The Efficacy of Word Association Based Cards to Improve Vocabulary Test Scores

Christopher ZIFFO
Nagoya University of Foreign Studies

Abstract
Word associations, which arise in response to a specific stimulus word, are considered by
Nation (2013) as one of nine essential elements of word knowledge.
Researchers in second language acquisition, including Aitchison (2012) and Haastrup andHenriksen (2000), argue that these associations develop gradually within the learner's mind,
suggesting potential challenges in their teachability.
However, Fitzpatrick and Munby (2014) pose the question of whether these associations canbe effectively taught in educational settings. This study attempts to investigate this question,by using word association based cards in an attempt to increase the vocabulary test scores ofJapanese university students.
Despite the results showing an absence of notable improvements, this report aims to provide
a framework for subsequent studies and proposes directions for future research in this field.
Keywords: Word Associations, Vocabulary, Word Cards

The Efficacy of Word Association Based Cards to Improve Vocabulary Test Scores.
This paper investigates whether the use of word cards (using word associations) can
improve the vocabulary test scores of Japanese university students. The Literature Review
summarizes past research and outlines what word associations are and why they are useful,specifically in terms of vocabulary organization and accessibility.
The following sections detail the procedure used to teach and test the students. The
results of the experiment indicated that the word cards, in this instance, did not result in any
improvements.
As a result, much of the discussion section will focus on the practical limitations of
this research and how it could be improved in future. Despite these limitations, it is hopedthat this paper will provide a practical framework for subsequent studies which attempt toword associations in the classroom.
Literature Review
The following section defines what word associations are and explains their role invocabulary organisation and acquisition. It also gives an outline of how word associations canbe taught and some of the problems with attempting to teach them.
Defining Word Associations
Word associations are words that relate and connect to any stimulus word (or target
word). The most common way of studying them is by asking a participant to take aproductive word association test, where they are given a stimulus word and asked to produce
one or more words in response. Table 1 shows the main ways of categorising word
association responses.

Table 1
Word Association Response Categories
Association
Category

Sub Category

Clang (form-based
responses)

Phonological

Syntagmatic

Paradigmatic

Experiential orconceptual

Example Word Association,
With Stimulus Word GivenFirst
Fan►fine

OrthographicalCollocation

Dig ► dog
Black►cat
Eat►dinnerCompound word
Superordinate member of lexical set(also: hyponym, headword)

Table►tennis
Dog►animal

Subordinate member of lexical set(also: hypernym)

Animal►dog

Equal member of same lexical set

Dog►cat

Meronym (parts of a thing)Car►wheel

Synonym or near synonym

Angry►mad

Contrast

Liquid►gas

AntonymConceptualGood►bad
Field►fence

Experiential
Death►tsunami
Note: The above categories are based on Murphy, 2003, p.9; Fitzpatrick et al., 2015, p.40;
Carter, 1998, p.19-21; McCarthy et al.,2010, p.105)
The most common types of word associations are syntagmatic associations(essentially collocations) and paradigmatic associations, (i.e., words of the same word class).
Clang associations are often phonetic in nature and are most common with children and earlylearners of a second language. A fourth category of word associations is "experiential
associations", which are related to experiences, media, news, and characters.
The Mental Lexicon
The collection of words inside the mind of a language learner is commonly known as
the "mental lexicon." This metaphor has, according to Henriksen, "gained almost universal
acceptance" (2008, p.28). Aitchison (2012) argues that the mental lexicon is likely to exist inthe human mind due to the rapid speed at which people can access large amounts of
information about words. It is unlikely that such word stores are arranged alphabetically,
because when people struggle to find a word, they rarely choose a word that is adjacent in adictionary. For example, people are not likely to accidentally say the word "bald" if they
meant to say "bale". Thus, it is often assumed that words are stored in semantic networks, but
the structure of such networks and their links is something that researchers are unable toagree upon (Henriksen, 2008). Figure 1, below, shows what a small fragment of the mental
lexicon may look like.

Figure 1
Fragment of the Mental Lexicon

Note: Adapted from Collins & Loftus (1975)
Knowing A Word
When considering the question of what is involved in knowing a word, many
researchers refer to the taxonomy provided by Nation (2013, p.49). It separates word
knowledge into form, meaning and use, and has a total of nine subcategories, each of which
can be considered in terms of receptive and productive use.

Table 2
The 9 elements of knowing a word
R What does the word sound like?
P How is the word pronounced?
2.Written
R What does the word look like?
P How is the word written and spelled?
3.Word parts
R What parts are recognizable in this word?
P What word parts are needed to express the meaning?
4.FormandMeaning
R What meaning does this word form signal?
meaning
P What word form can be used to express this meaning?
5.Concept andR What is included in the concept?
referents
P What items can the concept refer to?
6.Associations
R What other words does this make us think of?
P What other words could we use instead of this one?
7.Grammatical
Use
R In what patterns does the word occur?
functions
P In what patterns must we use this word?
8.Collocations
R What words or types of words occur with this one?
P What words or types of words must we use with this one?
9.Use andR Where, when, and how often would we expect to meet thisconstraints on use
word?
(register,
P Where, when, and how often can we use this word?
frequency..)Notes: R=Receptive Knowledge. P=Productive knowledge. Adapted from Nation (2013,
p.49)
Form

1.Spoken

As section 6 of table 2 shows, word associations are one of the nine key elements ofknowing a word. Additionally, collocations (element 8) are word associations and arecommonly produced in word association tests (Carter, 1998; McCarthy, 1990; Brown, 2014).
These will be included in this study as word associations under the term "syntagmatic" word
associations.
Breadth And Depth of Word Knowledge
Two common concepts of word knowledge are breadth (the total number of words
known) and depth (how well the words are known). It is often the case that these twodimensions correlate and as a learner learns more new words, they also learn more about thewords they already know. There can be exceptions to this rule, with Schmitt (2014) giving an
example of a taxi driver who has a small specialised vocabulary but knows and uses thewords very well.
Knowing a word is not a case of "all or nothing." Words can be well known in certain
senses, but not in others, as illustrated in the example in the table below (based on Schmitt,2014).

Table 3Knowledge of a word
No knowledge↔
Full mastery
Spoken form►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►
Written form►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►
Meaning►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►
Grammar►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►►
Collocation►►►
Register►►►►Frequency►►►►►
Associations►►►►
Note: adapted from Schmitt, 2014, p.916
Word knowledge for any individual learner will vary from word to word, will changeover time, and frequently used words will be the most well-known. Furthermore, the different
words inside the mind of the learner are not thought to exist in isolation. Meara and Wolter(2004) suggest that words are connected in a network and the distinction between vocabulary
breadth and depth should instead be replaced by a distinction between breadth andorganisation.
Figure 2, created by Meara (2009, p.76), demonstrates this principle. The left sideshows twenty separate words with varying levels of depth. The right side shows the sametwenty words connected to each other in a network of word associations. Although thisnetwork does not indicate the depth of knowledge for word form and grammatical use, it does
show that words are likely to be semantically connected to each other, and some words will
be more strongly linked than others.
The lack of connections for some words could be due to them being rare or
specialised, with even native speakers unlikely to associate them with many other words.
Alternatively, it could be the case that a language learner has not yet established theconnections they need.

Figure 2
Words in Isolation / Words in a Network

Note: Adapted from Meara, 2009, p.76.
Meara also considers whether vocabulary breadth and organizational strength are
likely to be correlated and suggests two theories (2009, p. 82). He proposes that, even among
two people with similar vocabulary sizes, there may be differences in the strength of theirorganizational skills. For example, one person may possess a wide vocabulary but exhibit
weak organizational skills, potentially leading to limited comprehension of texts ordiminished spoken output.
The second theory posits that organizational skills in vocabulary may not seem criticalfor beginners, as their immediate goal is to acquire common words. However, as learners
advance to higher levels, the organizational structure of their vocabulary becomesincreasingly crucial. Without effective organization, learners may reach a plateau, unable toprogress further until their vocabulary has been adequately restructured.
A key consideration for this research project is determining whether pedagogicalinterventions can stimulate vocabulary restructuring, or if progress inherently requires
extensive time and repeated exposure. Haastrup and Henriksen (2000) support the latter view,suggesting that the process of building lexical networks—akin to making inferences—demands considerable mental effort and is inherently slow. Similarly, Aitchison (2012,p.221) indicates that network building occurs gradually, while Schmitt (2014, p.918) notesthat aspects of word knowledge more susceptible to direct study are mastered before thoserequiring exposure to various contexts.
Lexical Accessibility
In addition to vocabulary breadth, depth and organization, some researchers suggest
there should be a fourth element of vocabulary proficiency, related to speed and ease of use.
Daller et al. (2007, p.8) refer to this as "fluency" while Mochizuki (2012, p.48) uses the term
"lexical accessibility".
Milton and Fitzpatrick (2014, p.7) argue that learners can be categorized based on
their vocabulary knowledge: those with "declarative knowledge" have a broad and deep
vocabulary but limited ability to use these words in context, whereas those with "proceduralknowledge" are able to quickly and effortlessly apply their vocabulary in communication.
They also mention a tendency for Japanese students to have large vocabularies and the ability
to communicate well in writing, but to do less well in oral communication where words need
to be accessed and processed quickly. This may be an indication of a mental lexicon that is"top heavy"- filled with too many superfluous vocabulary items. The theory here is thatstudents may be spending time learning unusual words that they will rarely use, when theyshould instead learn common words more fully, and in turn they will be able to access themquickly in spoken communication. Takač notes that it is important for lessons to "ensure that
lexical development follows a logical path, thus avoiding uncontrolled accumulation of
sporadic lexical items" (2008, p.18).
It should be noted that some researchers take the opposite point of view. Vermeer
argues the more words that a learner knows, the deeper they will understand all of them. In
his view, breadth and depth of vocabulary are basically the same construct and "the denser
the network around a word... the greater the number of words known... the deeper theknowledge of that word." (2000, p.231).
Both theories merit investigation, but it is the 2nd theory (that of Vermeer) which will
form the basis of this research project.
Teaching Word Associations
Fitzpatrick and Munby (2014) ask whether these associations can be effectively
taught in educational settings, but very little information exists. In How Vocabulary is
Learned (Webb & Nation, 2017), word associations are not given significant attention, butthere is a greater focus on collocations.
General internet searches on the subject reveal only a handful of websites featuring
games and a dissertation where stimulus words were taught using meaning-based andposition-based activities. This work used substitution, definition, antonymy and picture based
activities to teach paradigmatic associations, and ordering, matching, cloze and dictionary
activities to teach syntagmatic associations (Wharton, 2011, p.60).
Specific sections inside books and journal articles offer the largest amount of
information on teaching word associations, and one of the most common methods suggested
is to organise vocabulary into semantic networks and "trees" using diagrams. Such diagrams
are described by McCarthy as "semantic maps" (1990, p.95) and by Meara as "fragments" ofword association networks (2009, p.61).
Drawbacks Of Teaching Word Associations
One issue worth considering is that many researchers warn against teaching new
vocabulary in lexical sets due to interference and cross association (Tinkham, 1993, 1997;
Waring, 1997; Schmitt, 2000; Papathanasiou, 2009). Lexical sets refer specifically toorganised paradigmatic associations (for example, types of jobs, parts of the human body)and not to syntagmatic associations.
The approaches deemed most counterproductive when introducing new words inlexical sets include using near synonyms, free associates, and opposites (Nation, 2000).
However, the use of lexical sets and word associations becomes less detrimental and can evenbe beneficial at higher learning levels, especially when used for reviewing and classifying
already known words (Nation, 2000, p.6; Webb & Nation, 2017, p.81).
In summary, evidence supports the existence of mental lexicons and word association
networks within the minds of language learners. Furthermore, word associations (bothsyntagmatic and paradigmatic) play a crucial role in vocabulary learning. Research has
particularly suggested that word associations can enhance vocabulary organization andaccessibility.
However, only a limited number of studies have explicitly attempted to teach word
associations as a strategy to improve vocabulary acquisition. Haastrup and Henriksen (2000)
argue that forming word associations in the learner's mind takes a considerable amount oftime, whereas Vermeer (2001) contends that learning new words could enhance the learner’s
knowledge of all known words.
Research Issues and Questions
The research question for this study follows the theory of Vermeer (2001) thatlearning more words may be able to strengthen the knowledge of all words in the mental
lexicon. Given the scarcity of research in this area, this investigation represents a novel lineof inquiry. There was also a practical reason why the theory of Vermeer was chosen as thebasis for this research: a significant number of new words were included in the course andtherefore teaching and testing them was mandatory.
Research Question 1: Does the explicit teaching of word associations using wordcards lead to improvements in vocabulary test scores?
Given the detailed drawbacks of teaching lexical sets (i.e., paradigmatic associations)earlier, the word cards in this study will primarily feature syntagmatic associations (i.e.,
collocations) for the target words to be tested.
MethodThe study involved two classes of first-year Reading students at a Japanese university.
Each group had 13 members. The test group of 13 students received word association
instruction in the form of word cards, whereas the control group did not. All participants wereassessed four times, via a multiple-choice gap-fill test at the middle and end of two semesters.
Test Group Instruction
Participants in the test group were provided with word cards, which featured new
vocabulary from the textbook (target word) surrounded by associated words. These
associations were primarily collocations (syntagmatic associations) and were presented in asequential format. At the bottom of each card, some paradigmatic associations, including
synonyms and antonyms, were also included; synonyms were printed in green font, andantonyms in red font. The word associations were mostly derived from two word association
lists compiled in the UK and the USA:

Edinburgh Associative Thesaurus (Kiss et al., 1973)

University of South Florida Free Association Norms (Nelson et al., 1998)

Additionally, word associations were collected from four websites:


British National CorpusSentencedict.com

Thesaurus.com

Freecollocation.com
The cards were provided in electronic form (a JPEG image) and given to the students

via an online learning platform (Google Classroom). An example of one of the cards can befound in Appendix A. During each lesson, ten minutes were allocated for students to review
the cards and assimilate the information. If students encountered unfamiliar words among theassociations, they were encouraged to collaborate and look up the Japanese meanings in adictionary. Furthermore, students in the test group were advised to utilize the wordassociation cards for completing homework assignments and were allowed to use themduring vocabulary tests.
Control Group Instruction
The control group was exposed to the target words (i.e., new vocabulary items) in the
textbook Making Sense of the World (De Soete, 2014) and the test group also had the same
exposure. In the textbook, 5 target words are highlighted in bold within reading passages,
providing students with relevant collocations. For example, in the case of the target word
"impressive," the collocations "most" and "natural wonders" are given (see Appendix B).
These 5 words were generally new to students and were introduced each week.
Additionally, the textbook had a definition matching exercise (see Appendix C), which wascompleted by all students (both the test and control groups) in the classroom and thenrepeated as homework.
Testing Procedure
Vocabulary tests were conducted online via Google Classroom quizzes. Students inthe test group were permitted to use the word cards during the test. The tests consisted of 20
multiple-choice gap-fill questions, each with ten possible answers, covering words introducedin the preceding five lessons (see Appendix D). Of the 25 new vocabulary items introduced
across these five lessons, only 20 were selected for inclusion in each test. The complete list of
80 test words and gap-fill questions is available in Appendix E.
It is worth noting that collocations involving any two words from the gap-fill tests
were deliberately excluded from the word cards to ensure fairness by preventing the test
group from gaining an unfair advantage. For instance, in the test, the word "impressive"(target word) is followed by the collocation "talent," which was intentionally omitted fromthe ―impressive‖ word card.
Data Analysis Instruments and Procedures
Test scores were collected from Google classroom and analysed using an
Independent-Samples Mann-Whitney U Test. Four sets of test scores were collected for boththe test group and control group. Tests 1 and 2 were at the middle and end of semester 1, andTests 3 and 4 were at the middle and end of semester 2. Test scores were out of 20 points,
with 15 or 16 indicating an "A" grade, and less than 12 indicating a fail (although in thecourse, failing the vocabulary test alone did not lead to an automatic fail).
Results/Findings
The results of the vocabulary tests are shown in Table 4 and show that both the test
group and control group produced similar results. Most notably, the differences between tests

are very similar.

Table 4
Vocabulary Test Scores of ParticipantsControl Groupaverage score out of
20

Difference
betweenprevious test
score

Test Group averagescore out of 20

Difference
between previous
test score

Test 1

13.53

NA

14.00

NA

Test 2

11.61

-1.92

12.07

-1.93

Test 3

16.00

+4.39

16.38

+4.31

Test 4

15.00

-1.00

15.76

-0.62

Note: Test group and control group both had 13 members.
Statistical analysis confirms that that there was almost no difference between the twogroups. An Independent-Samples Mann-Whitney U Test found no significant difference inscores between the test and control groups across all comparisons: between Tests 1 and 2 (p= .614), between Tests 2 and 3 (p = .920), between Tests 3 and 4 (p = 1.000), and between
Tests 1 and 4 (p = .880).
Based on the data collected, Research Question 1 (Does the explicit teaching of word
associations using word cards lead to improvements in vocabulary test scores unequivocally
produced a negative result.
The students in the test group were asked to rate the usefulness of the word
association cards through a survey, which employed a 5-point Likert scale. 86% of the test
group found the cards to be either ―helpful‖ or ―very helpful.‖ This indicates that although thecards may not have resulted in improvements on the test that was conducted, they may havehelped in other ways. Unfortunately, no qualitative data was collected to discover how andwhy the students found them to be useful.
Discussion
This section explores potential reasons why the teaching intervention did not lead to
improved test scores among the students.
Problems With Teaching Word Associations

Previous research indicates that teaching words from a semantic set can negatively
impact learning. While the word cards in this study primarily utilized collocations, thepossibility remains that students were overwhelmed by an excess of information and new
vocabulary. This may have hindered their comprehension of the target words used in the tests
Problems With New Words
As noted in the literature review, word associations aid in understanding theorganization of known words, but there is disagreement about their effectiveness in acquiring
new vocabulary. Many students likely encountered both the target words and theirassociations for the first time in this study. Thus, word association data might be more
beneficial with vocabulary already known to the learners, with the aim of enhancing lexicalorganization and accessibility.
Type Of Testing
The administered test was a multiple-choice gap-fill, focusing solely on the targetwords and it as a result it did not evaluate the actual knowledge of word associations.
Consequently, any improvements in the test group that were not directly related to the targetwords may have gone undetected. Ideally, a word association test could have measured theirprogress in the associated words more accurately. There are two main types of word
association tests: the productive test, where participants are prompted with a stimulus word
and must generate responses, and the receptive test, where participants choose the best
responses from multiple options provided alongside a stimulus word. Receptive tests havebeen developed by Read (2000), Greidanus and Nienhuis (2001), and Schoonen andVerhallen (2008). However, due to classroom time constraints, neither productive nor
receptive word association tests were conducted in this study.
A second point worth noting is that the collocations used in the gap fill test wereintentionally removed from the word cards. If they had been included, it is possible that thetest group could have memorised the exact word collocations used in the test and shown agreater improvement. With the tests being part of the actual grading of the course, such an
imbalance would have been unfair on the control group.
Type Of Teaching
The word cards may have been an insufficient form of teaching for the students, forthree reasons. First, they were provided in electronic form as a JPEG image. A different form,
such as a phone app, may have been more suitable, as it would have been more accessible
and user friendly for students than an image.

Additionally, Wilkinson (2020) notes the advantages of paper-form cards, including
the tangible aspect and the opportunity for students to add their own associations andtranslations in their native language
A second issue with the word cards was that the limited time allocated to using theword cards; only ten minutes were dedicated during each lesson, although students wereencouraged to use them for homework.
Finally, incorporating different types of teaching activities (such as those used by
Wharton, 2011) may have improved the students' understanding of both the word associations
and the target words. The exclusive use of receptive methods in this study (i.e., reading thecards) may have limited the learning experience and incorporating productive activities (forexample, asking students to brainstorm associations) could potentially offer greater benefits.
Conclusion
This research project aimed to improve the vocabulary test scores of Japanese
students through the use of word association cards. The results did not indicate any
significant improvement, which may be attributed to design flaws in the implemented testing
and teaching procedures. Despite these outcomes, this paper seeks to offer a framework for
conducting similar experiments and highlights the significance of word associations invocabulary organization. Two suggestions for future research are proposed in the following
sections.
Suggestion For Future Research 1
One limitation of this project was the use of new words as target words, which meantthat students often did not fully know either the target words or the collocations andassociations. Accordingly, the following question may be worth considering: Could wordcards, and other forms of word association teaching, be more beneficial when reviewing
already known words? For such an experiment, it seems likely that word association tests
would be the best instrument for measuring progress, and a combination of both productive
and receptive tests would be recommended.
Determining the vocabulary already known by learners presents a challenge, but the
New General Service List (Browne et al., 2013) offers a promising starting point.
Suggestion For Future Research 2
Could large language models (LLM), such as ChatGPT, be used to conduct word
association research? Higginbotham (2010) suggests using word association tests to create
individual learner profiles, which could assist learners in identifying effective vocabulary
learning strategies and in choosing the most pertinent words for their studies. The potential

for an LLM to streamline and enhance this process offers an intriguing avenue for future
investigations.

BIO DATA
Chris Zifforeceived an MA in TESOLfrom the University of Birmingham in 2019. Hecurrently works at the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies and his research interests
include Word Associations, Pragmatics and the use of AI. Any correspondance in relation tothis article can be sent to ziffo@nufs.ac.jp or chrisziffo@gmail.com

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Appendix A
Word Card

Appendix B
Textbook Reading Passage, From De Soete, 2014

Appendix C
Textbook Definition Exercise, From De Soete, 2014

Appendix D
A Question From The Vocabulary Test

Appendix E.
The Test Words And Gap Fill Sentences
TEST 1
Conduct> Police will conduct random breath tests.
Warn> He flashed his lights to warn the oncoming cars.
Promote> The government must promote racial equality.
Beneficial > Sunshine and water are beneficial to living things.
Obvious> There is an obvious contrast between the cultures of East and West.
Perpetual> He is on a perpetual search for truth.
Motivation> What was your motivation for becoming a teacher?
Minimum> The minimum wage was set at $8.20 an hour.
Massive> The bell is massive, weighing over 40 tons.
Diverse> New York is a very culturally and ethnically diverse city.
Minor> This is a very minor operation and there is very little risk involved.
Guarantee, verb>> We cannot guarantee our flights will never be delayed.
Emergence> The emergence of small Japanese cars in the 1970s challenged the US andEuropean manufacturers.
Permanent > I have a permanent job here.
Sustain> Few planets can sustain life.
Innovative > There will be a prize for the most innovative design.
Unique> Each person's fingerprints are unique.
Discriminate> It is illegal to discriminate on grounds of race, sex or religion
Dynamic> He seemed a dynamic and energetic leader.
TEST 2
Prominent>> The story was given a prominent position on the front page.
Compile>> The book took 10 years to compile.
Impressive>> The musical talent on display is extremely impressive.
Encounter, verb >> We encounter so many problems in our work.
Notable >> Every country in the world signed the treaty, with one notable exception - theUnited States.
Distinction>> Is there always an absolute distinction between right and wrong?
Imitate>> Children always imitate the example of adults.
Welfare>> My main concern is the welfare of the children.
Strive>> We encourage all members to strive for the highest standards.
Reprehensible>> I find their behavior morally reprehensible.
Abuse, verb>> Drug abuse poses a major threat to the fabric of our society.
Concede>> I was forced to concede that she might be right.
Hostile>> The group chairman faced hostile questioning from angry shareholders.
Displace>> Flooding caused by the dam may displace up to a million people.
Recognize>> I recognize you now. You are Mary's husband.
Explode > The bomb was timed to explode during the rush-hour.
Hazardous>> Smoking is hazardous to your health.
Component >> Enriched uranium is a key component of a nuclear weapon.
Implement, verb>> The government failed to implement the plan.
Popular >> Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.
TEST 3Distinguish>> What characteristics distinguish the Americans from the Canadians?

Ideal >> The hotel is ideal for families with young children.
Inheritance>> She left him an inheritance of ￡100 000.
Criticize >> It's not fair to criticize without giving her the chance to answer back.
Manipulate>> She uses her charm to manipulate people.
Initially>> The island's population initially numbered 180, but there was a gradual decline
until only 40 people were left.
Brutally>> They were caught on camera as they brutally attacked a man.
Aid, noun>> Humanitarian aid is being sent to the refugees.
Cautious>> He was cautious when he was riding the bicycle.
Collapse, noun>> The unexpected rainstorm caused the collapse of the roof.
Presence>> Your presence is requested at the meeting.
Security>> The UN security council may impose economic sanctions.
Gesture, noun>> He made a rude gesture with his fingers.
Vicinity >> The stolen car was found in the vicinity of the station.
Collide>> It was predicted that a comet would collide with one of the planets.
Struggled>> He struggled to swim against the flow of the water.
Vulnerable>> Old people are particularly vulnerable members of our society.
Escalate>> The conflict could escalate into a full-blooded war.
Universal>> English is referred to as a universal language.
Currency>> The bank will supply and buy back foreign currency.
TEST 4Contradict >> The two stories contradict each other by giving opposite information.
Revolves >> The moon revolves around the Earth.
Investigate>> A committee will investigate allegations of racial discrimination.
Prevalent> Influenza is most prevalent during the winter months.
Estimate>> At a conservative estimate, the holiday will cost about ￡1500
Clashed>> A group of 400 demonstrators clashed with police.
Identical>> The two pictures are similar but not identical.
Convincing>> We need to provide a convincing argument as to why the system should bechanged.
Vast>> Vast areas of land have become desert.
Fatal>> Hepatitis is a potentially fatal disease
Obstacle>> Fear of change is an obstacle to progress.
Manageable>> My hair is more manageable since I had it cut.
Primary>> The primary aim of this course is to improve your spoken English.
Eternal>> She felt eternal gratitude to him for saving her life.
Fundamental>> Hard work is fundamental to success.
Scarcity>> The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government. More are needed.
Perilous>> The journey through the jungle was perilous. Many dangerous animals, cliffs,
and rivers were found there.
Vicious>> Keep away from that dog! He can be vicious.
Skeptical>> It will take a lot to convince the increasingly skeptical American public.
Notes
1: The test words (i.e. also the target words on the cards) are displayed in bold.
2: All the words listed above were used in the vocabulary tests as gap fill questions.
3: All collocations used in the test sentences above were omitted from the word cards. For
example, in the case of the test word "perilous", the collocation "journey" was omitted fromthe word cards.

4: All the words from tests 2,3 and 4 were presented as the target words on the wordcards.However, the words from test 1 were not taught using word associations, and no wordcards were given for these words. This was to ensure that the test 1 scores created a "startpoint" where neither group had received any special instruction.