Comparison of the Effectiveness of a CALL-Based Approach and a Card-Based Approach to Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention.

In this study, two study methods for the support of acquisition and retention of 10 vocabulary items were compared; one method used representative picture cards and the other a CALL interface. Seventy-one first-year Japanese university students comprising two classes participated in the study. The students studied a practice set of 10 vocabulary items using both of the two methods and then a treatment set of 10 different items using only one of the methods to which the students were randomly assigned. A t test done on the groups' vocabulary pretest scores showed no significant difference between the two groups in terms of knowledge of the items at the outset of the experiment. The analysis of the posttreatment data showed no significant difference between the groups. Finally, a posttreatment survey revealed a slight preference for the CALL method among the students.

[1]  Norbert Schmitt,et al.  Vocabulary notebooks: theoretical underpinnings and practical suggestions , 1995 .

[2]  B. MacWhinney,et al.  Vocabulary Acquisition and Verbal Short-Term Memory: Computational and Neural Bases , 1997, Brain and Language.

[3]  Caroline A. Grace,et al.  Personality Type, Tolerance of Ambiguity, and Vocabulary Retention in CALL , 2013 .

[4]  Tatsuya Nakata.  Implementing optimal spaced learning for English vocabulary learning: Towards improvement of the Low- First Method derived from the reactivation theory , 2006 .

[5]  Nick C. Ellis,et al.  Psychology of Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition: Implications for CALL. , 1995 .

[6]  Ofelia R. Nikolova.  Effects of Students' Participation in Authoring of Multimedia Materials on Student Acquisition of Vocabulary. , 2002 .

[7]  Mohammad Mohseni-Far,et al.  In search of the best technique for vocabulary acquisition , 2008 .

[8]  Mohammad Mohseni-Far,et al.  A cognitively-oriented encapsulation of strategies utilized for lexical development : in search of a flexible and highly interactive curriculum , 2008 .

[9]  Carol A. Chapelle,et al.  Computer applications in second language acquisition : foundations for teaching, testing and research , 2001 .

[10]  N. Ellis,et al.  Working Memory in the Acquisition of Vocabulary and Syntax: Putting Language in Good Order , 1996 .

[11]  James R. Nattinger,et al.  Lexical Phrases and Language Teaching , 1992 .

[12]  N. Cowan.  The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity , 2001, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[13]  A. Woods,et al.  Statistics in Language Studies , 1986 .

[14]  C. Papagno,et al.  Phonological Short-term Memory and the Learning of Novel Words: The Effect of Phonological Similarity and Item Length , 1992 .

[15]  Arthur McNeill,et al.  Vocabulary Knowledge Profiles: Evidence from Chinese-Speaking ESL Teachers. , 1996 .

[16]  Birgit Henriksen,et al.  THREE DIMENSIONS OF VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT , 1999, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[17]  Sylviane Granger.  Optimizing the role of language in Technology-Enhanced Learning , 2007 .

[18]  Batia Laufer,et al.  The development of passive and active vocabulary in a second language : Same or different ? , 1998 .

[19]  A. Beaton,et al.  Factors Affecting the Learning of Foreign Language Vocabulary: Imagery Keyword Mediators and Phonological Short-Term Memory , 1993, The Quarterly journal of experimental psychology. A, Human experimental psychology.

[20]  J. Hulstijn.  Intentional and incidental second-language vocabulary learning: A reappraisal of elaboration, rehearsal and automaticity , 2001 .

[21]  N. Schmitt,et al.  Vocabulary in Language Teaching , 2000 .

[22]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Long-term working memory. , 1995, Psychological review.

[23]  H. P. Bahrick,et al.  Maintenance of Foreign Language Vocabulary and the Spacing Effect , 1993 .

[24]  A. Baddeley.  Human Memory: Theory and Practice, Revised Edition , 1990 .

[25]  Michael Harrington.  Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning , 1996 .

[26]  Antonella Sorace,et al.  Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition and Learning Strategies in ICALL Environments , 2002 .

[27]  Michael Lewis.  The Lexical Approach: The State of ELT and a Way Forward , 2002 .

[28]  Tess Fitzpatrick,et al.  Lex30: An Improved Method of Assessing Productive Vocabulary in an L2. , 2000 .

[29]  Tatsuya Nakata,et al.  English vocabulary learning with word lists, word cards and computers: implications from cognitive psychology research for optimal spaced learning , 2008, ReCALL.

[30]  Frank Boers,et al.  Metaphor awareness and vocabulary retention , 2000 .

[31]  I. S. P. Nation,et al.  Learning Vocabulary in Another Language: Frontmatter , 2001 .

[32]  Nolan Weil,et al.  Vocabulary Size, Background Characteristics, and Reading Skill of Korean Intensive English Students , 2008 .