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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 21.2 Vocabulary learning strategies 3

1.2.1 Mnemonics 31.2.3 Non-mnemonic learning strategies 6

1.3 General conclusions about vocabulary learning strategies 81.4 Survey on how learners feel about learning strategies 101.5 Research Questions 121.6 Summary 13

Chapter Two: The Experiment2.1 Introduction 142.2 The experiment 14

2.2.1 Introduction to the experiment 142.2.2 Method 151) Subjects 152) Word selection 153) Test instrument 164) Procedure 18

2.2.3 Results 192.3 Summary 22

Chapter Three: The discussion3.1 Introduction 243.2 Summary of the results 243.3 Discussion of the results 25

3.3.1 Interview data 253.3.2 Research question A 263.3.3 Research question B 283.3.4 Research question C 29

3.4 Implication 303.5 Limitations of the Experiment 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.

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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

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

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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

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

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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

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

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Semantic maps

This method helps learners memorize new words connecting with words which they

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.

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.

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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

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

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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

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

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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).

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 strategiesMost-used strategies

Rank/40 Discover meaning % Consolidate meaning %1

2/3

4/5

678

Bilingual dictionary

Guess from textual contextAsk classmates for meaning

85

7473

Verbal repetitionWritten repetitionStudy spelling

Say new word aloudTake notes in class

767674

6964

Least-used strategies3637383940

Check for L1 cognate 11Use physical action

Use cognates in studyUse semantic mapsTeachers check flashCards for accuracy

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1093

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Table 2: Most helpful and least helpful strategies

Most helpful strategiesRank/40 Discover meaning % Consolidate meaning %

12/3

4

5/6

7

8/9/10

Bilingual dictionary

Ask classmates for paraphrase/synonym

Analyze pictures/gestures

95

86

84

Say new word aloudWritten repetitionConnect word with synonyms/antonymsContinue over timeStudy spelling

Take notes in class

Verbal repetition

919188

8787

84

84Least helpful strategies

37383940 Skip or pass new word 16

Use cognates in studyKeyword methodImage word form

343122

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.

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Table 3: Trends of vocabulary strategy use

Strategy JHS (%) HS (%) U (%) A (%)Written repetitionStudy spelling of wordWord listsUse textbook vocabulary　sectionFlash cardsBilingual dictionaryGuess from textual contextImage word’s meaningAsk teacher for paraphrase or synonymSkip or pass new wordAnalyze part of speechConnect word to personal experiencePart of speech (remembering)

91896766517747372525201712

89776757297369473729293327

75705042129593574655374540

50603329109789586157435341

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

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?

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(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.

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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.

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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

subjects remembered French words because it was expected that most of the subjects had

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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.

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Table 4: The groups of words used on the test

Group technique verbs nouns prepositions

AKeywordmethod

faire, grosser,domineer, parler

cheveu, jambon, piste pendant, dans, sans

BSayingaloud

dormir, effacer,voler, chanter

été, gàteau, légume avant, en, entre

CWritingdown

rire, courir,pleurer, mettre

cadeau, noix, hiver selon, sous, chez

DDictionary

methodlire,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

longer effects on the memorizing of each part of speech.

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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.

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Table 5: The immediate post-test procedure

Pagenumber

Group A Group B Group C Group D

1 pretest

2memorize words

by original keyword method

memorize words by saying them

aloud

memorize words by writing them down repeatedly

Memorize words by dictionary

way3 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

Pagenumber

Group A Group B Group C Group D

1 productive test (write Japanese words in French)

2 receptive test (write Japanese words for French)

2.2.3 Results

In this section, the result of the experiment will be reported. First, we will look at the

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.

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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 scoreTest A (keyword) 6.71 (1.93) 9.57 (0.53) 8.14Test B (saying aloud) 3.43 (0.53) 5.93 (0.73) 4.68Test C (writing repeatedly) 5.86 (3.02) 6.86 (2.48) 6.36Test 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.

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Table 8: Mean scores of the delay tests (Max points: 10)

Productive test Receptive test Mean scoreDelay Test A (keyword) 0.14 (0.38) 2.14 (1.68) 1.14Delay Test B (saying aloud) 0.43 (0.45) 1.86 (1.57) 1.14Delay Test C (repeated writing) 0.43 (1.13) 1.43 (1.40) 0.93Delay Test D (Dictionary) 0.71 (0.81) 2.71 (1.89) 1.71s.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 testverbs

(Max: 4)nouns

(Max: 3)prepositions

(Max: 3)verbs

(Max: 4)nouns

(Max: 3)prepositions

(Max: 3)Test A 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) 2.86(1.07) 2.57 (0.79) 2.00 (0.58)

Mean 1.86 1.70 1.39 2.80 2.72 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

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immediate post-tests.

Table 10: The mean score of the delay tests, focusing on parts of speech (Max point: 4 or 3)

Productive test Receptive testverbs(M: 4)

nouns (M: 3)

prepositions(M: 3)

verbs(M: 4)

nouns(M: 3)

prepositions(M: 3)

Delay Test A 0.14 (0.38) 0.00 (0.00) 0.00 (0.00) 0.43 (0.53) 1.29 (0.95) 0.43 (0.79)

Delay Test B 0.14 (0.24) 0.00 (0.00) 0.00 (0.00) 0.57 (0.79) 1.14 (1.07) 0.14 (0.38)

Delay Test C 0.00 (0.00) 0.29 (0.76) 0.14 (0.38) 0.14 (0.38) 1 .00(1.00) 0.29 (0.49)

Delay Test D 0.29 (0.49) 0.43 (0.73) 0.00 (0.00) 0.71 (0.76) 1.29 (0.95) 0.71 (0.76)

Mean 0.14 0.25 0.04 0.46 1.18 0.39

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 helped lead some specific

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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.

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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

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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:

Which learning strategy is helpful or useful in your vocabulary learning, the

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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 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

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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

did not have significant effectiveness in the four strategies.

3.3.3 Research question B

28

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

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

29

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

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.

30

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

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

31

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

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

32

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.

33

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/>

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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.

35

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 　　　　　　　

36

10. sans 　　　　　　　　

37

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.

Remember these French words and the meaning.

French Japanese Write your own association

cheveu [シュブ] 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] 話す

dans [ダン] …の中に

piste [ピスト] 手がかり

sans [サン] …なしに

38

Example:

French Japanese One original association

manger [マンジュ] 食べるマンジュウを食べる。

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 →

39

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 →

40

Test B



1. été　　　　　　　

2. gàteau 　　　　　　

3. dormir 　　　　　　

4. effacer　　　　　　　

5. avant 　　　　　　

6. en 　　　　　　

7. légume 　　　　　　

8. voler 　　　　　　

41

9. entre 　　　　　　　

10. chanter 　　　　　　

42

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]　…より前に

en [アン] …に、…へ

légume [レギュム] 野菜

voler [ヴォレ] 飛ぶ

entre [アントル] （二つのもの）の間に

chanter [シャンテ] 歌う

43



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 →

44



21. légume →

22. en →

23. effacer →

24. gàteau →

25. chanter →

26. dormir →

27. été →

28. avant →

29. entre →

30. voler →

45

Test C



1. cadeau　

2. noix

3. selon

4. rire

5. hiver

6. courir

7. sous

8. pleurer

9. mettre

10. chez

46

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 [イヴェル] 冬　　　　

courir [クゥリル] 走る

sous [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)

　　　　　　　　　　　　　

47



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 →

48



21. noix →

22. rire →

23. courir →

24. cadeau →

25. chez →

26. pleurer →

27. sous →

28. hiver →

29. mettre →

30. selon →

49

Test D



1. lire

2. après

3. printemps　

4. soleil

5. gagner

6. camarade

7. hors

8. boire

9. conduire

10. par 1.

50

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」

51



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 →

52



21. après →

22. soleil →

23. gagner →

24. lire →

25. camarade →

26. par →

27. hors →

28. boire →

29. conduire →

30. printemps→

53

Appendix 2: The result of the immediate and the delay test

　Test A (keywords) Delay test A

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


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

54

　

Test C (writing) Delay test C


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) Delay test D


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

55

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)


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

56

　



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

　



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

57

Appendix 4: The result of the delay test focusing on parts of speech

　productive (delay test) receptive (delay test)


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)


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

58

　



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

　



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

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web viewas mentioned above, remembering words is very hard and difficult for many people, so they...

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