A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Queen Margaret University

where main investigation participants were encouraged to choose their own
preferred method of learning.
3.6.4 Assessment procedure
The preliminary studies also informed the assessment methodology of the main
investigation. Although type of recall (i.e. spoken versus written) was not
significant in the preliminary studies (see section 3.2.2), participants stated that
spoken recall without any visual cues (for example the pictures of the creatures)
was their most difficult assessment. Therefore in order to facilitate the
demonstration of learning by main investigation participations, a picture of each
creature would be presented during the spoken and written recall to aid retrieval.
The multiple-choice assessment tasks were shown to facilitate better memory
recall as a learning and recognition task than cold recall tasks, therefore the
assessment procedure of the main investigation would include a recognition task
in order to capture this level of learning.
3.7 CHAPTER SUMMARY
The aims of the four preliminary studies were achieved. Normative data for the
learning performance of 75 adults with normal language and cognitive skills was
acquired which demonstrated the wide range of ability of the normal population
to learn new vocabulary. The types of learning strategies which were used by
participants in preliminary study one were examined and the one that appeared
to be most successful (mnemonic type strategies) was found to be of assistance
to some but not all of the population (preliminary study two). Highlighting the
various types of learning strategies to those participants in the learning study
prior to the training period was considered a useful tool for the main
investigation.
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