The Effects of Instructional Techniques Promoting an Increased Level of Foreign Language Vocabulary Retention for High School Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the implementation of instructional techniques using visuals on a selected class of high school Spanish level three students. The null hypothesis is that there will be no statistically significant difference between the vocabulary retention score of the Spanish III students who follow the traditional teaching vocabulary model (i.e. the control group) and students who follow new instructional techniques using visuals to help increase knowledge of vocabulary (i.e. the treatment group). The two groups were comprised of twenty-eight students, nine boys and nineteen girls, in high school Spanish III classes. The measurement tool utilized throughout the study was the Baltimore County Spanish Test, the speaking and writing rubrics for Spanish III. This study involved the use of a pretest/posttest design to compare data from March of 2014 to data from May of 2014. There were no significant gains in the retention of vocabulary scores, thus the null hypothesis failed to be rejected. Teachers must anticipate the reality that they cannot stop adolescent bodily changes nor the cognitive developmental stages that are happening simultaneously to the adolescence, but teachers can be proactive with mental stimulation and purposeful movement activities to keep students stimulated and engaged. In order to achieve a significant change in the retention of vocabulary for high school students there should be further research on this topic.