1. Bailey, P., & Onwuegbuzie, A. (2001, November 14). Unsuccessful Study Habits in Foreign Language Courses. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED465298) Retrieved August 6, 2009, from ERIC database.
Bailey and Onwuegbuzie (2001) reviewed the literature and completed a study to determine which study habits would promote successful and unsuccessful foreign language students. They have concluded that foreign language instructors should train students in study skills within the context of foreign language study, combined with motivation techniques. Among lower-achieving students, poor study skills include taking bad notes consisting of irrelevant information, failure to seek help when having difficulties, lack of focus during study time, and not utilizing a dictionary to look up unknown words.
2. Bloom, K., & Shuell, T. (1981, March 1). Effects of Massed and Distributed Practice on the Learning and Retention of Second-Language Vocabulary. Journal of Educational Research, 74(4), 245-48. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ246382) Retrieved August 6, 2009, from ERIC database.
In a study done by Bloom and Shuell (1981), it was found that students who learned vocabulary in shorter units (10 minutes each over the course of three days) and students who learned vocabulary in one large mass unite (all words given in a 30-minute session in one day) had nearly identical performance on tests given immediate following the lessons, but students who learned vocabulary in the shorter units had significantly better vocabulary retention after four days. They suggest that distributed language learning (shorter units) promotes using long-term memory, rather than recalling from short-term memory.
3. Grace, C. (2000, June 1). Gender Differences: Vocabulary Retention and Access to Translations for Beginning Language Learners in CALL. Modern Language Journal, 84(2), 214-24. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ618092) Retrieved August 6, 2009, from ERIC database.
Grace (2000) looked at possible gender differences in vocabulary retention, and whether or not students benefited from being given L1 translations. In her study of a computer assisted language course, she found that there were no significant differences between male and female vocabulary retention. She states that all students would benefit from a clear and thorough explanation of the second language, but that students should be given a choice of their preferred methods of learning (within a CALL environment).
4. Nagy, W., & Center for the Study of Reading, U. (1995, November 1). On the Role of Context in First- and Second-Language Vocabulary Learning. Technical Report No. 627. . (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED391152) Retrieved August 6, 2009, from ERIC database.
There are several schools of thought about how second language vocabulary should be taught. Among them, there are two particularly important ideas. One idea is that vocabulary should be taught within context (e.g. by reading), another is that it should be taught completely “decontextualized” (e.g. a vocabulary list). Nagy (1995) reviewed the literature and found that there are limitations of both theories, and that they work better, and vocabulary is learned best, when vocabulary that is learned in a decontextualized manner is also presented within context.