Investigation of the Effective Number of Word Repetitions in English as a Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning in Light of the Emotioncy Model

مطالعات زبان و ترجمه

Article 1, Volume 54, Issue 3, October 2021, Pages 1-26   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/lts.v54i3.70855

Authors

Haniyeh Jajarmi¹; Reza Pishghadam^{* 1}; Sahar Moghimi²

¹Department of English, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

²Department of Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Repetition, as an effective way to learn vocabulary, has long been the subject of language instruction. However, it seems that the effective number of repetitions in language classrooms has been less considered by the linguistic research and consequently language instructors. Capitalizing on the emotioncy (emotion+ frequency) concept, this study investigates the effective number of word repetitions in class and based on a review of research in linguistic areas and cognitive psychology, it elucidates the spaced repetition method. To this end, 100 participants with intermediate proficiency level were randomly assigned to five groups (1, 2, 3, 4, and no repetition(s)). Then, 15 words about which the participants knew nothing were taught. To compare the results of the retention test of the five groups, one-way ANOVA was utilized. The findings demonstrated a significant difference in favor of the two repetitions group. Therefore, two spaced repetitions, along with the learners' emotioncy level towards the new words can play a pivotal role in vocabulary learning in language classrooms.

Keywords

English Language Teaching; Vocabulary; Repetition; Emotioncy; Cognitive Psychology; Neurolinguistics

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