International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education - Memory Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Long-term Retention - Full Length Research Paper

Sep 28, 2026

Memory vocabulary learning strategies are examined to determine whether teaching new words through memory-oriented approaches improves retention compared with traditional instruction. Students learn vocabulary meaning using synonyms and mini-contexts, and outcomes are assessed across short-term and long-term recall. The study includes 310 Indian pre-university female participants, with results favoring the experimental group. Findings support memory strategies as superior for both retention phases and highlight the need for strategy awareness and explicit instructional support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

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Introduction

Memory strategies and vocabulary retention

Contextual vs. de-contextualized vocabulary learning

Depth of Processing Hypothesis

International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education Vol.1 (2) , pp. 014-024 , October 2009 Available online at [http://www.academicjournals.org/ijvte](http://www.academicjournals.org/ijvte) © 2009 Academic Journals Full Length Research Paper Memory vocabulary learning strategies and long-term retention Azadeh Nemati Department of Studies in Linguistics , University of Mysore, Karnataka State , India. E-mail: [azadehnematiar@yahoo.com. Tel:](azadehnematiar@yahoo.com. Tel:) +91 9886492506. Accepted 3 July, 2009 The present study was an attempt to compare the impacts of teaching through memory strategies on experimental group comparison to control group, where students were taught the meaning of new vocabulary items through giving synonyms and mini-contexts. The results are reflected in the students'short-term and long-term retention. The participants of the study comprised 310 Indian pre-university females. The results indicated that the students of experimental group outperformed both in short-term and long-term scores, portrayed the superiority of memory strategies in short-term and long-term retention. As many learners do not develop sufficient mastery of the vocabulary explicit instruction of memory strategies and giving strategy awareness can facilitate them to store and retrieve new vocabulary items. Also, it was shown that being over-dependent on survey tools are open to question, in spite of being widely used. Key words: Memory strategies , vocabulary learning strategies , short-term retention, long-term retention, imagery. INTRODUCTION Although some teachers may think that vocabulary learning is easy, learning new vocabulary items has always been challenging for the learners. Different ways of learning vocabularies are usually utilized by the students such as using flash cards , notebook , referring to bilingual and monolingual dictionaries to decipher the meaning, or giving some synonyms and antonyms to name but a few. In spite of these efforts and invariably experiencing so many difficulties vocabulary is by far the most sizable and unmanageable component. This raise a fundamental query that why learning vocabulary is such challenging and unproductive experience? Which method could be used to make vocabulary less of struggle? One possible answer to the problem of vocabulary is applying teaching vocabulary learning strategies. Research into language learning strategies began in the 1960s and since the mid 1980s , vocabulary learning has been drawing growing attention from ESL researchers , particularly, the 1990s , witnessed a noticeable number of publications , vocabulary is now a current focus in ESL pedagogy and research (Wei, 2007) . Generally speaking, vocabulary can be taught in different ways each of which with its own merits and demerits. Learning vocabulary from context or 'incidental learning'as opposed to 'direct intentional learning' are two different ways of learning vocabulary. According to Nation (2001) extensive reading is useful for vocabulary growth and is called incidental learning. On the other hand, vocabulary can be learnt'intentionally' through some strategies and plans. There exist conflicting views among language professionals concerning the relative superiority of two approaches of'contextualized' and 'de-contextualized' ways of learning. Oxford and Scarcella (1994) , for example, observe that while 'de-contextualized learning' (word list) may help students memorize vocabulary for tests students are likely to rapidly forget words memorized from lists. According to Nielson (2006) at early stages of language development, 'de-contextualized' vocabulary instruction has been found to be more effective in building a fundamental vocabulary than the contextualized reading. Later he suggested that teachers of beginner level learners need to include greater amount of 'de-contextualized'vocabulary instruction (word list) gradually increasing toward more context b

FAQs

How does the study teach new vocabulary to the experimental group?

It teaches the meaning of new vocabulary items using synonyms and mini-contexts as part of memory strategies.

What retention outcomes are compared in the study?

Short-term and long-term retention scores are compared between the experimental and control groups.

What does the study conclude about memory strategies for vocabulary learning?

Students taught with memory strategies outperform others in both short-term and long-term retention, indicating the superiority of memory strategies.

Sep 28, 2026

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