The Effect of Rosetta Stone Computer Software on Vocabulary Learning of Iranian Elementary EFL Learners

Abstract

In recent years, computer technology has been widely used for educational purposes. In fact, more and more teachers are using computers and the Internet in their classrooms. We’ve seen an enormous growth in the number of teachers using multimedia applications for foreign language teaching and learning. This study examines the effect of multimedia on vocabulary learning of elementary Iranian EFL learners. To achieve this purpose, 60 students were selected randomly among 85 students in a private institute in Sarableh city. These students were given the Solutions Placement Test in order to validate their proficiency levels. These participants were then randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Prior to the treatments, two groups sat for pre-tests. Then the students were exposed to the treatments for sixteen sessions; that is, the words list which was selected from the students’ books were taught to the subjects. These words were taught to the experimental group using the multimedia software “Rosetta stone” while they were taught to the control groups using the Teacher-led Method (TLM). After the treatments, two groups sat for post-tests. Then, the results of mean scores were interpreted by using Independent-Sample T-Test. The T-test analysis indicated that the difference in the post-test means between the control group (M= 29.90) and the experimental group (M=40.65) was statistically significant (t= 5.82, df= 38, 2-tailed p˂.0,05), because the P value (0.0009) was lower than 0.05. Therefore, there were significant differences between the post-test score of the two groups and the results of the research indicated that the CAVI groups performed better on post-tests when compared to the Teacher-led Instruction groups. Therefore, treatment proved to have a significant impact on vocabulary learning of the learners.