The instruments of the research were the vocabulary tests and the interviews.
The vocabulary tests included four diagnostic tests and five performance tests.
There were altogether five trials of teaching. The diagnostic tests were
conducted with Class A to determined which words would be used in the trials of
teaching. The performance tests were conducted after each trial with both Class
A and Class B to find out the learning outcome after the experiment. The two
interviews with guided questions were conducted with twelve selected students
from Class A after the performance tests to find out their vocabulary learning
expectation, habits and methods as well as what kind of learners could benefit
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most from the strategy being experimented.
2.4 Procedures
The study reported here lasted for about half a year. The entire study was
accomplished in five sessions from December to April. The subjects of the
experimental group received a pre-experimental treatment first. And they had to
finish four diagnostic tests. Based on the results of the four diagnostic tests, thirty
words were chosen. Then five trial teachings each comprising six words taken
from the thirty words were conducted with both the experimental and the control
group. Followed each trial, there was a performance test to find out the learning
outcome of the subjects.
Two group interviews each consisted of six subjects from the experimental group
were conducted after performance test 5. The subjects were invited to express
their attitude toward and the effectiveness of the target strategy in their
vocabulary learning process. Their opinion were compared with their learning
outcome for analysis in order to find out what type of learners would prefer to use
the target method and what kind of learners would best benefit from it.
A brief rundown of the actual collection procedures is displayed in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Rundown of the data collection procedures
Session
Date
Focus
1
December - Familiarize students in class A with the use of index
January
cards method in vocabulary learning
2
February
Diagnostic Tests 1 to 4
3
February
Shortlist 30 target words
4
March
Trials 1 to 5 , Performance Tests 1 to 5
5
April
Group Interviews 1 to 2
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Chapter 3
Findings and Discussion
3.1 Vocabulary index cards – an effective learning strategy
According to the results of the five performance tests, subjects in the
experimental group outperformed subjects in the control group in all the five
performance tests.
In each performance test, a multiple-choice (MC) test and a production test were
set to test learners’ receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. In the
multiple-choice test, there were altogether 29 items (1 item was eliminated).
Class A did better in twenty-four items and the two classes performed equally
well in two items. In the production test, there were thirty words. Class A had
better achievement in twenty-seven items and the two classes showed the same
results in two items.
To versify the results found in the performance tests, a T-test was conducted to
test their reliability. In the five MC tests, three tests out of the five were found to
be significant as their t-value were all less than 0.05. In the other five sentence
production tests, the result was again similar. Among the five tests, four were
found to be significant.
The result showed that keeping vocabulary index cards was an effective strategy
in expanding both learners’ receptive and productive vocabulary. In the
interviews, some subjects also expressed that keeping vocabulary index cards
helped them achieve higher marks in the performance tests since making
vocabulary entries reinforced their memories of the words and facilitates
revision.
3.2 More learner autonomy
In the interviews, most of the subjects stated that they preferred using
dictionaries to keeping vocabulary index cards in vocabulary learning although
they believed that that the former was not interesting at all and the latter could be
considered as an effective method. They reasoned that making vocabulary
entries was time-consuming and troublesome. Besides, to make input equal for
all subjects, the researcher supplied information for all the entries in the five trials.
One of the interviewees pointed out that the thirty items were not all what she
wanted to learn. She preferred to pick up her own words and make her own
entries. She added that she was using vocabulary index cards to remember
words in other subjects at the moment. Teachers were thus advised not to give
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students too much information. Students’ independence and learning outcome
would be enhanced if they were encouraged to discover details of the words
using their own effort (Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995).
3.3 Individual difference
It was found from the interviews that students who were more mature,
independent and could work systematically in learning coped better with the
target learning strategy. Undoubtedly, to make the most use of keeping
vocabulary index cards, initiative, endurance and being systematic in learning
are very important. As pointed out by most interviewees, making vocabulary
entries constantly is never easy. What’s more, reading academically in public is
not socially approved among most Hong Kong students. Most youngsters in
Hong Kong feel uneasy and embarrassing reading word cards for instance in
LRT or on buses. No doubt, to take index cards out for revision in public needs
courage. Learners who have strong meta-cognitive strategies can overcome
these barriers since they always have clear future plans for themselves. This
kind of learners usually has the endurance to make vocabulary entries and do
revision regularly until they build up their own word bank. Every learner is unique.
They may have diverse learning styles and different ways to learn. They should
be introduced to a variety of learning strategies that are likely to arouse their
interest and meet their needs. For students who are self-motivated and mature,
the teacher can introduce vocabulary index cards to promote self-learning
among them. Students who are less motivated in English learning need more
immediate reward and encouragement. For these students, some more
interesting strategies such as the semantic map approach may better be
introduced.
3.4 Teacher’s role in vocabulary acquisition
The findings in the interviews indicate that teachers play an important role in
learners’ vocabulary learning. Although the call for using information technology
is at its climax, nevertheless, teachers’ role should not be underestimated. One
interviewee expressed that she used vocabulary index cards for revision
although she did not like to do so because she had to obey her teacher. Some of
them said that they would not use the cards for revision if they did not need to
take the tests.
This implies that students need stimulus and encouragement, for instance
teachers’ request and tests, to motivate them to learn. Teachers can incorporate
more activities and methods to assist learners in acquiring and reinforcing the
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vocabulary knowledge. As mentioned above, some learners preferred having
their own way of learning to following teachers’ instruction strictly while some
might need more teachers’ guidance. Teachers are thus advised to equip
learners with various strategies in vocabulary acquisition. This can help students
develop their individuality in learning and individualized learning promotes
learners’ autonomy that fosters better learning outcome.
Besides, there is no point spending time studying wrong information, so teachers
should occasionally check what students have written for accuracy as suggested
by Kramsch (1979). And students should also be reminded to revise their index
card entries regularly; otherwise, their efforts in keeping vocabulary index cards
would be wasted.
3.5 Pronunciation
In the interview, pronunciation was found to be one of the biggest difficulties
students encountered when they learned a new word. In the vocabulary entries,
students included the phonetic symbols of the words, however, when asked to
read the word, they felt tongue-tied. That’s another main reason why many of
them felt reluctant to use the method in future even though they believed the
method was effective. It was because they felt vocabulary index cards could not
teach them how to pronounce the words. Hence, pronunciation, that is, to be
able to “decode” the phonetic symbols, is very important in vocabulary
acquisition. However, in most English textbooks published by the local
publishers, phonetic symbols are not dealt with systematically and sufficiently in
depth. It is therefore suggested that more emphasis should be placed in this
aspect.
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Chapter 4
Limitations of the Research
This study presented here hopefully has made some insight towards
vocabulary acquisition over the index cards method in the Hong Kong context. It is by
no means an impeccable piece of research. There are clearly methodically
inadequacies that might jeopardize the validity and reliability of the results of this
study
First of all, the sample size of the present study is relatively small when
compared with the total population of secondary school students in Hong Kong. In
addition, the subjects from our school fell almost in similar banding. Results found
here might not be able to represent students of other bandings and from other kinds of
school settings.
The research is done in just half a year. Due to the time constraint, the subjects
had very limited amount of exposure and practice using the target method. In the
interviews, the interviewees reported that they did not really know how to make full
use of the vocabulary index cards, not to mention how to maximize its usage. This
implies that they were not cognitively prepared for it. In order to grasp the optimum
use of keeping index cards, learners need to practice using the strategy continuously.
Vannjarajan (1997) introduced three developmental levels in the learning
process, namely “unknown”, “acquainted” and “established”. Vocabulary learning
process is no different from that. It is impossible to reach the “established” level at the
initial stage. The provision of continuous exposure is a must to help learners develop
productive level competence.
In the study, two kinds of test, multiple-choice test and sentence production
test, were designed to test the receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge of the
learners respectively. However, to measure how well a learner knows a certain word
is much more complicated. It is extremely difficult for the researcher to investigate
them thoroughly using just two kinds of test.
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Chapter 5
Conclusion
From the study, it is interesting to find out that the most favorable strategy of
the students may not be the most effective and interesting one. It seems that not
many research studies of learning strategies focus on exploring learners’ preference.
However, this study reveals that a strategy that suits one type of learners may not be
useful for others. Maybe further studies focus on finding out how the learning
strategies can match the personality of learners can be made. In addition, ESL
teachers should allow students to be exposed to more effective and interesting
strategies. Hopefully, they can find for themselves the most effective and motivating
learning strategy that makes their English learning more fruitful and with more fun.
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