The Effects of Cartoons on the Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies: A Case in Turkish EFL Classes

Abstract

The impetus behind the design of this current research is to check the influence of cartoons on vocabulary learning strategies of students who have been exposed to three classics from English literature, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, and Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare. To that end, a vocabulary learning strategy test has been adopted in this quasi-experimental research which completely covers similar word units as in cartoons and hence aims to reveal favoured strategies of students besides clarifying the differences between the male and the female as well as three age groups, 10-19, 20-29 or 30 and elder. 20 randomly assigned participants working on extracts in plain texts without any comic strips were in control group, whereas 47 Turkish EFL students were in the experiment group reading cartoons in colour or black and white format. It was found out that the common vocabulary learning strategies that were used by the experimental group were determination and metacognitive strategies, whereas control group mainly adopted memory, social and metacognitive strategies. In terms of gender, the females practised determination and memory strategies, while the male students opted for social, metacognitive and cognitive strategies. Finally, 10-19 and 30 or elder subjects mostly utilized metacognitive and social strategies; however, the success of 20-29 year-old students centred around determination and memory strategies.