The Effect of Word Recall on English Vocabulary Learning

Abstract

This study examined the effect of word recall among Korean native students learning English vocabulary as their second language. The aim was to determine if there would be an effect of word recall on English vocabulary learning after the participants had studied 160 English-Korean word pairs using the computer. Participants were assigned to three different learning conditions (Control, Recall, Encode) and they learned lists of word pairs across multiple study trials and were given an immediate recall test. A final delayed recall test was also given 1 week after learning. The results from the delayed recall test indicated that the learning conditions (Control, Recall) which required the participants to actively recall the words resulted in a better recall of words 1 week after the initial learning period. In addition, the results from the survey which investigated the participants’ preferred strategy when studying, demonstrated that 63.5% of the participants preferred to engage in self-testing or retrieval practice while studying. However, participants did not regard retrieval practice via self-testing alone as an effective learning strategy for studying.