Which learning strategy is the best for the intentional learning of vocabulary?
Graduation Thesis
Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of
English Language and Literature
Notre Dame Seishin University
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirement for the Degree
Bachelor of Arts
by
Mamiko Inukai
2013
Contents
Abstract
1
Chapter One: Introduction of learning strategies
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Vocabulary learning strategies
1.2.1 Mnemonics
1.2.3 Non-mnemonic learning strategies
2
3
3
6
1.3 General conclusions about vocabulary learning strategies
1.4 Survey on how learners feel about learning strategies
1.5 Research Questions
1.6 Summary
8
10
12
13
Chapter Two: The Experiment
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The experiment
2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment
2.2.2 Method
14
14
14
15
1) Subjects
2) Word selection
3) Test instrument
4) Procedure
2.2.3 Results
2.3 Summary
15
15
16
18
19
22
Chapter Three: The discussion
3.1 Introduction
24
3.2 Summary of the results
3.3 Discussion of the results
3.3.1 Interview data
3.3.2 Research question A
3.3.3 Research question B
3.3.4 Research question C
3.4 Implication
3.5 Limitations of the Experiment
24
25
25
26
28
29
30
30
3.6 Conclusion
32
References
33
Appendices
35
Abstract
When we study a foreign language, we meet a lot of new words and have to
remember them in order to speak it. However, especially in Japan, there is not enough
opportunity to memorize words naturally, through reading books or listening conversation in
the language, for many learners so they try to remember foreign words by incidental learning,
such as by word lists, writing repetition and saying aloud many times. The way of incidental
learning is various depending on the learner and the effectiveness is unclear.
Thus, in this thesis, an experiment was conducted to find out which learning strategy
is better for memorizing words. The four kinds of tests were prepared. They had different
learning strategies (Keyword method, Saying aloud method, Writing repeatedly method and
Dictionary method) and ten French words to remember.
The results suggested that the keyword method was the best effectiveness but, as
with the result of Schmitt’s survey (1997, pp. 217-226), the best strategy is could be vary
depending on the ability of the learner and it is important to use a strategy which learners feel
best for them.
1
Chapter One: Introduction of learning strategies
1.1 Introduction
How do we study when we try to remember new words? When people remember
new words, most of them will have some trouble retaining the new words for a long time or
for just a minute. Especially, in Japan, word form learning is very important in English class,
so it is important to memorize words. For example, when we were high school students, to
pass a word test in English class, we may have suffered from remembering English words
because we could not simply memorize some of them by learning strategies. On certain
occasions, though we might have studied the English words very hard once, we might not
remember them for the second time and feel frustration. Also, we might have experienced the
situation that we were told to get some foods by our mother and, at home, we remembered
what to buy, but, when we arrived at the grocery store, we couldn’t remember.
As mentioned above, remembering words is very hard and difficult for many people,
so they sometimes try to remember a word using their own specific way and try not to forget
it. For example, some people try to remember words with rhythm or some people try to
remember words by writing them down repeatedly. These specific ways are generally called
“the learning strategies.” There are many kinds of strategies and in the next section, some
examples of the learning strategy will be explained. Also, some researchers’ opinions of
2
learning strategies will be given in this chapter later.
1.2 Vocabulary learning strategies
A vocabulary learning strategy is the method to remember words. There are many
learning strategies to remember words. In this section, we will look at some examples of the
vocabulary learning strategy. First, the explanation about the mnemonics will be given.
1.2.1 Mnemonics
The mnemonics is one kind of vocabulary learning strategy. They are little memory
aids which help people remember things much easier. They often involve a phrase, a short
song or a mental image and make people remember words, which would be difficult to
remember, easier. For example, some people may use a phrase to remember a series of
numbers, such as the mathematical sequence of the circular constant (3.14159 etc.). They
would first remember an easy phrase, “May I have a large container of coffee?” Then they
would remember “3.1415926” counting the letters in each word of the phrase (“May” has
three letters so it means “3”, “I” has one letter so it means “1,” “have” has four letters so it
means “4,” “a” has one letter so it means “1,” “large” has five letters so it means “5,”
“container” has nine letters so it means “9” and so on). In the UK, schoolchildren are taught
“Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” to remember the colors appear in the rainbow because
3
the phrase is easy to remember and the first letters help students remember the colors – Red,
Orange, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet (Psychologist World and partners, 2006). In Japan,
schoolchildren remember the year, 1192, when the Kamakura Shogunate was established,
saying that “IIKUNItukuro Kamakura Bakuhu” and the phrase helps remember the year,
1192.
There are many kinds of mnemonics and we will look at some of them in the following
sections.
Some example of mnemonics
Keyword method
It helps people remember a target word with a keyword to stimulate them to. Here are some
examples from Hulstijn (1997, pp. 205-6).
i.
An English learner of German, trying to remember the meaning of Raupe
(“caterpillar” in German) could associate Raupe with the English word rope (sound
similarity), and construct a mental image representing a caterpillar stretched out in
more than its fullest length (exaggeration help!) on a rope.
ii.
An English learner of French could use English keyword fascist to remember
4
French fàché (“angry”), linking sentence: “A fascist makes me ‘fàché.’”
iii.
An ESL learner may learn the target word barb (“the sharp curved point of a
hook”) with the aid of the L2 carrier sentence “A barb is barbaric!”
Image of a word’s meaning
Learners can remember new words easier because the method can help create the concrete
image of a word. For example, to remember a word reel, English learner would have
imagine that “a reel is like a wheel” to remember because the sounds of the words are
similar and the images of the objects are similar too (Hulstijn, 1997, pp. 205).
Figure 1: The image of reel and wheel
reel
wheel
Semantic maps
This method helps learners memorize new words connecting with words which they
5
already know. Learners can draw the tree diagram of words in the brain. For example, to
remember legal, learners would connect it with law, lawyer, constitution or illegal, which
they already know.
One example of a semantic map of legal
1.2.3 Non-mnemonic learning strategies
In this section, let’s look at some strategies other than mnemonics.
Saying aloud
This is the method to memorize a word saying it aloud. By saying a word aloud, learners
can remember it. For example, Japanese learner would say aloud ‘Apple, apple, apple,
apple, apple…’ to memorize English word, apple.
6
Bilingual dictionary use
Learners can memorize a word looking it up in a bilingual dictionary. For example,
Japanese learner would look up a word in English-Japanese dictionary and check the
Japanese meaning, the pronunciation or the example sentences to remember it.
Written repetition method
It is a method that helps learners memorizing words by writing them down on pieces of
paper again and again. For example, to remember English word estimate, Japanese
learner would write down estimate repeatedly on some pieces of paper.
Word list method
Learners use a piece of paper which has many words and their meanings and can
memorize words by looking at them. For example, Japanese learners would use some
word lists with English words written and, on the back, the Japanese meanings are written.
Learners would check the word lists many times until they remember the words.
Study spelling method
Learners focus on the pronunciation of a word at first. Then they study its spelling. They
remember the word by connecting the pronunciation and the spelling. For example, first
7
learners only hear the sound of a word and memorize it, then try to remember the spelling
of the word by writing down it later.
Connect word with synonyms/antonyms method
Learners can remember a word by connecting it with its synonyms/antonyms. The
method can help learner remember some words at the same time. For example, to
remember dependent, a learner would remember its antonym independent and its
synonym reliance as well.
Guessing from context
This helps learners remember words in natural way. While they are reading books,
learners can guess the meaning of a word they do not know, and they gradually remember
the word incidentally. For example, a learner would come across the unknown English
word assailant while he was reading a book. However, he would guess the meaning from
the context partially and he could become to find out the meaning more clearly while he
came across it many times in the book.
1.3 General conclusions about vocabulary learning strategies
The research into language strategies began in earnest in the 1970s and the history is
8
not so long, but some opinions were discussed about beneficial learning strategies.
O’Malley et al. (1985, pp. 21-24) found that repetition was the most commonly used
strategy and much less frequent strategies require more active manipulation of information,
such as imagery, inference, the Keyword method. So, his idea implied that more mechanical
strategies are often favored over complex ones, or mnemonics.
Opinions about deeper and shallow vocabulary strategies were discussed and some
benefits were found. According to Cohen and Aphek (1981, pp. 221-36), and Pressley, Levin
and Miller (1982, pp. 50-70), the research into some ‘deeper’ vocabulary learning strategies
(such as forming associations and using the Keyword Method) have been shown to enhance
retention of target words. Also, relatively shallow strategies can be effective, according to
Nation (1982, pp. 14-36). He surveyed research into word lists, and concluded that they are an
effective way for learning a great deal of vocabulary in a short time. O’Malley and Chamot
(1990) said that even rote repetition can be effective if students are accustomed to using it.
However, Horwitz (1988, pp. 283-94) and Wenden (1987) mentioned that we must
consider our learners’ feelings, and take note of what they think of the various learning
strategies. In addition, Hosenfeld (1976, pp. 117-29) notes that, ‘Too often our focus has been
on what students should be doing; we must being by asking what students are doing’ So,
Schmitt conducted a survey to continue the research into learning strategies, which focused on
learners’ feelings (1997, pp. 217).
9
1.4 Survey on how learners feel about learning strategies
Schmitt conducted a survey study to research which vocabulary strategies learners
were using, and to ask them how effective they believed those strategies were. The survey
was conducted in Japan and 600 subjects were collected. All of the subjects spoke Japanese as
an L1, and they had taken or were taking EFL classes. The survey was given to four groups;
junior high school students, high school students, university students and adult learners. In
each group, there were 150 subjects. The result of the survey was tallied up into the next
section.
The tables below show the results of Schmitt’s survey.
Table 1: Most- and least-used strategies
Most-used strategies
Rank/40
1
2/3
Discover meaning
%
Bilingual dictionary
%
85
4/5
6
7
8
Consolidate meaning
Guess from textual context
Ask classmates for meaning
Verbal repetition
Written repetition
Study spelling
76
76
74
Say new word aloud
Take notes in class
69
64
74
73
Least-used strategies
36
37
38
39
40
Check for L1 cognate
Use physical action
13
Use cognates in study
Use semantic maps
Teachers check flash
Cards for accuracy
10
9
3
11
10
Table 2: Most helpful and least helpful strategies
Most helpful strategies
Rank/40
1
2/3
Discover meaning
%
Bilingual dictionary
%
Say new word aloud
Written repetition
Connect word with
synonyms/antonyms
Continue over time
Study spelling
91
91
88
Take notes in class
84
Verbal repetition
84
95
4
5/6
7
Consolidate meaning
Ask classmates for
paraphrase/synonym
87
87
86
8/9/10
Analyze pictures/gestures
84
Least helpful strategies
37
38
39
40
Use cognates in study
Keyword method
Image word form
Skip or pass new word
34
31
22
16
Comparing the most used list of Table 1 with the most helpful list of Table 2, the
results showed that there were some commonly highly-rated strategies; ‘bilingual dictionary’,
‘written repetition’, ‘say a new word aloud’ which were good for word form studying, or
incidental learning, and they showed how Japanese learners thought that they were important.
At the same time, Table 2 showed that learners do not regard the Keyword method as helpful
strategy or they were unaware of it.
On the other hand, dividing the result into ages, the following results emerged.
11
Table 3: Trends of vocabulary strategy use
Strategy
JHS (%)
HS (%)
U (%)
A (%)
Written repetition
Study spelling of word
Word lists
Use textbook vocabulary section
Flash cards
Bilingual dictionary
Guess from textual context
Image word’s meaning
91
89
67
66
51
77
47
37
89
77
67
57
29
73
69
47
75
70
50
42
12
95
93
57
50
60
33
29
10
97
89
58
Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym
Skip or pass new word
Analyze part of speech
25
25
20
37
29
29
46
55
37
61
57
43
Connect word to personal experience
Part of speech (remembering)
17
12
33
27
45
40
53
41
JHS = junior high school student (years 7-9), HS = high school (years 10-12),
U = university, A = adult
Table 3 showed that the patterns of strategy use can change over as learners mature
and become more proficient in the target language. It seemed that the strategies change over
for deeper understanding as learners mature (Schmitt, 1997, pp. 217-26).
1.5 Research Questions
From the literature review, it was shown that there was high possibility that the
learning strategy can change depending on the learner’s cognitive maturity and language
proficiency and awareness of alternative strategies. Furthermore, the results showed which
12
learning strategy learners used as they matured in English skill. Therefore, Chapter Two will
focus on the practicability and the effectiveness of the learning strategies.
There are three research questions for the experiment.
(A) Which learning strategy is more helpful for immediate learning for university learners?
(B) Which learning strategy’s effectiveness lasts longer?
(C) Does the effectiveness of each strategy differs depending on the part of speech?
1.6 Summary
In this chapter, some learning strategies and ideas about strategies were given.
Schmitt’s results implied that the learning strategy use can change over time depending on
learners’ maturity of language learning.
Thus, in Chapter Two, an experiment will see which learning strategy is effective,
how long each strategy lasts and whether strategies differ depending on parts of speech.
13
Chapter Two: The Experiment
2.1 Introduction
Chapter One introduced some learning strategies and some researchers’ opinion
about them. Also, the result of the survey in Chapter One showed how learners feel about
learning strategies.
The experiment reported in this chapter examined the effectiveness of some learning
strategies and tried to find out whether the effectiveness of the strategy corresponds with the
learners’ feeling about it or not. Thus the experiment will find out which learning strategy is
better for remembering new words.
2.2 The experiment
2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment
The aim of this experiment was to find out which technique is the best to help people
remember new words and how long the memory would last. Also, this experiment could help
find out the best memorizing technique for each part of speech, and give us data about their
productive and the receptive knowledge. The immediate post-test helped to determine which
memorizing method was better for immediate memorizing, and the delay test helped to find
out which memorizing method helped remember longer.
14
2.2.2 Method
In this section, we will look at the overview and the aim of the experiment, the
subjects, the word selection, the experiment, the procedure and the results. The experiment
was conducted in the form of a memorizing test. The subjects remembered ten French words
using four memorizing techniques. After memorizing the words, the subjects were asked to
write down the French words and the Japanese meanings. About one month later, the subjects
took a delay test of the French words.
1) Subjects
28 Japanese females who are 20 to 22 years old were selected as the subjects for this
experiment. All the subjects agreed to take part in this experiment voluntarily. The subjects
were the third year and fourth year students of Notre Dame Seishin University. They have
studied English, linguistics and literature for at least two years and their major is English
linguistics. Some of them had studied French for more than one year but a test identified
which French word they had previously known. They were divided into four groups and each
group had seven subjects.
2) Word selection
In this experiment, to get clear results of which memorizing technique is better, the
15
subjects remembered French words because it was expected that most of the subjects had
known few French words, but they would be familiar with the French alphabet, so they would
feel less resistance remembering French words. Also, the experiment used parts of speech as
variables because there may be a possibility that some parts of speech were easier to
memorize depending on memorizing techniques. 16 French verbs, 12 French nouns and 12
French prepositions, which are not similar spelling to English, were selected from a
French-Japanese dictionary. Thus the four kinds of tests, each of them had different
memorizing techniques and words, were made.
3) Test instrument
This experiment aimed to discover which memorizing technique was better, so four
representative memorizing techniques, the keyword method, the saying aloud method, the
writing down repeatedly method and the dictionary method, were used in the experiment and
four kinds of tests were prepared in book form. The tests had different French words and
different memorizing techniques each other (Table 4). Each of them had pretest page, making
memorize page, productive test page and receptive test page.
16
Table 4: The groups of words used on the test
Group
technique
verbs
nouns
prepositions
A
Keyword
method
faire, grosser,
domineer, parler
cheveu, jambon, piste
pendant, dans, sans
B
Saying
aloud
dormir, effacer,
voler, chanter
été, gàteau, légume
avant, en, entre
C
Writing
down
rire, courir,
pleurer, mettre
cadeau, noix, hiver
selon, sous, chez
D
Dictionary
method
lire,gagner,
boire, conduire
printemps, soleil, camarade
après, hors, par
Firstly, the immediate post-tests were prepared. On the pretest, the subjects had to
answer whether they already knew the ten French words. Next, the subjects were asked to
remember the ten French words using the assigned memorizing technique. Then, the subjects
took the productive and the receptive tests. To determine which memorizing technique helps
the subjects answer the productive test and the receptive test better, two kinds of tests were
given.
The words on the productive test and the receptive test were randomized on the
learning page, and the words (verbs, nouns and prepositions) were shuffled when the subjects
were tested and the subjects couldn’t return to the previous pages.
Also, the delay tests were taken to survey which memorizing technique worked in the
long term. The test had only the productive test and the receptive test, which were the same
content as the immediate post-test. It also helped to find out which memorizing technique has
17
longer effects on the memorizing of each part of speech.
On the productive and the receptive test, each of the words was assigned one point
and the maximum score was ten. If the subject misspelled a word, but it was not so serious,
the word was given 0.5 points. The max score of the verb was four and the max score of the
noun and the preposition were three, because there were four verbs, three nouns and three
prepositions on the one test.
4) Procedure
The procedure of the immediate post-test is as follows. On the first page, the subjects
took the pretest to check whether they already knew the French words. They were shown ten
French words and, if they knew them, they were asked to write down their meanings in
Japanese. On the second page, the subjects were instructed to remember the listed ten French
words with Japanese meaning using the specified memorizing technique. The subjects took as
long as they liked. Then, on the third page, the subjects took the productive test. Japanese
meanings were written on the left side and the subjects were asked to fill the blanks in the
right side with French words they remembered. On the fourth page, the receptive test was
taken. French words were written down on the right side and the subjects asked to fill in the
Japanese meaning, which they remembered, in the blanks on the right side. Table 5
summarizes the procedure and the tests are in the Appendix.
18
Table 5: The immediate post-test procedure
Page
number
Group A
Group B
1
Group C
Group D
pretest
memorize words
by original
keyword method
2
memorize words
by saying them
aloud
memorize words Memorize words
by writing them
by dictionary
down repeatedly
way
3
productive test (write Japanese words in French)
4
receptive test (write Japanese words for French)
After about one month, the subjects took only the productive test and receptive test,
which they had taken before to collect delay data. They could take as long as they liked. Table
6 summarizes the procedure.
Table 6: The delay test procedure
Page
number
Group A
Group B
Group C
1
productive test (write Japanese words in French)
2
receptive test (write Japanese words for French)
Group D
2.2.3 Results
In this section, the result of the experiment will be reported. First, we will look at the
19
result of the four immediate post-tests and delay test, Test A, Test B, Test C and Test D, on the
productive and receptive tests.
The data in Table 1 show that the mean scores of the immediate post-productive and
post-receptive tests. Comparing the mean score of the four tests, Keyword method was the
highest score, 8.14, and, on both of the productive and the receptive, Keyword method got the
highest score of the four methods. Writing repeatedly method had second highest score on
both test. Saying aloud method and Dictionary method had no significant difference.
Table 7: Mean scores of the immediate post-tests (Max point: 10)
Productive test Receptive test Mean score
Test A (keyword)
6.71 (1.93)
9.57 (0.53)
8.14
Test B (saying aloud)
3.43 (0.53)
5.93 (0.73)
4.68
Test C (writing repeatedly)
5.86 (3.02)
6.86 (2.48)
6.36
Test D (dictionary)
3.64 (1.91)
7.43 (2.30)
5.54
s.d in parentheses
The data in Table 7 shows the mean scores of the delay productive and the delay
receptive tests. All four tests had low scores, but Dictionary method was the highest score of
all tests, 1.71. Also, Dictionary method had the highest score of the productive and the
receptive tests. It is noteworthy that Keyword method had the second highest score on the
receptive tests, but, on the productive test, it had the lowest score of all the four tests. There
was no significant difference between Saying aloud and Writing repeatedly method.
20
Table 8: Mean scores of the delay tests (Max points: 10)
Productive test Receptive test Mean score
Delay Test A (keyword)
0.14 (0.38)
2.14 (1.68)
1.14
Delay Test B (saying aloud)
0.43 (0.45)
1.86 (1.57)
1.14
Delay Test C (repeated writing)
0.43 (1.13)
1.43 (1.40)
0.93
Delay Test D (Dictionary)
0.71 (0.81)
2.71 (1.89)
1.71
s.d in parentheses
Focusing on parts of speech of the immediate post-tests, in Table 9, we can see nouns
had the highest mean scores both on the productive and receptive tests comparing the scores
with the max score. The mean score of verbs and prepositions showed no significant
difference in the productive test and the receptive test.
Table 9: The mean score of the immediate post-tests,
focusing on parts of speech (Max point: 4 or 3)
Productive test
Receptive test
verbs
(Max: 4)
nouns
(Max: 3)
2.71 (1.11)
1.86 (0.80)
2.14 (0.63) 3.90 (0.38) 2.90 (0.38)
2.70 (0.49)
Test B 1.07 (0.45) 1.57 (0.35)
0.79 (0.57) 2.14 (0.69) 2.71 (0.49)
1.07 (0.61)
Test C 2.21 (1.22) 2.07 (0.98)
1.57 (0.98) 2.29 (1.38) 2.71 (0.49)
1.86 (1.07)
Test D 1.43 (0.98) 1.29 (0.95)
1.07 (0.73)
2.00 (0.58)
Test A
Mean
1.86
1.70
prepositions
(Max: 3)
1.39
verbs
(Max: 4)
nouns
(Max: 3)
2.86(1.07) 2.57 (0.79)
2.80
2.72
prepositions
(Max: 3)
1.91
s.d in parentheses
Table 10 shows the result of the delay tests for the parts of speech. All of the scores
were low. However, comparing the scores with the max score, nouns got the highest mean
score in the productive test and the receptive test than the other parts of speech as on the
21
immediate post-tests.
Table 10: The mean score of the delay tests, focusing on parts of speech (Max point: 4 or 3)
Productive test
verbs
(M: 4)
nouns
(M: 3)
Receptive test
prepositions
(M: 3)
verbs
(M: 4)
Delay Test A 0.14 (0.38) 0.00 (0.00)
0.00 (0.00) 0.43 (0.53)
Delay Test B
0.14 (0.24) 0.00 (0.00)
Delay Test C
0.00 (0.00)
Delay Test D 0.29 (0.49)
Mean
0.14
nouns
(M: 3)
prepositions
(M: 3)
1.29 (0.95)
0.43 (0.79)
0.00 (0.00)
0.57 (0.79) 1.14 (1.07)
0.14 (0.38)
0.29 (0.76)
0.14 (0.38)
0.14 (0.38)
1 .00(1.00)
0.29 (0.49)
0.43 (0.73)
0.00 (0.00) 0.71 (0.76)
1.29 (0.95)
0.71 (0.76)
1.18
0.39
0.25
0.04
0.46
s.d in parentheses
The s.d in parentheses was data which shows us how much the scores were scattered.
In this experiment, almost all of the results of Writing repeatedly method showed relatively
higher s.d scores than the other tests.
2.3 Summary
In Chapter Two, we looked at an experiment about memorizing techniques. In the
experiment, 28 subjects were divided into four groups and the subjects took the
word-memorizing test. The target words were French verbs, nouns and prepositions and the
subjects were asked to memorize these French words using specified techniques. The
immediate post-test and the delay test were taken, and the data was collected. In the
immediate post-test and the delay test, the test showed some specific results. Also, the test
22
helped lead some specific results about parts of speech memorizing.
In the next chapter, we will look at the data more precisely and discuss the effective
memorizing techniques for immediate learning and for remembering longer. Also, we will
focus on parts of speech memorizing, and productive and receptive learning.
23
Chapter Three: The discussion
3.1 Introduction
In Chapter One, we looked at the learning vocabulary strategies, such as the keyword
method, the written repetition method, the saying aloud method and the bilingual dictionary
method. Also, we looked at some opinions of researchers and the result of a survey on how
learners feel about learning strategies. To find out which is the best strategy for learners, an
experiment was conducted. The method of the experiment and its result were shown in
Chapter Two.
In this chapter, we will focus on the result of the experiment and discuss about the
tests in more detail.
3.2 Summary of the results
In Chapter Two, the aim, the subjects, the method and the results of the experiment
were presented. 28 subjects took the memorizing test. Four kinds of tests were prepared and
subjects were divided into four groups. Each group took a test which had different kinds of
learning strategies. The representative strategies were chosen for the four tests. The strategy
of Group A was the keyword method, Group B was the saying aloud method, Group C was
the writing repetition method and Group D was the bilingual dictionary method. There were
24
ten French words to remember and the delay tests were conducted about one month later.
The result of the tests shows there are some specific differences in learning strategies.
In the immediate post-test, the keyword method had the highest score and the saying aloud
method had the lowest score. In the delay test, all of the four tests got low scores but the
dictionary method was the highest score of the four methods. Focusing on each part of speech,
nouns had high scores and verbs and prepositions had no significant difference in the
immediate post-test. In the productive delay test, all scores were low, but nouns got a higher
score than the other parts of speech.
3.3 Discussion of the results
In Chapter Two, we looked at the results of each point briefly. Thus, in this chapter,
let us look at the results more deeply and discuss the results. First, the results of the interview
data will be discussed to confirm that the subjects in this experiment had the same feeling
about learning strategies as the subjects in Schmitt’s survey.
3.3.1 Interview data
An interview was conducted in order to find out whether the subjects in this
experiment and in Schmitt’s survey (1997, pp. 217-226) had the same feelings about
vocabulary learning strategy. The interview questions were like this:
25
Which learning strategy is helpful or useful in your vocabulary learning, the
dictionary, the repeated writing, the saying aloud or the keyword method?
As the result, the most used and helpful strategy was the dictionary method. The
second was the saying aloud method, the third was the repeated writing method and the
lowest was the keyword method. The second and the third was a narrow margin, so it can be
said that the results of how subjects feel were not different each other between this experiment
and Schmitt’s survey.
3.3.2 Research question A
Research question A was Which learning strategy is more helpful for immediate learning for
university learners?
In Chapter Two, Table 7 shows that the mean scores of the immediate post-tests.
Looking at the result, the keyword method was the highest score in the productive and
receptive test and the lowest score was the saying aloud method. The repeated writing method
was the second highest score but the s.d scores were high. The saying aloud method and the
dictionary method had no significant difference in the mean score, but the s.d scores of the
saying aloud method was the lowest of all.
Considering these results, it can be said that the keyword method is more helpful
than the other methods in immediate learning. It seemed that the second helpful strategy was
26
the repeated writing method because it had the second highest score, but the s.d scores were
higher than the other methods, so it implies that whether the repeated writing method is
effective or not depends on the adaptability of the learner.
In contrast to the repeated writing method, the s.d scores of the saying aloud method
were low. The mean score was the lowest of the four methods, but the s.d scores were
remarkably lower than the others, so this result implies that the saying aloud method is
difficult learning strategy for learners but the effectiveness of the method works equally
regardless of the adaptability of the learner. As for the dictionary method, the s.d scores were
relatively high, so it can be said that it depends on the adaptability of a learner whether the
dictionary method works effective.
We can conclude that the best learning strategy was the keyword method for
immediate learning but we could not clearly decide the second best strategy. The reason is that
the other methods had not only some effectiveness but also defects (some of them depended
on the acceptability of the learner or were difficult to learn).
Comparing the result of this experiment with the results of the survey taken by
Schmitt in Chapter 1.4, it can be said that the effectiveness of the strategy does not correspond
with the trend of vocabulary strategy use by university students. Table 3 in Chapter 1.4
showed that the most useful strategy was the dictionary method. However, according to this
experiment, the most effective method was the keyword method and the dictionary method
27
did not have significant effectiveness in the four strategies.
3.3.3 Research question B
Research question B was Which learning strategy’s effectiveness lasts longer? Table
8 in Chapter 2 shows that the mean score of the delay tests, which were taken about one
month later.
Looking at the data, all of the scores were low. Especially, in the productive test,
most subjects got zero. Considering the result, it can be said that these four learning strategies
do not work effectively for a long time if learners simply use these strategies once. Then this
result implies that the importance of ‘principle of expanding rehearsal’ when learners try to
remember words. This principle suggests that learners should review new material soon after
the initial meeting, and then gradually increase the learning intervals (Pimsleur, 1967, pp.
73-5; Baddeley, 1990, pp. 156-8). If learners use a learning strategy repeatedly with some
intervals, they would be able to remember words more certainly (Schmitt, 1997, pp. 216).
However, carefully looking at the mean scores, the dictionary method had the highest
score on the productive and the receptive test, so it might be said that the dictionary learning
is the most effective method which lasts longer than the others. Furthermore, in the receptive
test, the keyword method got the second highest score, so the keyword method is more
effective than the saying aloud and the repeated writing method when learners remember
28
words for receptive tests.
Comparing these results with the results of the Schmitt’s survey, the most effective
method which works longer and the most used strategy were the same, it was the dictionary
method. Considering this result, we can say that learners might notice the best learning
strategy is the dictionary method which works longer and they prefer to use it practically.
3.3.4 Research question C
Research question C was Does the effectiveness of each strategy differs depending on
the part of speech? In Chapter 2, Table 9 shows the mean scores of the immediate post-test
focusing on the parts of speech. Four verbs, three nouns and three prepositions were chosen
for each four kinds of tests.
Looking at the data, on productive test, each test got almost more than half score of
the max score of the noun, though, on the verb and preposition, most tests got less than half
score of the max score of them. On the receptive test, in the same way with the productive test,
nouns got the highest scores as the percentage of the maximum on each method.
Considering these results, it can be said that nouns are easy to remember, regardless
of the four strategies - the keyword, the saying aloud, the repeated writing and the dictionary
method in immediate learning.
When we look at the long term effectiveness of the strategies on parts of speech, the
29
similar tendency as the immediate one was revealed. In Chapter 2, Table 10 shows the scores
of the delay tests focusing on parts of speech. All of the score were low, but the mean score of
nouns was the highest of all. However, the score was really low, so it is difficult to say that the
learning strategy have different effects depending on the parts of speech in the long term.
As a conclusion, it can be said that the effectiveness of the learning strategies does
not differ depending on parts of speech, but nouns are easy to remember with all of the four
learning strategies.
3.4 Implication
According to Schmitt’s results (1997, pp. 217-226) and the interview in Chapter Two,
the dictionary method was the most used strategy for university students but the keyword
method was the most effective of the four strategies for immediate learning and the dictionary
method was the most effective in the long term learning. Thus, we can say that learners
accurately know which strategy is the best to remember new words for long time and, in
practice, they use it when they learn new words.
3.5 Limitations of the Experiment
There were some problems when testing in this experiment. First, the number of
subjects who took the tests was not enough and they were all female. Furthermore, they were
30
all from the same university, so the subjects’ abilities of the vocabulary learning were not so
variable.
Second, the words used in the tests were ten French words and the number of words
is small. In the pre-test, almost all of the subjects did not know the French words, but not all.
Furthermore, on the receptive and productive test, there were some subjects who could answer
all ten French words. Considering these facts, the effectiveness of the learning strategy cannot
be found from this data accurately. Thus, if the word was chosen from more unfamiliar
language, the number of words was more than ten and the subjects were more variable, we
could find out more interesting data.
Third problem is the delay. In this test, the delay test was taken about one month later
and the result was insufficient because the data did not become what expected. The score of
the delay test was extremely low and it was difficult to find out how long the effectiveness of
the strategies last. We could realize the importance of ‘principle of expanded rehearsal,’ but if
the delay test was taken twice or three times with shorter periods than one month, more
interesting results could be found.
Therefore, if I were to do the experiment again, I would like to test more subjects around 500 and a lot of kind learners who go to different universities. I would choose words
from a completely unknown language such as Arabic and I’d have a later data set – say 15
words. Also the delay test would be taken three times, one day later, one week later and one
31
month later.
3.6 Conclusion
In this thesis, first we focused on vocabulary learning strategies and some researchers’
opinions about the strategies. The memorizing tests were taken to find out which strategy is
the best and works longer. In the result, the strategy which learners use most corresponded
with the most effectiveness strategy which lasts longer. Furthermore, it became clear that all
of the four strategies would not work more than one month. Also, it was clear that the learning
strategy’s effectiveness did not differ depending on parts of speech and the noun was the
easiest to remember with these strategies.
Considering these results, we cannot clearly say which strategy was the best, but it
could be said that the best strategy can be different depending on the acceptability of learners
and learners should use a strategy which they think best for their purpose, for example
whether the memorizing is for immediate or long term learning. As Horwitz (1988, pp.
283-94) and Wenden (1987) mentioned, the most important consideration must be how
learners feel about the strategy when learning new vocabulary. If a learner found the best
learning strategy, the strategy would help the learner facilitate to remember words in daily life.
32
References
Baddeley, A. 1990. Human Memory: Theory And Practice. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and
Bacon.
Cohen, A. D. and E. Aphek. 1981. Easifying Second Language Learning. Studies In Second
Language Acquisition 3 (2): 221-36.
Horwitz, E. K. 1988. The Beliefs About Language Learning Of Beginning University Foreign
Language Students. The Modern Language Journal 72: 283-94.
Hosenfeld, C. 1976. Learning About Learning: Discovering Our Students’ Strategies. Foreign
Language Annals 9 (2): 117-29.
Hulstijn, J. 1997. Mnemonic Methods In Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning. In James, C.
and Thomas, H (Eds.) Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition, Cambridge University Press.
pp. 203-224.
Nation, I. S. P. 1982. Beginning To Learning Foreign Vocabulary: A View Of The Resarch.
RELC Journal 13(1): 14-36.
O’Malley, J. M., A. U. Chamot, Stewner-Manzares, L. Kupper and R. P. Russo. 1985.
Learning Strategies Used By Beginning And Intermediate ESL Students. Language Learning
35 (1): 21-24.
O’Malley, J. and A. U. Chamot. 1990. Learning Strategies In Second Language Acquisition.
Cambridge: University Press.
Pimsleur, P. 1967. A Memory Schedule. Modern Language Journal 51 (2): 73-5.
Pressley, M., J. R. Levin and G. E. Miller. 1982. The Keyword Method Compared To
Alternative Vocabulary Learning Strategies. Contemporary Educational Psychology 7: 50-60.
Psychologist World and partners. 2006. Using Mnemonics To Improve Your Brain. 16 Aug.
2012. <http://www.psychologistworld.com/>
33
Schmitt, N. 1997. Vocabulary Learning Strategies. In Schmitt, N and McCarthy, M (Eds.)
Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
pp. 199-227.
Wenden, A. 1987. How To Be A Successful Learner: Insights And Prescriptions From L2
Leaners. In A. L. Wenden and J. Rubin (Eds.) Learning Strategies In Language Learning.
New York: Prentice Hall.
34
Appendices
Appendix 1: The written test
Test A
Pre-test: Do you know below French words? If you know, write the meaning in the blank.
Example:
fraise
いちご
1. cheveu
2. faire
3. jambon
4. grossir
5. pendant
6. dominer
7. parler
8. dans
9. piste
10. sans
35
Keyword method is one way of the remembering words. You can associate each of
the words with the keyword and it will help you remember the target word.
Example:
French
manger [マンジュ]
Japanese
食べる
One original association
マンジュウを食べる。
Remember these French words and the meaning.
French
cheveu [シュブ]
Japanese
髪の毛
faire [フェル]
作る
jambon [ジャンボン]
ハム
grossir [グロスゥイル]
太る
pendant [パンダン]
…の間に
dominer [ドミネ]
圧倒する
parler [パフレ]
Write your own association
話す
dans [ダン]
…の中に
piste [ピスト]
手がかり
sans [サン]
…なしに
36
TEST 1: Write the Japanese words in French.
Example: いちご → fraise
11. 作る
→
12. …なしに →
13. ハム
→
14. 圧倒する
→
15. 太る
→
16. 話す
→
17. …の中に
18. 髪の毛
19. 手がかり
20. …の間に
→
→
→
→
37
TEST 2: Write the Japanese for these French words.
Example: fraise → いちご
21. grossir →
22. faire
→
23. sans
→
24. jambon
→
25. pendant
→
26. cheveu
→
27. parler
→
28. dans
→
29. dominer →
30. piste
→
38
Test B
Pre-test: Do you know below French words? If you know, write the meaning in
the blank.
Example: fraise
1.
été
2.
gàteau
3.
dormir
4.
effacer
5.
avant
6.
en
7.
légume
8.
voler
9.
entre
10.
chanter
いちご
39
Remember the French words by saying new words aloud several times.
été
[エテ]
夏
gàteau [ガト] 菓子
dormir [ドルミル] 眠る
effacer [エファセ] 消す
avant
[アヴァン]
en
[アン]
…より前に
…に、…へ
légume [レギュム] 野菜
飛ぶ
voler
[ヴォレ]
entre
[アントル]
（二つのもの）の間に
chanter [シャンテ] 歌う
40
TEST 1: Write the Japanese words in French.
Example: いちご → fraise
11. 消す
→
12. 眠る
→
13. （二つのもの）の間に →
14. …より前に →
15. 野菜
16. 夏
17. 飛ぶ
→
→
→
18. …に、…へ →
19. 歌う
→
20. 菓子
→
41
TEST 2: Write the Japanese for these French words.
Example: fraise → いちご
21. légume →
22. en
→
23. effacer
→
24. gàteau
→
25. chanter
→
26. dormir
→
27. été
→
28. avant
→
29. entre
→
30. voler
→
42
Test C
Pre-test: Do you know below French words? If you know, write the meaning in
the blank.
Example: fraise
1.
cadeau
2.
noix
3.
selon
4.
rire
5.
hiver
6.
courir
7.
sous
8.
pleurer
9.
mettre
10.
chez
いちご
43
Remember the French words by writing them many times. (Use the blanks)
cadeau [カド] プレゼント
noix
[ヌワ] 胡桃
selon
[スロン] …に従って
rire
[リル] 笑う
hiver
courir
sous
[イヴェル] 冬
[クゥリル] 走る
[スゥ] …の下に
pleurer
[プルレ] 泣く
mettre
[メットル] 置く
chez
[シェ] …の家に(で)
44
TEST 1: Write the Japanese words in French.
Example: いちご → fraise
11. 置く
→
12. 胡桃
→
13. プレゼント →
14. 冬
→
15. …の下に →
16. 走る
→
17. …の家に(で) →
18. 泣く
→
19. 笑う
→
20. …に従って →
45
TEST 2: Write the Japanese for these French words.
Example: fraise → いちご
→
21. noix
22. rire
→
→
23. courir
→
24. cadeau
→
25. chez
→
26. pleurer
27. sous
→
28. hiver
→
29. mettre
→
30. selon
→
46
Test D
Pre-test: Do you know below French words? If you know, write the meaning in
the blank.
Example: fraise
1.
lire
2.
après
3.
printemps
4.
soleil
5.
gagner
6.
camarade
7.
hors
8.
boire
9.
conduire
10.
par
いちご
47
Remember the French words.
lire [リㇽ]
読む (英: read)
e.g. lire un roman (read a novel) 「小説を読む」
après [アプレ]
…の後に、…の後で (英 : after)
e.g. Ils’est couché après minuit. (He went to bed after midnight.)
「彼は真夜中すぎに寝た。」
printemps [プランタン]
春 (英: spring)
e.g vacances de printemps (spring vacation) 「春休み」
soleil [ソレイュ]
太陽 (英: sun)
e.g. lever du soleil (sunrise) 「日の出」
gagner [ガニュ]
稼ぐ (英: earn)
e.g. gagner cinq mille euros par mois
(earn five thousands euros per a month ) 「月に５千ユーロ稼ぐ」
camarade [カマラド]
友達 (英: friend)
e.g. camarade de classe (classmate) 「同級生」
hors [オル]
…の外に、…の外で (英 : outside)
e.g. hors de la ville (outside the village) 「町の外に」
boire [ブワル]
飲む
(英 : drink)
e.g. boire une tasse de café (drink a cup of coffee)
「コーヒーを一杯飲む」
conduire [コンデュイル]
連れて行く(英: take)
e.g. conduire un enfant à l’école (take a child to the school)
「子供を学校へ連れて行く」
par [パル]
…を通って (英 : through)
e.g. entrer par le jardin (enter through the garden)
「庭から入る」
48
TEST 1: Write the Japanese words in French.
Example: いちご → fraise
11. …のあとに、…の後で →
12. 春
→
13. 読む
→
14. 太陽
→
15. …の外に、…の外で →
16. 稼ぐ
→
17. 友達
→
18. …を通って
19. 飲む
→
→
20. 連れて行く
→
49
TEST 2: Write the Japanese for these French words.
Example: fraise → いちご
21. après
→
22. soleil
→
23. gagner
→
24. lire
→
25. camarade →
26. par
27. hors
28. boire
→
→
→
29. conduire →
30. printemps→
50
Appendix 2: The result of the immediate and the delay test
Delay test A
Test A (keywords)
Pretest
Productive
Receptive
Productive
Receptive
A1
0
9.5
9
0
0
A2
0
6.5
10
1
1
A3
0
7
10
0
3
A4
0
9
10
0
5
A5
0
5.5
10
0
2
A6
0
5
9
0
1
A7
0
4.5
9
0
3
Average score
0.00
6.71
9.57
0.14
2.14
s.d
0.00
1.93
0.53
0.38
1.68
Test B (saying)
Delay test B
Pretest
Productive
Receptive
Productive
Receptive
B1
0
4.5
6
0
2
B2
0
3.5
6.5
0
0
B3
1
3
5
1
1
B4
0
3
6
0
0
B5
0
3.5
7
0.5
3
B6
0
3.5
5
1
3
B7
1
3
6
0.5
4
Average score
0.29
3.43
5.93
0.43
1.86
s.d
0.49
0.53
0.73
0.45
1.57
51
Test C (writing)
Pretest
Productive
Delay test C
Receptive
Productive
Receptive
C1
0
7.5
10
0
1
C2
0
4
6
0
2
C3
0
7.5
8
0
1
C4
0
10
10
3
4
C5
0
7.5
5
0
0
C6
0
2
4
0
0
C7
0
2.5
5
0
2
Average score
0.00
5.86
6.86
0.43
1.43
s.d
0.00
3.02
2.48
1.13
1.40
Test D (dictonary)
Pretest
Productive
Delay test D
Receptive
Productive
Receptive
D1
0
5.5
10
1.5
6
D2
0
5.5
8
0
3
D3
0
0.5
8
0
1
D4
1
5
8
0.5
1
D5
1
4
9
2
4
D6
0
2
6
0
3
D7
0
3
3
1
1
Average score
0.29
3.64
7.43
0.71
2.71
s.d
0.49
1.91
2.30
0.81
1.89
52
Appendix 3: The result of the immediate test focusing on parts of speeches
productive (immediate test)
receptive (immediate test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
A1
4
3
2.5
3
3
3
A2
2.5
2
2
4
3
2
A3
3.5
2.5
1
4
3
3
A4
4
2
3
4
3
3
A5
1.5
1.5
2.5
4
3
3
A6
1.5
1.5
2
4
2
3
A7
2
0.5
2
4
3
2
Average score
2.71
1.86
2.14
3.9
2.9
2.7
s.d
1.11
0.80
0.63
0.38
0.38
0.49
productive (immediate test)
receptive (immediate test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
B1
2
1.5
1
2
3
1
B2
1
1
1.5
3
2
1.5
B3
1
2
0
2
2
1
B4
1
2
0
3
3
0
B5
1
1.5
1
2
3
2
B6
1
1.5
1
1
3
1
B7
0.5
1.5
1
2
3
1
Average score
1.07
1.57
0.79
2.14
2.71
1.07
s.d
0.45
0.35
0.57
0.69
0.49
0.61
53
productive (immediate test)
receptive (immediate test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
C1
2.5
3
2
4
3
3
C2
1
2
1
3
2
1
C3
3
2.5
2
2
3
3
C4
4
3
3
4
3
3
C5
3
2.5
2
1
3
1
C6
1
1
0
1
2
1
C7
1
0.5
1
1
3
1
Average score
2.21
2.07
1.57
2.29
2.71
1.86
s.d
1.22
0.98
0.98
1.38
0.49
1.07
productive (immediate test)
receptive (immediate test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
D1
2.5
2
1
4
3
3
D2
2
2.5
1
3
3
2
D3
0
0.5
0
3
3
2
D4
2.5
1.5
2
3
3
2
D5
1.5
2
0.5
4
3
2
D6
0.5
0.5
1
2
2
2
D7
1
0
2
1
1
1
Average score
1.43
1.29
1.07
2.86
2.57
2.00
s.d
0.98
0.95
0.73
1.07
0.79
0.58
54
Appendix 4: The result of the delay test focusing on parts of speech
productive (delay test)
receptive (delay test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
A1
0
0
0
0
0
0
A2
1
0
0
1
0
0
A3
0
0
0
0
2
1
A4
0
0
0
1
2
2
A5
0
0
0
0
2
0
A6
0
0
0
0
1
0
A7
0
0
0
1
2
0
Average score
0.14
0.00
0.00
0.43
1.29
0.43
s.d
0.38
0.00
0.00
0.53
0.95
0.79
productive (delay test)
receptive (delay test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
B1
0
0
0
0
2
0
B2
0
0
0
0
0
0
B3
0
1
0
0
1
0
B4
0
0
0
0
0
0
B5
0
0.5
0
2
1
0
B6
0.5
0.5
0
1
1
1
B7
0.5
0
0
1
3
0
Average score
0.14
0.29
0.00
0.57
1.14
0.14
s.d
0.24
0.39
0.00
0.79
1.07
0.38
55
productive (delay test)
receptive (delay test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
C1
0
0
0
0
0
1
C2
0
0
0
0
2
0
C3
0
0
0
0
1
0
C4
0
2
1
1
2
1
C5
0
0
0
0
0
0
C6
0
0
0
0
0
0
C7
0
0
0
0
2
0
Average score
0.00
0.29
0.14
0.14
1.00
0.29
s.d
0.00
0.76
0.38
0.38
1.00
0.49
productive (delay test)
receptive (delay test)
verb
noun
preposition
verb
noun
preposition
D1
1
0.5
0
2
2
2
D2
0
0
0
1
2
0
D3
0
0
0
0
0
1
D4
0
0.5
0
0
1
0
D5
0
2
0
1
2
1
D6
0
0
0
0
2
1
D7
1
0
0
1
0
0
Average score
0.29
0.43
0.00
0.71
1.29
0.71
s.d
0.49
0.73
0.00
0.76
0.95
0.76
56