The effects of training and the keyword method on the recall of an unfamiliar vocabulary.
Creators: name: Wieland, Linda DeRoy.
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 1990
Subjects: subject: Education, Reading.

description: Two experiments were conducted to investigate applications of the mnemonic keyword method to the recall of unfamiliar words when cued with their meanings. Both experiments used a study-test procedure and involved university students who were asked to study a list of 6-letter pseudowords, each with an English "translation". Keyword groups were presented with a concrete noun keyword for each pseudoword/translation pair, the first three letters of which were identical to the first half of the pseudoword. Subjects were asked to respond in writing with the pseudoword when cued with its translation, and keyword subjects in Experiment 1 were asked to also recall the keyword. Subjects were asked to describe, in a post-experimental interview, the method used to study each item set. Dependent measures were proportions of correctly-recalled pseudowords, letters in correct serial position, halves of pseudowords, and (only for keyword subjects in Experiment 1) keywords. Experiment 1 examined the effects of instructions to use a modification to the mnemonic keyword method, in which the orthographic form of the pseudoword was to be added to the interactive image containing the keyword and translation, were compared to free-strategy and to standard mnemonic keyword instructions across 4 study-test trials. The modified instructions neither helped nor hindered backward recall, as all groups recalled equivalent proportions of pseudowords and letters. Both keyword groups recalled more keyword-mapped portions of the pseudowords than did controls, and both groups recalled a large proportion of keywords by the second trial. Experiment 2 investigated the effects of training (including instruction, practice, and feedback) on backward recall for both subjects either provided or not provided with a keyword to map the first half of the pseudoword, across 3 study-test trials. Trained subjects were instructed to either generate mediators for the entire pseudoword (trained control group) or were instructed to use the provided keyword and generate a second to map the second half of the pseudoword (trained keyword group) and to associate the mediators with each other and with the translation, either imaginally or verbally. Individual differences in aptitude for acoustically decoding unfamiliar words into familiar words were measured with Part III of the Modern Languages Aptitude Test. An effect of training was found for recall of pseudowords, and a Trials x Training interaction for letters and for halves was observed due to differences between trained and untrained groups by the second and third trials respectively. Providing a keyword facilitated recall of first, but not second halves for trained subjects. Interestingly, more first halves were recalled by untrained than by trained keyword subjects. The opposite was true for second halves, indicating that the cognitive effort expended by trained subjects to generate further mediators may have detracted from their ability to exploit the provided mediator. MLAT scores were positively correlated to recall scores, but the correlations reached significance only for the untrained keyword group. Tests of heterogeneity of slopes revealed a significant difference in the relationship of MLAT and recall of first halves only between the trained and untrained keyword groups. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)