The Efficacy of Using Known-and-Unknown Two-Word Combinations for Novice EFL Learners

抄録

This study is a replication of Kasahara (2021), which concluded that using known-and-unknown twoword combinations for novice learners was effective to retrieve target words, but not effective to retain them. Considering the hierarchical nature of the data, the present study reexamined the same data with a generalized linear mixed model, which can deal with hierarchical data. This study used the same 79 first-year junior high school students and 17 new words and 17 known cue words. Group 1 memorized 17 known-and-unknown word combinations while Group 2 memorized 17 unknown target words. The generalized linear mixed model showed that Group 1 significantly outperformed Group 2 both in the retention and retrieval of the target items. Unlike the previous study, the results indicate the possibility for novice learners to take advantage of this two-word combination approach given some vocabulary knowledge through loanwords, implicit instructions at elementary school, and explicit instructions at junior high school.