Four experiments evaluate the effectiveness of a two-stage mnemonic procedure, the keyword method, for learning Spanish vocabulary. This method proved highly effective, yielding in one experiment a final test score of 88 percent correct for the keyword group compared to 28 percent for the control group. (Author/RC)

The behavior of native English speakers and Japanese English as second language (ESL) learners on word association tasks was investigated. Research has shown that Japanese adults respond in Japanese in an identifiably different way than English speaking adults respond in English, and that native English speaking children demonstrate a…

A study examined the efficacy of the keyword method of vocabulary instruction by comparing it with five methods designed to increase semantic processing of the definitions of the vocabulary words. Subjects in all five experiments were college students. In the first three experiments, recall of the definitions from the vocabulary words was the…

Developmental differences in the acquisition of information about strategy efficiency gleaned from observation of a peer model were assessed among 60 second and 60 seventh graders and 60 undergraduate students. At each age level, 20 subjects were randomly assigned to each of 3 experimental conditions. Developmental differences were considerable.…

Compares strategies used to infer the meanings of unknown words by three NNS readers--a good reader, an average reader, and a poor reader--from a series of six readings. The good reader uses a wider range of strategies than the weaker ones; all readers "read in" meanings from their own specialized subject (in this case chemistry). (15…