의미 관련성에 따른 단어군 제시 유형이 초등 영어 학습자의 어휘 습득에 미치는 영향

Effects of Presenting Semantic/Non-semantic Category Word Sets on Elementary English Learners' Vocabulary Acquisition

This research investigates the effects of presenting semantic and non-semantic word sets to elementary English learners. The study aims to see which word set is more effective in short-term and/or long-term vocabulary acquisition. Words for experiment were selected according to semantic categories and organized into Related Groups (RG) and Unrelated Groups (UG). Subjects were four classes of 6th Grade assigned to RG and UG. The data were collected through Vocabulary recall/recognition test 1, Vocabulary recall test 2 and Vocabulary recall/ recognition test 3, which help to see if the learners had acquired word meanings. The data analysis revealed 1) that there was no statistically significant difference between RG and UG in short-term recall, though the test score could be seen as if RG has interference effects; 2) that RG was the effective presenting type rather than UG in learners' long-term recall and recognition; and 3) that distinguished improvement in recognition was shown particularly in the middle-level learners of RG. Overall, the study suggests that teachers should reconstruct vocabulary learning activities and materials to present new words according to meaning relation.