Analysis of Two Vocabulary Strategies: A study to indicate which strategy, Verbal and Visual Word Association or Contextual Redefinition, is best suited for transferring new words into students? long term memory

Abstract

Data obtained from a college readiness letter sent by ACT indicated that students who took the ACT test from the upper Midwestern school observed for this study have had a decline from 22.4 to 21.5 on the English score for the last two years. The decline, although subtle, indicates those students may not be receiving the vocabulary knowledge needed to be ready for college. This study investigated which of the two vocabulary strategies, Verbal and Visual Word Association or Contextual Redefinition, was best suited for transferring new words into students? long term memory. The study first looked at the current vocabulary strategy/strategies used with a test group of 52 ninth grade students from an upper Midwestern school. The researcher then taught and used the Verbal and Visual Word Association strategy with the same 52 students. Finally, the Contextual Redefinition strategy was taught and data was analyzed. The findings from this study indicated the students who used the Verbal and Visual Word Association strategy transferred vocabulary words to their long term memories at a slightly higher rate than when those same students used the Contextual Redefinition strategy.