The Effects Of The Keyword Method On The Vocabulary Recall Of Chinese EFL Learners

Vocabulary learning has been an area of topical interest in second language research. Over the past decades, second language researchers have introduced many vocabulary teaching methods and skills (e.g. Krashen & Terrell, 1983; McCarthy, 1990; Laufer, 1993; Gass & Selinker, 2001). Among them is the Keyword Method (KWM) proposed by Atkinson (1975). This method employs the phonological and/or orthographic property of L2 as a retrieval aid to recall the first language definition. A large majority of experiments have been conducted in the context of ESL to testify the effectiveness of the Keyword Method, confirming the superiority of this method over other methods. However, whether the Keyword Method could promote learners'vocabulary learning in the EFL context needs further exploration.The present study, mainly based on the Schemata Theory, attempted to investigate whether the Keyword Method is more effective than the conventional method commonly used in the context of EFL classrooms in China. Two questions were addressed in the study:â‘ Is the Keyword Method more effective than the conventional method in enhancing college students'English vocabulary recall in both short-term memory and long-term memory?â‘¡Is the Keyword Method more effective in boosting the recall of concrete words than that of abstract words? 96 students from the Academy of Art in a key university in Chongqing Municipal City participated in this study. 49 of them were assigned to the control group treated with the conventional method and 47 of them to the experimental group treated with the Keyword Method. The experiment lasted for two sessions for each group. An immediate post-test and delayed post-test were carried out respectively right after each session of instruction and two weeks later. The findings generated from the study reveal that:â‘ The Keyword Method can noticeably enhance Chinese college English learner's vocabulary recall, producing much better results than the conventional method in terms of both short-term and long-term effect.â‘¡The Keyword Method demonstrates advantages for all the words regardless of the word property.The findings from this study confirmed the previous studies in the L2 learning context which claimed that the Keyword Method was more effective than other methods (Hell & Mahn, 1997; Wang, Thomas & Ouellette, 1992; Levin et al., 1992). In addition, this study also shows that the Keyword Method is effective in the learning of abstract words as well as that of the concrete words. This finding is different from that of the previous studies showing the superiority of concrete words over abstract words in L2 learning (Raugh & Atkinson, 1975; Ellis, 1995). This study provides a new perspective for vocabulary teaching in the Chinese EFL context.