The effects of loanword-based collocation teaching on vocabulary retention of kindergarten children

Abstract

Loanwords have many linguistic advantages in teaching L2 vocabulary due to their similarity to cognate words. Collocations help students to learn syntactic rules of vocabulary and to communicate fluently by providing them with multiple examples of vocabulary usage. The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of vocabulary instruction using loanword-based collocations on the retention rate of kindergarten children. To this end, classroom activities for the collocations were developed, short-term and long-term retention rates were compared between loanwords and non-loanwords, and between two teaching methods: teaching words individually and through collocations. The results revealed that loanwords and the collocation method appeared to be more effective than non-loanwords and the individual method for short-term and long-term retention. Since Koreans frequently employ English vocabulary in their daily conversation, the dichotomy of loanwords and foreign words is not significant from the perspective of English vocabulary teaching. English words that are as familiar as loanwords can also be utilized as a mediator for teaching new vocabulary by applying the collocation method as a new strategy. It is therefore necessary to develop and provide loanword-based or familiar word-based collocation lists for kindergarten and elementary school children.