The Effect of Using Keyword Method on EFL Learners' Learning and Retrieving English Verb Types

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas

2 Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran

Abstract

This study used keyword method during encoding information in transferring information from short term memory to make the retrieval easier. For this purpose, 50 adult female elementary students were chosen to participate in this study. This study required two groups of learners (control and experimental groups). The experimental group enjoyed some special flashcards which each of them involved an English verb, a keyword of a similar sound to the English word and a Persian sentence. Control group received a list of verbs on a sheet of paper which contained the English verbs and their equivalents in Persian. At the end of the treatment, an immediate-past-test was used to measure the participants' short-term memory recall of the lexical items. Two weeks after the treatment, a delayed-past-test of vocabulary was administered to compare vocabulary achievement among the two groups. Analysis of immediate post-test and delayed post-test confirmed the hypothesis that the participants who used the keyword method could store and retrieve verbs in their long-term memory better than those who didn't use the method. The findings can be used in both materials development and teaching vocabulary in English foreign language classes.

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Journal of Research in Applied Linguistics
Volume 5, Special Issue
April 2015
Pages 35-42

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