Channels, Fall 2017

Channels • 2017 • Volume 3 • Number 1 Page 37 L1 Context Embedding Method The second method that I test in this study is the L1 Context Embedding Method. Context embedding in the L2 is quite popular and has also been researched considerably. It is based on the realization that providing students with a story or an interesting context for novel words increases their interest and engages their memory to aid in acquisition (Prince, 2012). The context or story improves students’ retention (Shu, Anderson, & Zhang, 1995; Tarakçıoğlu, 2014) and provides them with better collocations to understand the full extent of target vocabulary (Bowen & Marks, 1994; Penno et al., 2002). As much as possible, instructors should present and teach novel words in spoken and written context (Lessard-Clouston, 2013; Prince, 2012; Tarakçıoğlu, 2014). However, definitions should also be provided, since, “Successful inferencing has been shown to depend heavily on learners’ prior knowledge as well as their ability to make effective use of extratextual cues” (Nassaji, 2003, p. 648). Not all language learners have this ability to successfully inference the definition of a novel word from the text. The effectiveness of embedding target vocabulary in an L2 context is also contingent on the student’s prior proficiency in the second language. Schmitt (2000) states that a threshold of around three to five thousand word families is necessary in order to begin reading authentic texts written for native adult speakers. This prerequisite of advance vocabulary knowledge has been affirmed by research (Nassaji, 2003; Schmitt, 2000). Instead of contextual vocabulary instruction in general, in this study I focus specifically on the L1 Context Embedding Method, which to my knowledge has only been described and studied from a linguistic perspective once (Zi-Gang, 2015). With all the previous discussion and research in mind, researcher Zi-Gang tests for the first time the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary by embedding target words in an L1 context (Zi-Gang, 2015). Zi-Gang compares the L1 Context Embedding Method with rote memorization and demonstrates that the L1 Context Embedding Method is more effective. Yet, as has been shown, many methods of deep level processing have proven more effective than rote memorization. In this study, I try to remain close to Zi-Gang’s method, (although I am compelled to have smaller groups of participants and use English as the L1 and Spanish as the target language), but instead test it against the much more prestigious Keyword Method. The L1 Context Embedding Method has been shown to be superior to rote memorization (Zi-Gang, 2015), but how would it compare to the Keyword Method? I hypothesize that the Keyword Method would produce higher retention in both the immediate and delayed posttests, regardless of the order of instruction. Method To answer this question, a quantitative, microlinguistic study was created and realized. The testing was performed with 16 participants from a university-level Elementary Spanish class in two out-of-class sessions. Nine females and seven males volunteered without receiving any compensation from me, though their professor did offer them extra credit. The participants were placed into two groups of eight to each learn two sets of vocabulary