Comparison of the effectiveness of multimedia on vocabulary learning through phrasal verbs

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Comparison of the effectiveness of multimedia on vocabulary learning through phrasal verbs

Multimedia learning of vocabulary is known to be more effective than single media learning, especially when instructional materials use a combination of text and picture rather than other combinations of multimedia. Recently, collaborative learning has been regarded as an important language learning approach. Thus, there is a need to study if there is any better combination of multimedia than text and picture, comparing the effectiveness of multimedia including “people” or collaboration on learning vocabulary such as text and people, or text, picture, and people. What attributes to the effectiveness of multimedia on the learning of vocabulary may include promotion of learners’ interest, and positive attitudes towards language learning. There could be more reasons why multimedia positively affects vocabulary learning so further studies to examine other reasons are in need.
The current study compared the effectiveness of different combinations of multimedia on the intentional vocabulary learning through phrasal verbs, and also investigated what attributed to the effectiveness of multimedia on vocabulary learning. The participants in the study were 72 undergraduate students with English or English education majors at a university in Seoul, and they were evenly allocated to one of the three treatment groups: text and picture (TexPic), text and people (TexPeo), and text, picture, and people (TexPicPeo). In the first week, the participants were asked to take a pretest which intended to check their prior knowledge on phrasal verbs. In the second week, the treatments were given, followed by the immediate posttest to examine immediate gains of target phrasal verbs, and a questionnaire which was to find out what attributes to the effectiveness of multimedia on vocabulary learning. For the treatments, the TexPic group intentionally, individually studied the target phrasal verbs with text and picture; the TexPeo group intentionally, individually studied the same target phrasal verbs, followed by a pair work on worksheets; the TexPicPeo group also intentionally, individually studied the same target phrasal verbs, followed by the same pair work on worksheets. Two weeks after the treatments, the delayed posttest was administered to examine the retention of the target phrasal verbs over time.
The results of the immediate and two-week delayed posttest showed that there were no significant differences in the short-term gains and retention of the target phrasal verbs among the three combinations of multimedia. However, the analysis of over time change revealed that there was a significant increase in the scores from the pretest to both the immediate and delayed posttest within each group due to positive effects of multimedia. Also, there was a significant decrease in the scores from the immediate to delayed posttest after the lapse of a two-week period.
The results of the study revealed some reasons that attributed to the effectiveness of multimedia on vocabulary learning. First, multimedia created synergy effects as more than one source of learning materials was provided to the learners. Also, multimedia contributed to easier, deeper, extended learning of the target phrasal verbs. Multimedia with people provided students with opportunity of learning from each other. In addition, multimedia provided variety of learning materials that met the needs of students with different learning styles. Finally, multimedia had mostly positive effects on the affective domain of the learners. The findings from the study imply that teachers may want to consider the positive effects of the focus-on-formS approach, and apply it to vocabulary teaching. Also, teachers need to integrate various forms of multimedia into classroom activities that lead to more meaningful learning experience for students.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1
• 1.1 Background of the study 1
• 1.2 Purposes of the study and research questions - 9
• CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 10
• 2.1 Intentional vs. incidental vocabulary learning 10
• 2.2 Vocabulary learning with multimedia - 14
• 2.2.1 Use of multimedia on second language learning in general - 14
• 2.2.2 Effectiveness of multimedia on vocabulary learning 21
• 2.2.3 Collaboration in vocabulary learning 29
• 2.3 Factors that attribute to the effectiveness of multimedia on language learning in general - 34
• CHAPTER 3. METHODS - 41
• 3.1 Design of the study 41
• 3.2 Participants - 42
• 3.3 Materials - 43
• 3.4 Instruments - 47
• 3.4.1 Pretest, immediate posttest, and delayed posttest - 47
• 3.4.2 Questionnaire - 49
• 3.4.3 Interview 50
• 3.5 Data collection procedure 51
• 3.6 Data analysis - 56
• CHAPTER 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 59
• 4.1 Quantitative analysis 59
• 4.1.1 Pretest 60
• 4.1.2 Immediate posttest - 62
• 4.1.3 Delayed posttest - 67
• 4.1.4 Over time change within each group 70
• 4.2 Qualitative analysis - 75
• CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION - 91
• 5.1 Summary of the findings 91
• 5.2 Contributions to the field - 94
• 5.3 Limitations of the current study and suggestions for further studies - 96
• REFERENCES - 99
• APPENDICES - 108
• ABSTRACT IN KOREAN 138