The Effect of Keyword Method on Vocabulary Retension of Senior High School EFL Learners in Iran

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effect of keyword method, as one of the mnemonic strategies, on vocabulary retention of Iranian senior high school EFL learners. Following a quasi-experimental design, the study used thirty eight (n=38) female senior high school students in grade four from two intact classes at a public high school. The students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group was instructed through the keyword method and the control group learned vocabulary through the traditional method. To analyze the data, paired-samples t-test and independent samples t-tests were run. It was found that students in the experimental group significantly outperformed the students in the control group in vocabulary retention by keyword method. Also, a significant difference was found between the performance of the keyword group and traditional group in delay recall posttest. Overall, this study illustrated that the use of keyword method can largely reduce learners' problems in the acquisition and retention of L2 words. The findings of this research may have pedagogical implications for teachers and learners.

Keywords: Keyword method, mnemonic strategies, vocabulary retention, EFL learners