Effects of Images on the Recall and Retention of Year 1 Malaysian Pupils’ Vocabulary Breadth and Depth

• Main Author: BEE CHOO, LEE
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2021
• Subjects: LC Special aspects of education; PE English
• Online Access: http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36807/2/Lee%20Bee%20Choo%20-%2024%20pgs.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36807/4/Lee%20Bee%20Choo%20ft.pdf; http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/36807/

This study examined the impact pictures had on the English vocabulary breadth and depth knowledge of Malaysian Year 1 pupils in rural national primary schools through the Picture Word Inductive Model (PWIM). Designed by Calhoun (1999), the approach primarily utilises pictures to elicit words from learners’ existing listening and speaking vocabularies. The intervention employed a pretest-posttest-delayed posttest control-group design and adapted Meara and Buxton’s Yes-No Recognition Test (YNRT) as well as Read’s Word Associates Test (WAT) to measure the recall and retention of subjects’ vocabulary breadth and depth respectively. Both instruments were duly tested for reliability. A total of 140 pupils from three primary schools in the same district participated in the research, comprising the Experimental group (n = 70) and the Control group (n = 70). Data collected from pretests, posttests, and delayed posttests were analysed and assessed for statistically significant differences between the experimental and the control group. The findings revealed that those who experienced the PWIM intervention achieved superior vocabulary scores at the posttest and delayed posttest levels compared to those in the control group, denoting greater vocabulary breadth and depth recall and retention that reflects the effectiveness of the intervention in enhancing vocabulary acquisition among young Malaysian learners.