Short- and Long-term Effects of Repetition Strategies on Vocabulary Retention

Abstract

This experimental study examines the role of oral and written repetition strategies in consolidating new vocabulary in the classroom context. The participants in this study were divided into three treatment groups: oral, written and oral+written. A pretest and three delayed post-tests given at one day, one week and six weeks intervals were utilised in the study. The short and long-term retention of 12 unknown words was investigated over one semester. The results revealed that all three types of repetition strategies were effective in retaining new vocabulary in the short-term. However, in the long-term, the oral+written group achieved superior results while the oral group was the least effective. The findings on the effectiveness of employing these strategies across two levels of vocabulary knowledge (meaning recall and form recall) are discussed. These findings demonstrate the importance of repetition strategies in vocabulary learning.