Effects of rote, context, keyword, and context/keyword methods on retention of vocabulary in EFL classrooms

In the present study, the effects of rote rehearsal, context, keyword, and context/keyword methods on immediate and long-term retention of English as a foreign language (EFL) vocabulary in natural classroom settings was examined. 8 intact 9th-grade EFL classes were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 learning conditions: rote rehearsal, context, keyword, and context/keyword condition, Cued recall was assessed either immediately or after a 1-week delay. Results showed that the context/keyword method produced superior recall to any of the other 3 methods after 1 week, suggesting a very promising educational value for this method.