Keyword Mnemonics Versus Rote Rehearsal: Learning Concrete and Abstract Foreign Words by Experienced and Inexperienced Learners

Abstract

We examined the efficacy of the keyword method vs. rote rehearsal in learning foreign language vocabulary in 2 studies. In Experiment 1, 36 experienced Dutch learners of foreign languages, naive with regard to the target language (Spanish), participated. In Experiment 2, 40 Americans participated; all were inexperienced foreign language learners whom we exposed to Dutch words. In both experiments, we manipulated the concreteness of the novel foreign words and the quality of the keyword as a retrieval cue: Half the concrete and abstract words were linked to a meaningfully related keyword, the rest to a semantically unrelated keyword. We assessed learning immediately after the learning phase, and after a 1‐week and a 2‐week delay. We expressed performance in proportion correct and reaction times of the orally produced translation responses. In experienced foreign language learners, rote learners' performance bettered that of keyword learners. In inexperienced learners, rote learners and keyword learners recalled the same proportion of words, though keyword learners had longer retrieval times. Keyword imagery does not impede the learning of abstract word meanings. Finally, keywords meaningfully related to the foreign word form more effective retrieval cues than semantically unrelated keywords.