| dc.description.abstract | The current study investigated the use of bilingual graphic organizers [bilingual knowledge maps (BiK-maps)] as a presentation format (Experiment 1) and as a study strategy (Experiment 2) for the acquisition of foreign language vocabulary. Participants in both experiments were students from a private, southwestern university who were recruited from undergraduate classes. In Experiment 1, 82 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions for the task of studying 32 German-English word-pairs. Each condition was either trained on BiK-maps or lists, and, studied either BiK-maps or lists. Recall measures, and processing inventories assessing recall strategies and behavioral intentions were collected after a two day delay and revealed the following effects. BiK-map students recalled more word-pairs, more additional English words and more cued English translations than list students. BiK-map students also reported significantly greater use of breadth-based recall strategies, involving imagic, conceptual, and semantic cues. Furthermore, BiK-trained students regardless of study format, expressed less intent to engage in rote-based strategies when studying vocabulary in the future, and, greater intent to use theme-centered and image processing during general textbook study. The results of Experiment I give more weight to prior research which indicated that BiK-map study enhanced the recall of foreign language vocabulary. In Experiment 2, 38 participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, either, the BiK-strategy group who was trained on BiK-maps and created BiK-maps from a list of word-pairs during study, or, the control group who was trained on word-pair lists and took notes in their preferred style during study. Results indicated that BiK-strategists recalled more additional English words during free recall. No other differences were observed. | |
