THE ROLE OF VOCABULARY LEARNING CONDITIONS IN WORD LEARNING AND RETENTION

The present study is an attempt to examine the learning processes of noticing, retrieval, and generating and their possible contribution to the process of vocabulary learning and retention among intermediate students. One hundred and twenty intermediate students were randomly assigned into four groups, namely Noticing through Input enhancement (n=30), Input Enhancement plus Input-Based Reviewing (n=30), Input Enhancement plus Output-Based Reviewing (n=30) and Input Enhancement plus Input-Based and Output-Based Reviewing. The Academic Words contextualized in Focus on Vocabulary 2: Mastering the Academic Word List (Schmitt, Schmitt, & Maim, 2011) were the target words of the study. A pretest composed of VLT items was administered to the participants. The first group encountered the target words that have been already highlighted to absorb their attention. Encountering the already highlighted words, the second group reviewed the words through researcher-made word cards. The third group, besides encountering the already highlighted words, reviewed the words through rewriting the sentences including the target words. The fourth group experienced noticing through input enhancement; retrieval through using researcher-made word cards; and generation through rewriting the sentences containing the unknown words. One week after the last treatment session, an immediate posttest, and after two weeks, a delayed posttest were administered. Based on the results of four one-way repeated measures ANOVAs and three one-way ANOVAs, it was revealed that all types of input-based, output-based and input+output-based reviewing have positive effect on vocabulary learning. However, their positive effect on vocabulary retention was fairly vague. Moreover, the group treated through input enhancement+input- and output-based reviewing outperformed the other groups.