Effects of Word Card Strategy versus Word List Strategy on Taiwanese EFL Junior High School Students’ Vocabulary Retention

Sep 29, 2026

The study compared the effects of a word card strategy versus a word list strategy, and spaced versus massed practice, on Taiwanese EFL ninth graders’ English vocabulary retention while also examining learners’ attitudes. One hundred and twenty students received identical eight-week instruction on 120 target words, delivered via cards or lists, across four conditions. A vocabulary test measured pretest, posttest, and delayed retention, supplemented by questionnaires and individual interviews. Results showed the word card strategy produced significantly better retention, and spaced practice improved outcomes but without statistical significance.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Statement of background and problem

Study purpose and research motivation

Related work on vocabulary learning strategies

Rationale for comparing word cards vs word lists and spaced vs massed practice

[http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/](http://e-flt.nus.edu.sg/) Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching 2012, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 26–45 © Centre for Language Studies National University of Singapore Effects of Word Card Strategy versus Word List Strategy on Taiwanese EFL Junior High School Students’Vocabulary Retention Yihsiang Kuo ([annakuo168@gmail.com](annakuo168@gmail.com)) National Defense University, Taiwan Hsiao-Yun Ho ([happypolly@mail.mcjh.kl.edu.tw](happypolly@mail.mcjh.kl.edu.tw)) Ming Chwan Junior High School, Taiwan Abstract This paper primarily compared the effects of a word card strategy versus a word list strategy, and spaced versus massed practice on Taiwanese EFL junior high school students’English vocabulary retention and secondarily explored their attitudes toward each strategy. Participants included 120 Taiwanese EFL ninth graders divided into card-spaced, card-massed, list-spaced, and list-massed groups receiving identical 8-week instruction on 120 target words presented on either word cards or word lists. A vocabulary test serving as thepretest, posttest, and delayed test was administered: just before, one week after, and five weeks after the experiment. Two questionnaires developed by the researchers explored participants’attitudes toward cards versus lists. Individual interviews further probed students’ attitudes toward both strategies. Statistical analyses of three vocabulary test scores suggested that the word card strategy yielded significantly better performance on vocabulary retention, whereas spaced practice (practicing or studying target words at one-week intervals) led to better but non-significant results than massed practice (practicing or studying target words all at one time) . Results derived from questionnaires and individual interviews indicated a majority of the word-card group preferred the word card strategy to the word list strategy to facilitate their vocabulary retention. Based on the overall results of the current study, three educational implications and five suggestions for future studies werepresented. 1 Introduction 1.1 Statement of background and problem Nation (2008a) ranked word cards second among four strategies (guessing from context, word cards, word parts, dictionaries), and provided a sample syllabus for the development and use of the word card strategy with spaced retrieval. Nation and Webb (2010) described spaced retrieval as recalling or retrieving word meanings or forms one or two times, waiting a short time and retrieving these words again, and then waiting a bit longer and retrieving them again with the intervals between the retrievals being months apart. Nation also claimed that by using word cards, students could successfully learn large numbers of words in a very short time and retain this knowledge fora long period. The researchers were impressed by but also skeptical about Nation’s word card strategy with spaced retrieval because it is rarely, if ever used, for English vocabulary learning in Effects of Word Card Strategy versus Word List Strategy 27 Taiwan while the other three vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) are quite often adopted by Taiwanese/Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners. For instance, some local studies (Chen, 1998; Chen & Yeh, 2004; Wu, 2005) reported that both (a) guessing from context and (b) using dictionaries were frequently used among such students. Adoption of the word-parts strategy and teaching of word-parts knowledge were reported by Yang and Huang (2009), and Wu (2005) . To the best of the researchers’knowledge, no public junior high school English teacher in Taiwan has ever implemented the word card strategy to facilitate students’vocabulary growth. On the contrary, based on the researchers’ literature review, observation and brief questionnaires used with colleagues and students, most Taiwanese EFL students have experience of using word lists to enhance their vocabulary learning/ret

FAQs

What strategies and practice schedules were compared in the study?

The paper compared word cards vs word lists and spaced practice vs massed practice, forming four instructional groups.

How did the researchers measure vocabulary retention?

A vocabulary test served as pretest, posttest, and delayed test, administered just before the experiment, one week after, and five weeks after.

Which approach led to better vocabulary retention outcomes?

The word card strategy yielded significantly better performance on vocabulary retention, while spaced practice led to better but non-significant results compared with massed practice.

Sep 29, 2026

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