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A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

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As with prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study one, participants responded to a number <strong>of</strong> questions<br />

to <strong>in</strong>form the design <strong>of</strong> the ma<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>vestigation. The questions <strong>in</strong>vestigated if they<br />

felt that the learn<strong>in</strong>g strategies discussion prior to tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g contributed to their<br />

ability to learn the new vocabulary. Participants were also asked what they<br />

thought had h<strong>in</strong>dered their learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> any way, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g time scale given to<br />

learn the new vocabulary. A summary <strong>of</strong> their responses to these questions is <strong>in</strong><br />

presented <strong>in</strong> Appendix 3.5.<br />

As the spoken recall task was the only replicated assessment <strong>in</strong> the delayed<br />

recall <strong>of</strong> prelim<strong>in</strong>ary studies one (see Table 3.2) and two (see Table 3.5) it was<br />

used to compare the number <strong>of</strong> items remembered for each study. This<br />

comparison suggested that despite participants possibly predict<strong>in</strong>g that they<br />

would be asked to perform these delayed recall tasks aga<strong>in</strong> (from their<br />

experience <strong>in</strong> prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study one), they were unable to reta<strong>in</strong> this <strong>in</strong>formation<br />

<strong>in</strong> their long-term memory for longer than six weeks. Another <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g<br />

observation, which was similar to immediate recall, was the apparent<br />

<strong>in</strong>terference from the new vocabulary previously learned <strong>in</strong> prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study<br />

one for a number <strong>of</strong> participants for both word forms (futarg - two participants,<br />

curvol, wangor and yamtork - two participants) and associative mean<strong>in</strong>gs<br />

(creates calm - four participants).<br />

3.3.3 Discussion and implications<br />

The aims <strong>of</strong> prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study two (see section 3.3) were achieved. The first aim<br />

exam<strong>in</strong>ed the potential use <strong>of</strong> particular learn<strong>in</strong>g strategies (i.e. mnemonic<br />

techniques) that were used by high scor<strong>in</strong>g participants <strong>in</strong> prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study one<br />

(Group A), with a view to enhanc<strong>in</strong>g the learn<strong>in</strong>g performance <strong>of</strong> those<br />

participants who achieved low scores (Group B) <strong>in</strong> prelim<strong>in</strong>ary study one. It was<br />

thought that if mnemonic techniques proved successful they could then be<br />

<strong>in</strong>corporated <strong>in</strong>to the methodology <strong>of</strong> the ma<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>vestigation. The results (see<br />

section 3.3.2) <strong>in</strong>dicated that the use <strong>of</strong> mnemonic techniques improved learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />

88

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