شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of two vocabulary strategies; keyword and semantic mapping, on English vocabulary learning and retention of the tenth-grade Jordanian students. The subjects of the study consisted of 90 male students from Howarah Secondary School. They were divided into three groups: two experimental and one control. To guarantee the equivalence and homogeneity of the different groups, the researcher administered a test in English language at the beginning of the first semester of the academic year 2011/2012. Afterwards, each experimental group was taught according to one of the vocabulary teaching strategies (keyword or semantic mapping), while the control group was taught in the traditional way for five days. After finishing the instructions, all the groups sat for a learning test. Then, after two weeks, the groups sat again for the retention test. To describe and analyze the data gathered, means, standard deviations, one-way ANOVA and Tukey Multiple Comparison for the Means were used. The findings of the study indicated that there was a significant difference between the mean scores of the students in the keyword group, semantic mapping group and control group on the learning test in favor of the keyword group. However, there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the students in the three groups in the retention test. In the light of these finding, the researcher recommended that the teachers should give greater recognition to the importance of strategy training, by introducing various vocabulary strategies such as keyword and semantic mapping. The researcher also recommended further research to investigate the effect of the same strategy with different ages and levels of proficiency. (Published abstract)