Culture in Pictures
A study on the influence of images including target-culture-specific content on foreign
language vocabulary learning.
Jo-Moritz Krah
anr: 362922
Master’s Thesis
Communication and Information Sciences
Faculty of Humanities
Tilburg University, Tilburg
Supervisor: Dr. A. Alishahi
Second reader: Dr. S. Shahid
July, 2013
Abstract
Using images as support for learning the vocabulary of a language is a widely
researched and commonly applied practice. Influential theories like the Dual Coding Theory
by Allan Paivio (1971) and the Generative Theory of Multimedia Learning by Richard E.
Mayer (1997) have emerged out of psychological and cognitive sciences and build the
background for a range of studies promoting the positive effect of images. Implementing
pictures as aid for vocabulary learning leads to questions about their content. Since cultural
content in second language teaching is considered to have a positive effect on the learning
outcome, this study examines the impact of images including content that is specific to the
culture associated with the target-language. Mainly based on Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory
and Laufer & Hulstijn’s (2001) theory of vocabulary elaboration, it is assumed, that the
pictures including target-culture will raise the motivation and attention towards the learning
materials and will lead to more referential associations, which will finally result in higher
vocabulary retention of the language learner.
In this study a total of 66 German participants were assigned to two different learning
conditions (target-culture images and non-target-culture images) of a web-based Turkish
vocabulary learning program. Each of the participants had to learn 16 words with the help of 3
learning phases. After that the vocabulary retention was measured with a multiple choice test,
which was repeated after one week. Additionally to the vocabulary retention and the overall
performance of the participants, the single word concepts were examined. Finally the attitude
of the participants towards the learning program and learning with pictures was assessed with
the results of a questionnaire.
The outcomes of the study showed a significant greater performance of the
participants, which were provided with images including target-culture-specific content.
Against prior assumptions the effect of these images was higher for nouns than for verbs and
also overall the participants performed better on learning nouns compared to verbs. Moreover
the results illustrated that those images, which got a higher culture rating in the pre-test were
learned better. Finally the participants in condition 1 had a slightly more positive opinion on
learning with pictures.
Keywords: foreign language learning, vocabulary acquisition, Dual Coding Theory, imagery
aids, cultural content, motivation, attention
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 4
2.
Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................... 6
3.
2.1.
Vocabulary knowledge ............................................................................................................ 6
2.2.
Vocabulary acquisition ............................................................................................................ 9
2.3.
Vocabulary learning strategies .............................................................................................. 10
2.4.
Imagery aid ............................................................................................................................ 12
2.5.
Language and culture ............................................................................................................ 15
2.6.
Research question and hypotheses....................................................................................... 18
Method .............................................................................................................................. 21
3.1.
Design .................................................................................................................................... 21
3.2.
Participants ............................................................................................................................ 21
3.3.
Materials................................................................................................................................ 22
3.3.1.
Word selection ............................................................................................................... 22
3.3.2.
Software design ............................................................................................................. 23
3.3.3.
Multiple choice test ....................................................................................................... 23
3.3.4.
Questionnaire ................................................................................................................ 24
3.4.
4.
Procedure .............................................................................................................................. 25
Results................................................................................................................................ 28
4.1.
Vocabulary retention............................................................................................................. 28
4.2.
Word score ............................................................................................................................ 31
4.3.
Attitudes ................................................................................................................................ 35
5.
Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 38
6.
References .......................................................................................................................... 41
1. Introduction
The vocabulary is an integral part of any language. As it seems like the words of one’s
mother tongue are learned automatically and incidental during childhood, learning new
vocabularies while approaching a second language often turns out to be a tough challenge.
The reason for that is mainly the high amount of words that has to be memorized to enable the
learner for basic communication. Teachers and scientist developed and examined various
techniques to support people while approaching the vocabulary of a foreign language.
Especially multimedia tools seem to be great for aiding the learners. Therefore images, audioand video materials are used to create word cards or to offer annotations while reading a text.
Computer software like Rosetta Stone make use of images and audio to communicate word
meaning and pronunciation, and finally to help memorizing the new words. Especially webbased or computer-based environments provide the possibilities to implement multimedia
materials in a creative way.
One widely accepted aid for vocabulary learning is images. A main process while
approaching a new word is to connect its form to its meaning. Pictures can help to evoke this
connection and additionally create referential associations, which are needed to retrieve the
word information. After Allan Paivio’s (1971) Dual Coding Theory the human brain contains
two separate cognitive processing channels, one for verbal information and the other one for
non-verbal information. Following his model it is advantageous for the language learner to
provide stimuli to both of these systems. In conclusion, presenting word form plus images is
likely to increase the learning outcome.
Although the positive function of pictures for vocabulary acquisition is widely
supported, less research is concerned with the content of these images. Studies dealing with
learning and teaching materials in general, suggest including target-culture content to increase
cultural competence and motivation, which is assumed to improve learning results as well.
Out of this thought the study on hand asks the question, if the cultural content could also have
positive effects on the learning outcome, if included in the aiding pictures. It is argued that
firstly the images including target-culture-specific content will increase motivation and
attention and secondly, that these pictures will evoke additional referential associations in the
learner’s mind.
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To investigate this assumption an experiment was conducted, where the participants
were respectively assigned to either a learning condition including images with target-culture
content or images without target-culture content. Therefore a web-based learning
environment, containing three different learning phases, was constructed. After acquiring the
16 new vocabularies the participants had to absolve a multiple choice test as well as answer
two questionnaires. The multiple choice test was repeated after one week.
This paper will start with a brief discussion about the question, what a vocabulary is in
particular and what is its meaning in a language. After that, influential theories regarding
vocabulary acquisition will be presented, followed by the explanation of some successful
learning strategies. This sequence will lead to take a deeper look into theories about the use of
images to support memorization and finally flow into a discussion about the relation of
language and culture. The theoretical framework evokes the research question and
hypotheses. After that the experiment and its materials will be specified, followed by the
presentation of the research’s outcomes. Finally the results will be discussed and impulses for
further research, mainly regarding the effects of cultural images on the learner, will be
deployed.
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2. Theoretical Framework
2.1. Vocabulary knowledge
The importance of the vocabulary in second language acquisition has long being
neglected by teachers and linguists. There was a time when learning and teaching was mainly
concerned with gaining knowledge about the grammar of a language. For the most part the
vocabulary was learned decontextualized with the help of word lists (Nation 1990). Paul
Nation was one of the first drawing close attention to the vocabulary as important part in
acquiring a second language. Following that various publications emerged concerned with
aspects like the acquisition, mental organization, memorization and teaching of vocabulary
(McCarthy 1990, Nation 1990, Oxford 1990, Bogaards & Laufer 2004, Lewis 2008, Ma
2009). Modern research considers the vocabulary of a language as one of the main obstacles,
but an integral part of approaching a language (Krashen 1985, Miller 1996, Ma 2009). It is the
first step for successful communication and without extending the vocabulary knowledge,
even with enough grammatical knowledge it will be impossible for the learner to express the
wide range of meanings inherent to any language. Quing Ma (2009) provides a demonstrative
expression of what is vocabulary in stating:
“If syntax or grammar is the overall structure of the building, then vocabulary is the bricks
that are to be fitted into that structure.”
One possible approach to narrow the definition of these ‘bricks’ is provided by
Michael McCarthy (1990), who defines words as freestanding and meaningful items of a
language. For example the English word ‘sleeping’ is freestanding itself but also consists of
two elements, ‘sleep’ and ‘ing’. These elements are called morphemes and in the mentioned
case just ‘sleep’ is a freestanding one. Even if ‘ing’ has a grammatical meaning, it does not
exist in a freestanding form; it is bound to the root word. Out of this observation McCarthy
(1990) states that a word should contain at least one potentially freestanding morpheme.
Furthermore he concludes that the vocabulary of a language mainly consists of three different
appearances of words and categorizes them into root (sleep)-, derived (asleep)-, and
compound (sleep-deprived) words. Beyond that a multitude of further concepts provide
answers to what should be considered as vocabulary. In the end the definition is most
important while creating taxonomies or word lists for language teaching and is mentioned in
this paper to present just one possible angle on vocabulary.
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Native English speakers with an educated vocabulary know around 20 000 word
families, for what a word family includes the root word, its inflected forms and its closely
related derived forms (Nation 2001). Second language learners are supposed to know 6000 –
10 000 words to manage everyday communication. However when it comes to teaching and
acquiring a second language it is crucial to be aware of a difference in the importance of
certain vocabularies regarding their frequency. For the sake of that, Nation (2001) distinguishes between four kinds of vocabulary in the English language: High frequency words,
which build 80% of the running words in a text, academic words (9%), technical words (5%)
and low-frequency words (5%).
Additional to the classification of the vocabulary regarding their usage in a language
itself it is of interest to consider its dimensions important for the acquisition process and
furthermore its organization in the human brain. In other words, what does it mean to know a
vocabulary, what are its qualities and how is this knowledge organized? It is probably
impossible to gather complete knowledge of a certain word as it contains knowledge about the
word itself, its features, relations to other words, progressive changes and so on. Nevertheless
various studies provide approaches to define word knowledge out of different perspectives
(Ma 2009, Miller 1999, Nation 2001). A common pattern is the differentiation between
knowing the form of a word, its meaning and finally its contextual use (Miller 1999, Nation
2001). This concept covers aspects like the written and the spoken form of a word, its
meanings, concepts, referents, associations, grammatical functions and collocations.
An alternative angle emphasizes stronger on the manner of knowledge than the word.
Vocabulary knowledge can be examined regarding its breadth and depth. The breadth of
knowledge refers to the amount of vocabulary stored (quantity), while the depth of knowledge
involves its semantization (quality) as well as the quality of sense relations with other words
(Ma 2009), that is, how strong is the word integrated in the lexical structure.
In addition, it is common to distinguish between receptive and productive vocabulary
knowledge, especially in terms of teaching and learning new words. The former relates to the
reading and listening processes while the latter refers to speaking and writing (Ma 2009,
Nation 2001). Receptive vocabulary knowledge involves for the most part the perception and
storage of the formal aspects. In contrast, the productive knowledge means the (constructive)
use of the word in different contexts and retrieving its meaning. Additional studies stress the
importance of the discussed distinction especially for teaching and learning. It seems like
receptive learning is the easier one, which means for example that English natives
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approaching the French language learn easier when having French-English word lists
(receptive) than English-French (productive) ones, in which they have to produce the meaning
after retrieving the word form. Moreover the two learning methods improve efficiency when
adapted to the method of use. If a student learns the receptive way, he or she will perform
better in receptive exercises (Nation 2001).
A crucial process while acquiring second-language knowledge is to connect the word
form with one of its meanings and organize it in the mind (Nation 1990, Ma 2009). The word
‘brunch’ for example has to be appended to its concept as a way to combine breakfast and
lunch. This connection can be supported by constant retrieval of form and meaning in
different contexts like seeing word and concept simultaneously. The strength of this
connection finally improves the language knowledge and determines how fast learners can
associate to the meaning while reading or hearing the word (Nation 2001).
The relation of the word form and its meaning is just one aspect of the construct of the
mental lexicon, which is consulted to describe the way how words are related to each other
and organized in the human mind (Ma 2009, McCarthy 1990, Nation 2001). The relations
between words and their meanings, already discussed above, plays an important role in
second language acquisition. The first step in building a lexical entry is to acquire the word
meaning and finally build a concept around it. While learning a second language big parts of
this conceptual meaning are already constructed with the knowledge of the first language
though. Due to that a reconstruction process takes part, diverse from first language learning
(Ma 2009). The target-language vocabulary has to be arranged with the first language
concept, which can lead to difficulties on the side of the learner. Cultural aspects do not play a
minor role regarding that. For example a dog can be perceived as a human’s best friend in an
Anglo-American environment, but as a dirty and dangerous animal from a Middle Eastern
perspective. These different concepts can lead to trouble regarding the comprehension of a
certain word and its meaning. Therefore the learners are likely to fail acquiring the correct
culture-specific meaning. Concluding it is obvious that words with familiar meaning concepts
are easier to acquire (Alpetkin 1993).
The organization and relationships in the mental lexicon can be variable. McCarthy
(1990) identifies collocation as one important binding force between words. Collocation
relates to combination possibilities of certain words. For example ‘blond’ can be just used in
connection with hair, but nobody would seriously talk about a ‘blond’ car. Another major
aspect describing the organization in the mental lexicon is sense relations, which mostly
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encounter in the forms of synonymy, antonymy and hyponymy (McCarthy 1990, Ma 2009).
Synonymy means words with similar meanings, antonymy describes opposite words and
hyponymy finally relates to the words hierarchical structure. The word ‘car’ for example is a
hyponym of ‘vehicle’. In this way whole relation-trees can be produced (car, bicycle and
scooter are all hyponyms of vehicle), which also refers to the concept of organizing words in
lexical fields (McCarthy 1990). The ‘mode of transport’ would be a lexical field in the
mentioned example. In the end, for all these concepts the associations between them are
important for the new acquired vocabulary to get fixed in the learner’s mind.
2.2. Vocabulary acquisition
In modern research the acquisition of new vocabulary is viewed out of different
angles. One widespread distinction regarding learning concepts of vocabulary is originated in
the field of cognitive psychology and distinguishes between implicit and explicit learning
(Ellis 1994, Ma 2009). The latter describes the learning process with awareness of what is
learned. For example, an exercise with the purpose of learning new vocabulary through
matching words to its pictures is referring to the construct of explicit learning. Here the
learners know about the goals of the task and learn the important objectives. Implicit learning,
on the contrary, is associated with acquiring knowledge independent of being aware of the
process. The acquisition of new vocabulary through reading a text would be an example.
Nevertheless there are different opinions regarding implicit learning and its unconsciousness.
A concept similar to that of implicit and explicit learning is the differentiation in
incidental and intentional vocabulary acquisition (Hulstijn 2003, Ma 2009). These terms
originated in behavioral psychology and developed later in the field of cognitive psychology.
A simple distinction is that intentional learning refers to the situation if learners know if there
will be a test afterwards or not. In second language acquisition incidental learning means
acquiring vocabulary through meaning focused communicative activities like reading and
listening, while intentional learning involves memorizing words and grammar rules (Hulstijn
2003, Ma 2009). After Hulstijn (2003) the main issues regarding intentional learning of
vocabulary are which language (L1/L2) should be used to learn the target-language words and
how to present the lexical items, in context or isolation.
For supporters of the implicit learning paradigm context is the major source of
vocabulary acquisition. Out of this view new words will be learned kind of naturally and
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automatically through repeated exposures in different contexts. These assumptions rely
mainly on findings for first language vocabulary, where reading and listening activities are
considered as main sources for word acquisition (Ma 2009). In contrast, advocates of the
explicit learning paradigm emphasize the mix of both paradigms through supportive explicit
concepts like memorization strategies. Especially for low level learners this is considered to
be helpful since they need to build up a basic vocabulary first to be enabled to learn from
context (Nation 2001).
Out of a psychological perspective Nation (2001) describes three processes, which
may lead to the memorization of a word: noticing, retrieval and generative use of the
vocabulary. Noticing describes the process of realizing the word and its usefulness for the
language. This can take part while using dictionaries or studying word lists for example.
Noticing involves the decontextualization of the word so that it can be perceived as a single
language item. This does not mean that the vocabulary cannot be integrated in a text as well,
but that the item is simply removed from its message context and provided with an
explanation or definition. The retrieval of form and meaning of the vocabulary is the second
process in word memorization. It can be receptive as well as productive and furthermore
repeated retrieval will strengthen the link between form and meaning in the memory.
Therefore receptive retrieval refers to the situation when learners are presented with a word
form and have to retrieve its meaning, like listening or reading. The productive retrieval refers
to speaking or writing, for example, if the learner wishes to communicate the meaning of a
word. The generative use finally means the application of the acquired word in different
contexts.
2.3. Vocabulary learning strategies
Learning strategies are procedures undertaken by the learner in order to make the
language acquisition as effective as possible. The goal of strategy use is to affect the learner’s
motivational state and the way, in which she or he selects, acquires, organizes and integrates
new knowledge (O’Mailey & Chamot 1990). Learning strategies do not exclude each other,
but are often used simultaneously. Furthermore successful learners are typically using many
different learning strategies in a structured and conceptual way.
Early research into vocabulary learning strategies was mainly concentrated on memory
strategies. One widely known and applied approach is the keyword method, firstly introduced
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by Atkinson (1975). With this technique learners use a keyword, mostly a word from the
mother tongue, as mediator and create a link with the help of a mental image. For example the
French word ‘conteau’ (knife) is remembered while imagining someone ‘cutting a toe’ with a
knife. Research concerning this strategy illustrates its positive effect on vocabulary retention
(Nation 2001).
The keyword method belongs to a wider field of mnemonic strategies, which use
further materials like images, words or rhymes as aid for vocabulary memorization and are
considered as extremely helpful while connecting the word form to its meaning (Laufer
2004). Further approaches in the field of explicit learning strategies are word groupings, word
associations and semantic mapping while implicit strategies include learning through context
with contextual guessing or extensive reading.
There are different ways of conceptualizing learning and teaching strategies. O’Malley
& Chamot (1990) classify those regarding cognitive skills as metacognitive, cognitive and
social/affective strategies. Metacognitive strategies include planning or evaluating the
learning process itself. Cognitive strategies are directly concerned with the incoming
information. Inferencing and the use of imagery fall into this category. Social/ affective
strategies finally describe the interaction with other people, like cooperated working for
example.
Another influential taxonomy is provided by Rebecca Oxford (1990). She
distinguishes between indirect and direct learning strategies, which include four further
dimensions: Decontextualized, semi-contextualized, fully contextualized and adaptable
strategies. Decontextualizing vocabulary learning strategies contain word lists, flash cards,
and dictionary use. The semi-contextualizing ones mean techniques like word grouping, word
associations and visual imagery. Finally fully contextualized strategies are reading exercises
and adaptable strategies include methods like structured reviewing. For the purpose of this
paper I attend to concentrate on explicit direct learning strategies, which are semicontextualized like word cards and the use of imagery.
Nation (2001) considers the strategy of using word cards as an effective way in terms
of acquiring second language vocabulary. According to Nation, these strategies are useful for
vocabulary learning and communicate important features like word meaning, word form and
word connections. Especially with regards to the important initial stage of retrieving the word
form and connecting it to its meaning, the word cards offer a great concept while presenting
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the second language word on the one side and its meaning, in form of the first language
translation or an image, on the other. Through that the learners have to guess the word
meaning first, what is considered to have positive effects on retention (Nation 2001).
Furthermore the word cards can be extended by images, rhymes, keywords or any other
mnemonics. Advocates of the incidental learning paradigm remark critic towards the word
card system. They emphasize learning words in context for assimilating meaning (Oxford
1998, Nation 2001). Nation counters and argues that word cards are primarily useful to learn
and strengthen the underlying word concept, which can be supportive for learning from
context as well. Direct learning is faster and it can help incidental learning by raising
consciousness towards particular words and providing knowledge. Nation further states that
this strategy can be applied for both, high- and low-frequency words, and is therefore useful
for low level learners in particular.
2.4. Imagery aid
The discussion about vocabulary learning strategies leads to the consideration of
imagery aid in the form of pictures as support for the vocabulary acquisition process. As
already mentioned above, using supportive images is a form of mnemonic strategy and in the
combination with learning strategies, like the use of word cards, a widely and successful
applied technique of learning new vocabulary (Nation 2001, Oxford & Crookhall 1990).
The use of imagery for language learning in particular is to a large extent discussed in
research concerning multimedia aid. The Generative Theory of Multimedia Learning (Mayer
1997) serves as background for a plurality of studies and draws on two influencing theories:
The Dual Coding Theory (Paivio 1971) and the Generative Theory (Wittrock 1990).
Moreover Richard Mayer extended this model by including the Cognitive Load Theory as
important consideration for multimedia learning (Mayer 2005). All of these theories, out of
which the Dual Coding Theory plays the major role in terms of imagery aid, will be briefly
discussed below.
The Dual Coding Theory developed by Allan Paivio appears to be one of the most
influential models, which discusses the diverse processing of verbal and non-verbal
information and its mental representation. Following Paivio the human brain consists of two
distinct systems concerned with either verbal or non-verbal information. The verbal stimuli or
representations include the visual appearance of the word or the auditory. These verbal
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entities are separate identities even if they can be connected through different forms of
associations like the word meaning. The word ‘man’ and its Turkish equivalent ‘erkek’ can be
associated through its similar meaning but they exist as separate entities though (Clark &
Paivio 1991).
On the other hand the non-verbal system contains images or environmental sounds.
Contrary to the verbal processing and representation the non-verbal entities can be retrieved
simultaneously and exist enlaced. A single mental image of a living room contains a bunch of
information and a word like ‘chaos’ can evoke a ranch of images in parallel. Finally both
separate systems and rather its entities are connected through referential links and can be
activated or retrieved by stimulating one of them (Clark & Paivio 1991).
The Generative Theory by Merlin C. Wittrock ascribes four processes to the
generation of meaning and understanding: attention, motivation, knowledge and perceptions
and generation (Wittrock 1990). Following that and regarding multimedia aid, Mayer creates
the conception of the learner as active knowledge constructer, who selects, organizes and
integrates material independently when presented with visual and verbal information.
Learning is therefore more likely to occur when learners can build meaningful connections
between the verbal and visual mental representations. Many design principles for effective
multimedia learning have been proposed on the basis of this theory, such as presenting
relevant verbal and visual information simultaneously.
The Cognitive Load Theory is a model developed by John Sweller and Paul Chandler
(1991) and involves the cognitive burden of humans while learning. It states that in the
learning process people can just process a limited amount of information. If the threshold is
exceeded, negative learning results may occur (Mayer 2005).
The discussed theories are reviewed by many studies as important considerations
while designing learning tools with the help of multimedia. Regarding the acquisition of
vocabulary with supportive pictures, the Dual Coding Theory seems to be the most
meaningful. Nevertheless while designing the experimental tool the whole theoretical
background was of importance. The learner should not be overloaded with visual and textual
information and a certain degree of active involvement in the learning process should be
considered.
Following Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory it can be assumed that providing the learner
with meaningful images while acquiring vocabulary will improve word memorization and
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retention, due to the fact that the word and the image are processed through both channels,
which can enhance additive effects (Chun & Plass 1996). Furthermore the constant retrieval
of visual and verbal material is likely to build referential connections between visual and
verbal representations in the short-term memory (Mayer & Sims 1995). Summarized Chun &
Plass (1997) constitute three advantages of storing information in both, verbal and visual
system:
1. A more elaborate encoding, resulting in more retrieval routes to the material.
2. The possibility of storing more information.
3. Adjust the information to the optimal system (e.g. symbolic coded information like the
letter ‘x’, which has more meaning than being just a rare letter in the alphabet, stored
in the verbal system)
Further studies support the former observations and the effect of imagery aid on
vocabulary acquisition and retention (Al Seghayer 2001, Yeh & Wang 2003, Plass & Mayer
1998, Kim & Gilman 2008).
Kim & Gilman (2008) conducted a study examining the effects of added graphics and
spoken text to vocabularies in text form on recall, learning duration and attitude towards the
different treatments. Therefore the participants were investigated in a web-based selfinstruction program and treated with a different mode each. The study’s outcome showed no
difference in attitude and duration but significant higher results for both added multimedia
components, whereat added graphics performed the best.
Yeh & Wang (2003) examined altogether three types of vocabulary annotations: text
annotation only, text plus picture, and text plus picture and sound. They extended their
research by the question if certain perceptual learning styles (auditory, visual-verbal, visualnon-verbal, mixed) favor one of the annotation styles. Their outcome showed no significant
influence of the learning styles. The presentation of text plus picture acted as the most
effective mode while learning the words. With picture annotations the participants showed the
highest performance while assigning the vocabulary to its meaning.
As the first two studies are concerned with learning vocabulary decontextualized
(explicit) and examining the effects on recall or memory, the following studies take an
additional look at the effects on text comprehension, which provides further insights into the
efficiency of visuals.
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The study conducted by Al Seghayer (2001) supports Paivio’s Dual Coding Theory
and its assumption that through retrieval of verbal and non-verbal materials the learners are
able to build referential connections between both forms of mental representations, which
leads to higher learning efficiency. The participants were introduced to a hypermedia-learning
program for reading comprehension. With the help of a vocabulary test, a questionnaire and a
face-to-face interview Al Seghayer measured the performance of the participants provided
respectively with three types of keyword annotation (text, text plus picture, text plus video)
while reading a text. Words that were dually coded performed better, at which the text plus
video appeared to be the most effective mode.
A study by Plass, Chun & Mayer (1998) draws on Mayer’s (1997) Generative Theory
of Multimedia Learning. Following that model the research examined the effects of verbal
information (presented translation), visual information (presented video or picture) or a
combination of both while learning vocabulary on, not only word memory, but also text
comprehension. Therefore the participants had the option to choose one of the mentioned
annotations on certain keywords while reading a text. The results showed that students
remembered the words best when receiving both, verbal and visual annotations. Moreover a
better text comprehension was observed when the learners had the opportunity to choose the
way of annotation on their own, for which they mostly choose the translation plus picture.
Besides the variety of research supporting the use of multimedia aid and imagery in
vocabulary learning, some aspects provide occasion for thoughts. Following the Cognitive
Load Theory too many presented elements can lead to overload. Furthermore the attention
paid on the text can be reduced due to the pictures, what can have negative effects on the
learning outcome (Kim & Gilman 2008).
2.5. Language and culture
Although the use of images as support for vocabulary learning is relatively widely
covered by research, a low amount of studies is concerned with the content of the pictures.
Most studies are emerging out of the area of marketing, psychology or web-user interface
design and are dealing with aesthetical aspects regarding (learning) materials. The size,
(spatial) composition, color of the pictures and other components and their influence on
perception and cognition are some of the issues dealt with. As these are considerable aspects
while designing the learning tool, this study will be less concerned with aesthetical features,
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but with the content of the pictures in the way what it expresses, which associations it evokes.
Therefore the degree of cultural content included in the supportive pictures will be examined.
Studies regarding the cultural content of learning pictures or learning materials are
rare. Out of a general perspective, the cultural aspect is considered an important factor while
acquiring a second language. Learning a foreign language always includes learning about the
culture. After Mitchell and Myles (2004) language and culture are two interdependent
elements, which should be considered as related. Language expresses and represents culture
and in turn culture influences the perceived meaning of the vocabulary or expressions in a
language.
Research into second language teaching emphasizes on the importance of transmitting
the cultural component (Byram 1989, Steward 1982). The reasons are the support of
intercultural competence and the acquisition of specific meaning inherent to the targetlanguage. Cultural learning means gathering culture-specific and general skills and attitudes
for effective communication and interaction (Kiet Ho 2009). Moreover it includes creating
cultural awareness regarding the target- and the own culture. This is important in several
ways. A simple example is behavioral rules, how to act and when to use certain phrases with
regards to politeness and adequacy. Another aspect is the cultural-specific meaning or
connotation of words (Byram 1997). The word ‘hotel’ for a French person produces different
mental images than for an American, who probably associates the word with one of the
famous hotel chains, like the ‘Hilton Hotels’. This observation reaches it extent concerning
abstract words like ‘love’, which can imply various culture-specific representations.
Nevertheless the cultural component can also have negative effects on the
comprehension of meaning. Alpetkin (1992) describes culture as socially acquired
knowledge. He contrasts the schematic knowledge with the systemic knowledge, both required
for cognitive processes in approaching a language. The systemic knowledge involves the
formal knowledge about a language and can be acquired by the learner of a second language
without constraints. Contrary to that, the schematic knowledge is already developed with the
first language acquisition and is socially acquired. This can lead to conflicts while learning a
second language. The learner tries to push the new gained content in her or his already
acquired schematic knowledge, which does not always fit. For example the concept of
Halloween for a Chinese English learner may be totally unfamiliar.
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While for the rote acquisition of vocabularies these schematic differences may play a
marginal role, it can be an important factor for text comprehension or other context based
learning activities. Also for the use of pictures these observations should be considered.
Pictures and context should be familiar to an extent that the learner can still refer to her or his
own cultural context. Alpetkin concludes that teaching materials, which make use of the
target-language’s cultural elements, can even be distracting for the learning process. Smooth
transitions from familiar to unfamiliar schemas should be implemented.
Next to the mentioned aspects of behavioral understanding and perception of meaning,
the inclusion of culture in language learning/teaching materials can increase the interest of the
learners and therefore effect motivation and attention (Kiet Ho 2009). Both of these features
are in turn considered as promoting success and achievement in second language learning
(Laufer & Hulstijn 2001). Therefore attention is covered by the already discussed model of
explicit learning. Contrary to implicit learning, which is considered as advantageous regarding
phonological and phonetic word features, explicit learning supports the acquisition of
meaning and requires processing at the semantic and conceptual level paying attention to
form-meaning connections (Ellis 1994).
Motivation is considered as a further main determinant of second language learning
achievement and can be influenced by the provided learning material (Laufer & Hulstijn
2001, Dörnyei 1994). Besides various conceptualizations of motivation Ellis (1994)
differentiates with regards to second language acquisition between integrative and
instrumental motivation. While the latter describes motivation out of practical reasons, like
better job opportunities, integrative motivation emerges out of interest in the target-language’s
culture and people, which can be evoked or supported while integrating cultural aspects in
language learning materials.
Culture can be deployed through language teaching in different ways. Kiet Ho (2009)
states examples of how to transmit the cultural component in the classroom. Group
discussions, cultural connotation on vocabularies (pictures), class room decorations and
videos can be used to increase the interest and motivation regarding learning the language and
creating cultural awareness. With regards to the acquisition of vocabulary, pictures as learning
aid express a good way of integrating culture and express one approach to combine the
teaching of culture and the learning of a language. Research into the effects of cultural context
in vocabulary learning materials is rare. For example Spinelli & Sisking (1992) argue for
presenting vocabulary in cultural context for supporting comprehension and understanding.
17
2.6. Research question and hypotheses
It has been shown that using images as aid for vocabulary learning to increase the
learning efficiency has been studied to a large extent. Considering learning with pictures
raises questions about content and qualitative aspects of the learning material. A few studies
provide guidelines for selecting effective images. However research concerned with general
learning materials used in classrooms emphasizes on the application of target-culture content
for teaching a second language due to reasons discussed above. This observation leads to the
question, whether the inclusion of target-culture aspects (clothes, food, environment, activities
etc.) in supportive images for vocabulary learning can increase the learner’s vocabulary
retention.
Research question
Does the inclusion of target-culture-specific aspects in images used as aid for vocabulary
learning have a positive effect on vocabulary retention?
The importance of attention on the process of language learning was already briefly
discussed above. The attention can be examined in a broader concept considering the
elaboration of a certain vocabulary as important factor when it comes to retention. Following
Laufer & Hulstijn (2001):
“The more attention that is paid to the formal and semantic aspects of words and the richer
the associates that are made with existing knowledge (e.g. establishing similarities and
contrast between old and new information) the higher the chances a new word will be
retained.”
In other words, the more attention is paid to aspects like word form or meaning and
the more associations are created and elaborated with already existing knowledge, the higher
the chance of vocabulary retention. In conclusion, integrating cultural aspects into imagery
aid can increase the attention paid on the pictures due to their specific ‘different’ content.
What is more, the cultural annotations lead to the additional need of cognitive and semantic
processing, what evokes further associations and referents. The learner is likely to create
supplementary ways of connecting the word form to its meaning and therefore achieves a
higher amount of paths to finally retrieve the word form or its meaning. This process can take
place while realizing the cultural differences in the pictures, comparing it to the own culture
situation or integrating it into prior experiences with the target-language’s culture. This
assumptions leads to the first hypothesis:
18
Hypothesis 1
Second language learners provided with imagery aid including target-culture-specific content
will exhibit higher vocabulary retention than second language learners provided with
imagery aid NOT including target-culture-specific content.
To illustrate further hypotheses of this study the experiment’s underlying word
categorization has to be explained.
Word Categories
The degree to which target-culture-specific features in images can be integrated is
highly dependent on the word’s form and concept. In general concrete words, like ‘table’ or
‘walking’, are considered to be easier to picture than abstract words, like ‘peace’ or ‘thinking’
(Nation 2001). Furthermore it seems in the category of concrete words, nouns can be pictured
better than verbs, which mostly express actions and therefore cannot be illustrated by simple
objects. Following that, additional elements on the picture can lead to distractions and
misinterpretations. Additionally to the classification by imageability the words should be
structured considering the possibility to include target-culture-specific features.
The main difference between nouns and verbs with regards to cultural expression is
that nouns illustrate culture through its objects and verbs through practices. At least for
concrete nouns aesthetics play a major role in expressing culture. It is the object itself that has
to look culture-specific (e.g. street, house, man). For the majority of concrete nouns, however,
it seems like cultural aspects can just be included by integrating a culture-specific
environment (e.g. streets or people), because the word concept itself does not represent
culture through aesthetic aspects (e.g. sun, bridge, cat). Following that, a sun cannot be
presented as single object on the picture, but over the Bosphorus to show the connection to the
Turkish culture.
Contrary to that, concrete verbs express cultural practices, which are suitable for
target-culture implementation, even if generally less imageable than concrete nouns (e.g. to
eat, to merry). But also in this category lots of words exist without inherent expression of
culture, so cultural aspects must be integrated through environmental features, like the people
included in the picture (e.g. to walk, to wait).
19
At last abstract verbs and nouns are hard to picture and furthermore, if expressed
through an image, can easily lead to conceptual misinterpretations as their meaning can be
very culture-specific (e.g. peace, to pray). Due to that they are excluded out of the study. The
word selection in this study took place with regards to the following conceptualization, at
which the final word list was created after the results of a pre-test (further explanation of the
pre-test in Chapter 3.3.1. Word Selection):
Table 1:
Word Conceptualization
NOUNS
High_Culture
Low_Culture
VERBS
High_Culture
Low_Culture
erkek (man)
oda (room)
para (money)
köprü (bridge)
aile (family)
göz (eye)
okul (school)
bardak (glas)
yemek (to eat)
dans etmek (to dance) satmak (to sell) evlenmek (to marry)
beklemek (to wait ) yürümek (to run)
oturmak (to sit) oynamak (to play)
Considering the conceptualization of words the following hypotheses are constructed.
The Hypothesis 2 distinguishes between high-culture words and low-culture words in terms of
the culture rating of the pre-test:
Hypothesis 2
The performance of second language learners provided with imagery aid including culturespecific content will be greater for high-culture words than for low-culture words.
Hypothesis 2.1
The performance of second language learners provided with imagery aid including culturespecific content will be greater for verbs than for nouns.
Hypothesis 2.2
Nouns will perform in general better than verbs.
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3. Method
3.1. Design
The study used a between subject design including one independent and one
dependent variables. The independent variable was the content of the used pictures and
contained two characteristics, target-culture-specific and non-target-culture-specific content,
assigned to the two experimental conditions. Half of the participants were directed to
condition 1 (target-culture-specific pictures), the other half to condition 2 (non-target-culturespecific pictures). The dependent variable was the vocabulary retention of the participants,
tested with the help of a multiple choice test.
3.2. Participants
A total of 66 participants from Germany took part in the study. The recruitment was
conducted online via several online-forums and Facebook. The participants had the
opportunity to directly take part in the study through a posted web-link. The experimental
phase took three weeks including two extensive recruitment waves to gather as much
participants as possible. The forums included five of the most used portals in Germany,
mostly concerned with technical issues, and ten further forums concerned with Turkish
language learning and Turkish culture. The participant’s average age was 27.40 years (SD =
8.52), 27.12 years in condition 1 (SD = 8.30) and 27.67 years in condition 2 (SD = 8.86).
There were 16 male and 17 female participants in condition 1 and 15 males and 18 females in
condition 2. Both of the variables were not controlled. Participants with no or less prior
knowledge of the Turkish language were requested through the experimental instructions
posted next to each web-link as well as on the landing page. The motivation to participate was
composed 56% (cond. 1 = 49%, cond. 2 = 56%) out of curiosity about the experiment itself,
26% (cond. 1 = 36%, cond. 2 = 26%) out of interest in languages in general and 18% (cond. 1
= 15%, cond. 2 = 18%) out of interest in the Turkish language in particular (see Appendix
G/H). 91% of the participants provided with images including target-culture had no prior
experiences with learning the Turkish language, 9% of them knew basics (vacation
vocabulary). In comparison 89% of the learners in condition 2 had no prior experiences, 11%
possessed some basic knowledge. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the two
experimental conditions.
21
3.3. Materials
3.3.1. Word selection
The target-word selection was made on qualitative rather than quantitative aspects as
the interest of this study was not in designing a fully developed online-tool, but in examining
the effect of imagery aid including target-culture-specific content on vocabulary retention.
Therefore it was important to choose adequate words with respect to the experiment instead of
its pedagogical significance (e.g. word frequency).
The classification discussed above divided between concrete nouns and concrete verbs
and inside these categories between words with high and low possibility of cultural
implementation. Regarding the selection of cultural words a framework by Bush (2001) was
considered. The author creates word categories, which typically express culture. Furthermore
all words were taken from early positions from a word frequency list, so that no academic or
technical vocabulary was included. Any kind of relatedness or synonymy between the words
was tried to be avoided as well. Finally 24 words, 6 for each category were chosen. In a pretest each of the words were assigned to 4 qualitative different images, two target-culture and
two non-target-culture pictures. Despite the differences with regards to cultural content, it was
tried to keep the picture's overall concept similar. For example, if for the word ‘aile’ (family)
a target-culture including picture of a young couple with two kids was chosen, an image
containing a similar situation was selected for the condition not including target-culture
contents.
The participants rated each of the in total 96 pictures regarding a) how the picture fits
to the word concept and b) how the picture expresses the Turkish culture. For both question
items a 1 to 7 scale was provided. All of the pictures had to pass the threshold of 3.5 for both
question items to be included in the experiment. Therefore the average culture-rating for
pictures in condition 1 (target-culture-specific) had to be over 3.5 and respectively in
condition 2 (non-target-culture-specific) under 3.5. In a following step the words were ranked
with regards to the cultural specialty of the pictures. The average culture-rating for each
picture in condition 1 was divided by the rating for the corresponding picture in condition 2.
For example, if the picture for ‘erkek’ (man) gained an average culture-rating of 6 in
condition 1 and an average culture-rating of 2 in condition 2, the score for the ranking was 4
(condition1 – condition 2). Finally the 16 words (32 pictures) with the highest culture-rating
difference were chosen, 4 for each word category (see Table 1).
22
3.3.2. Software design
The experiment is a web-based Turkish vocabulary learning environment designed for
the German language with an included multiple choice test and two questionnaires
(www.daglin.com/wp). Two different learning versions with regards to the two experimental
conditions were created, which just differed in the employed pictures (target-culture and nontarget-culture). The participants joined the experiment through a web-link, which assigned
them randomly to one of the experimental conditions.
The learning environment was constructed after the word card learning strategy
discussed in the chapter 2.3 Vocabulary learning strategies. The main idea was to present the
learner with the Turkish words and pictures and additionally provide the opportunity of
receiving the German translation if needed (like turning the word card around). Through that,
participants are more likely to connect the word form directly to its meaningful picture than to
the translated word form. Furthermore it supports guessing of the translation, which is
reviewed as supportive while acquiring new vocabulary (Nation 2001).
The learning program was divided into three learning phases following Nations (2001)
three stages of vocabulary learning already discussed: noticing, retrieval (receptive and
productive) and generative use of the vocabulary. Regarding that, just the first two stages
were implemented. Since the participants are confronted with Turkish language for the first
time, the generative use of the vocabulary, using it in context, would be beyond their
possibilities. The three learning phases were created in a way that the language learners
actively participate in the acquisition process to increase attention and motivation.
The landing page (first page after clicking the link) was the instruction page and the
participants were informed about the purpose and procedure of the experiment as well as data
privacy policies. Before every new learning phase an additional short instruction about the
following phase was provided (see Appendix D/E).
3.3.3. Multiple choice test
A multiple choice test is a common way to measure vocabulary retention and was
implemented in the web-experiment (Nation 2001). During the test the participants were
confronted with the Turkish vocabulary and 4 options of German translation. Therefore the 4
options contained each 2 nouns and 2 verbs out of each category of the word
23
conceptualization. Additionally the participants had the opportunity to choose the certainty of
their answers to control guessing and depth of their knowledge. Since retention effects can be
visible after a certain period of time as well, just the MC-Test was repeated after 7 days. To
repeat the MC-Test after one week the participants received a code at the end of the test,
which they were supposed to enter on the landing page after one week. With this procedure
they were redirected to the MC-Test. As an additional option the participants had the chance
to leave their email address at the end of the test to get reminded of the repetition.
Screenshot 1:
Multiple choice test
3.3.4. Questionnaire
The multiple choice test was followed by two questionnaires. The first one with the
purpose to gather demographic information (age, gender), participation motivation and prior
knowledge concerning the Turkish language (see Appendix A). The second questionnaire was
mainly included to evaluate the learning software, provide additional information about the
24
impact of images and receive information on the participant’s learning motivation (see
Appendix B/C).
3.4. Procedure
The participants were recruited through the internet while providing a web link leading
to the instruction page of the web-learning environment. Each participant was assigned to one
of the learning conditions. After the landing page the learning procedure started in sequence
with the 3 learning phases implemented after Nations (2001) three stages of vocabulary
learning as following:
The 3 learning stages applied:
1. (Noticing: Try to guess the meaning from picture with translation cue): The
participants get the Turkish vocabulary plus picture presented. Additionally they have
the opportunity to get the German translation as cue.
Screenshot 2
Learning Phase 1
2. (Retrieval, receptive: Match word with meaning): The participants get the Turkish
vocabulary plus 4 pictures presented, from which just one is correct. Additionally they
have the opportunity to get the German translation as cue.
25
Screenshot 3:
Learning Phase 2
3. (Retrieval, productive: Match meaning with word): The participants get one picture
and 4 Turkish vocabularies presented, from which just one is correct. Additionally
they have the opportunity to get the German translation of the correct word as cue.
Screenshot 4
Learning Phase 3
26
The 16 vocabularies were learned by the participants in two blocks, each 8
vocabularies, not to overload the learners and guarantee a deep processing of each word. The
first 8 vocabularies were acquired with phase 1, followed by phase 2 just regarding the 8
previous learned words. In a next step the other 8 vocabularies were presented with phase 1,
while followed by phase 2 again, just concerning the previous 8 vocabularies. Finally phase 3
was presented with regards to all 16 words.
The sequence of the pictures was controlled in several ways. Firstly each of the two
learning blocks (8 words) included the same amount of words out of each category of the
word conceptualization. The same consideration was applied while choosing the 4
picture/word options in learning phase 2 and 3. Furthermore each picture and word was
presented the same amount of times and learning effects in phase 2 and 3, due to prior correct
answers, were avoided as much as possible by excluding right answers as options. To keep the
experimental conditions as similar as possible breaks during the experiment were restricted to
15 minutes. If the participants did not continue the process in between 15 minutes their
session was timed out and their data deleted.
The learning treatment took about 10 minutes and was followed by the multiple choice
test. After the MC-Test two questionnaires and the final page followed, which provided the
code and the possibility to leave the email address (see Appendix I). If the participants entered
their email address they received a reminder after 6 days and 7 days to repeat the MC-Test. If
after 7 days the test was not repeated an additional email was sent on the 8th day.
27
4. Results
The experiment provided data out of the multiple choice test (see Appendix N) and the
two final questionnaires (see Appendix A/B/C). The former data was used to measure and
analyze vocabulary retention and the performance of the participants for leaning the single
words. The final questionnaires featured mainly demographic data and measured the
participant’s attitudes towards the learning program. In the following chapter the data will be
analyzed with regards to the hypotheses.
4.1. Vocabulary retention
The results of the multiple choice test were evaluated with a rating system, which
follows the common method to provide +1 point for correct answers and -1 point for incorrect
answers. This system was extended by the inclusion of the participant’s certainty rating
regarding each answer. One way of doing this is to reward the test taker for high certainty on
correct answers and punish her or him for wrong ones respectively. The rating system looked
as following:
Table 2
Multiple choice test score
Certainty
Correct answer
Incorrect answer
I guess
0
0
less sure
1
-1
sure
2
-2
very sure
3
-3
The item ‘I guess’ was equalized with guessing and therefore produced no points
regardless if the answer was correct or not. The punishment had the function to rate wrong
learned word concepts negative. If somebody was sure about a wrong answer it meant the
word was learned incorrect. At last the respective rating reduces the effects of shy or risky test
takers. Choosing extreme items (always ‘very sure’) balanced itself.
28
Multiple choice test 1
The first multiple choice test was conducted right after the learning treatment. Initially
the test results from both learning conditions were checked for normal distribution and
homogeneity of variance. For condition 1 (M = 42.03, SD = 6.90), which included targetculture content, the Shapiro-Wilk test of normality (S-W = .82, df = 33, p < 0.001) suggested
no normal distribution of the participant’s multiple choice test results. Also for condition 2 (M
= 37.60, SD = 10.14) the statistical test demonstrated non-normal distribution (S-W = .89, df =
33, p < 0.01). The visualization of the data through histograms illustrated a similar, rightsided distribution for both conditions though (see Appendix K). The results from the BrownForsythe test for homogeneity of variance, F (1, 64) = 2.69, p = .11, underlined this
observation as well by showing equality of variances. Due to the abnormal distribution the
non-parametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test (U-test), which assumes similarity instead of
normality of distributions, was conducted to compare the outcome from both conditions. The
test suggested that no significant difference with regards to the performance of the two
conditional groups existed (z = -1.78, p = .08).
Figure 1. Mean of multiple choice test results for both MC-Test rounds and each condition.
29
In fact the means showed a better performance of participants, which were provided
with images including target-culture-specific content (see Figure 1), but due to the lack of
significance the outcomes lead to reject Hypothesis 1 for the first round of the multiple choice
test.
Multiple choice test 2
The outcomes of the multiple choice test conducted approximately one week after the
learning treatment were examined with a statistical procedure similar to the one above. The
results of condition 1 (M = 32.30, SD = 8.76) were normally distributed (S-W = .98, df = 33, p
= .82) and the outcomes of condition 2 (M = 23.06, SD = 10.80) suggested a similar
assumption (S-W = .95, df = 33, p = .17). Furthermore homogeneity of variance between the
outcomes, F (1, 64) = 3.13, p = .08), could be observed. The execution of the U-test illustrated
significant results (z = -3.23, p < 0.01), which demonstrated the differences of the
participant’s performances between the two conditions. Since the assumptions of the t-test
were met for the second round of the multiple choice test, an additional test was conducted to
verify the former observations. The t-test, t (64) = 3.82, p < 0.001, supported the results of the
U-test.
In conclusion, comparing the means of the participant’s multiple choice test
performance for each condition and test-round demonstrate the better results of learners in
condition 1 (see Figure 1). Furthermore the statistical tests illustrate significant differences
between the two conditions for the second round of the multiple choice test. This result
supports the assumption of Hypothesis 1 that participants provided with images including
culture-specific content exhibit better vocabulary retention. Moreover the outcomes show the
superiority of the effect of images including target-culture content on long-term retention; just
in this case the results were significant. In general the participant’s performance went worse
in both conditions after the repetition. The decline was therefore greater for the learners
provided with images including non-target-culture content (see Figure 1), what strengthens
the Hypothesis 1 once more.
30
4.2. Word score
After analyzing the overall results of the participants by checking their multiple choice
test performance, the single words were examined. First the performance score of each
vocabulary with regards to the two conditions was compared with a t-test. After that the
words were grouped into nouns and verbs and analyzed once more. In a last step the
participant’s retention performance for each of the 16 words was compared to its cultural
content rating, gathered from the pre-test (see Appendix J).
Multiple choice test 1
The participant’s retention score for the words of condition 1 (M = 2.63, SD = .34) was
normally distributed (S-W = .891, df = 16, p = .06) as well as the one for condition 2 (M =
2.35, SD = .44), (S-W = .92, df = 16, p = .19). Due to the normal distribution, the homogeneity
of variance could be suggested by the Levene test, F (1, 30) = .56, p = .46). Despite the
different means of word score between the conditions (see Figure 2), the comparison of them
did not illustrate significant variety, t (30) = 1.99, p = .06.
Figure 2. Mean of learner’s retention performance (word score) for each condition and MCTest round.
31
In a next step the words were grouped into verbs and nouns with regards to each
condition. Comparing the results for retaining verbs in condition 1 (M = 2.42, SD = .37), (SW = .99, df = 8, p = .997) with the ones for condition 2 (M = 2.18, SD = .50), (S-W = .97, df =
8, p = .91) showed no significant outcome, t (14) = 1.06, p = .31. The variances were equal, F
(1, 14) = .29, p = .60). Nevertheless using the same procedure just for nouns of condition 1 (M
= 2.84, SD = .12), ( S-W = .92, df = 8, p = .39) and nouns of condition 2 (M = 2.52, SD = .30),
(S-W = .14, df = 8, p = .06) suggested significant results, t(14) = 2.79, p < .05, at homogeneity
of variances, F(1, 14) = 1.40, p = .26). Examining in a following step the score of verbs and
nouns within the conditions showed significance just for condition 1, t (14) = -3.08, p < .01.
The outcomes demonstrate that the average participant’s word score was higher in
condition 1, even if not significantly (see Figure 2). A significant variance exists just between
nouns of condition 1 and nouns of condition 2. Concluding, the effect of images including
target-culture content is higher for nouns than for verbs. In addition to that, significant
differences between the grouped word scores within the two learning treatments could just be
observed for condition 1, which underlines the former conclusion and contrasts Hypothesis
2.1.
To examine the word retention results in condition 1 and its relation to the culture
rating gained from the pre-test, the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to test
Hypothesis 2. The results showed a significant correlation between the word score in
condition 1 and the culture rating, r (14) = .62, p < .05. Examining further relations between
the word concept ratings, word culture ratings and word scores from condition 2 did not lead
to significant outcomes. To get a deeper insight into the relation between culture rating
(condition 1) and word score, a linear regression was conducted. The regression illustrated a
medium conditional linear relation between the two variables; saying about 30% of the
variance of the performance can be explained by the culture rating (see Figure 3).
32
Figure 3. Linear Regression of culture rating and word score.
Multiple choice test 2
The participant’s word scores in condition 1 (M = 2.02, SD = .66) were normally
distributed (S-W = .92, df = 16, p = .19) and also the ones of condition 2 (M = 1.43, SD = .53)
led to the same observation (S-W = .95, df = 16, p = .54). The data represented homogeneity
of variance, F (1, 30) = 1.13, p = .30, and the comparison of both conditions demonstrated
significant differences between the scores, t (30) = 2.78, p < .01.
The same procedure of word grouping was applied after the second multiple choice
test. Just the results regarding nouns in condition 2 (M = 1.44, SD = .24) illustrated no normal
distribution (S-W = .80, df = 8, p < .05). Due to that the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney-Test was
conducted for the comparison with the nouns of condition 1 (M = 2.34, SD = .33), (S-W = .87,
df = 8, p = .15). The u-test showed significant differences (z = -2.78, p < .01). The comparison
of verbs from condition 1 (M = 1.69, SD = .77), (S-W = .97, df = 8, p = .88) with the ones
from condition 2 (M = 1.2, SD = .66), (S-W = .96, df = 8, p = .79) showed no significant
variety, t (14) = 1.35, p = .20 at homogeneity of variances, F (14) = .06, p = .80.
33
Figure 4. Mean of word score categorized by word group (noun/verb) for each condition and
MC-Test round.
Conducting the t-test within the groups showed significant results for condition 1, t
(14) = -2.2, p < .05, and no significance for condition 2, t (14) = -1.77, p = .10. The variances
were equal for condition 1, F (1, 14) = 2.40, p = .14 as well as for condition 2, F (1, 14) =
3.61, p = .08.
Contrary to the results of the first multiple choice test, the comparison of the word
scores from the two conditions illustrated significance. The examination of word groups
between and within the conditions produced significant outcomes similar to the ones of the
first multiple choice test. Also after the second test the effect of images including targetculture was higher for nouns than for verbs. The non-normal distribution of the noun scores in
condition 2 was probably due to extreme values. Digging deeper into the data uncovered the
abnormal score for the noun ‘bardak’ (glas), especially for the second round of the multiple
choice test.
The average word scores were in general higher for condition 1 in both multiple
choice test rounds. They dropped for both conditions with the second multiple choice test and
the difference between the conditions grew (see Figure 2). Therefore nouns scored on average
higher than verbs for both conditions what supports Hypothesis 2.2. The participants
34
performed significantly better learning nouns within condition 1 and in comparison to
condition 2. The difference between the word groups within condition 2 and the comparison
of verbs between the conditions did not illustrate significant results (see Figure 4). This
observation led to the rejection of Hypothesis 2.1.Contrary to its assumption, the performance
of learners provided with images including culture-specific content is higher for learning
nouns than for learning verbs.
Figure 5. Linear Regression of culture rating and word score.
The correlation, r (14) = .70, p < .01, as well as the linear relation between the word
scores and the culture rating of the images in condition 1 was for each slightly stronger than
for the first multiple choice test. About 48% of the variation in word retention can be
explained by the culture rating for the pictures (see Figure 5). Considering the results of both
multiple choice tests the Hypothesis 2 can be supported. The higher the rating regarding the
picture’s culture, the higher the participants performed in condition 1. Additionally the overall
results show the stronger visibility of the effect of images including target-culture content on
vocabulary retention for long-term memorization.
4.3. Attitudes
The final questionnaire was conducted to evaluate the learning program in general and
gather information about the participant’s motivation and opinion regarding the applied
images.
35
Table 3
Mean score (Median) of questionnaire items
Target-Culture Pictures
Non-Target-Culture Pictures
1,55 (2,00)
1,70 (2,00)
1,45 (1,00)
1,67 (2,00)
1,39 (1,00)
1,45 (1,00)
1,27 (1,00)
1,42 (1,00)
1,33 (1,00)
1,31 (1,00)
1,48 (1,00)
1,36 (1,00)
1,15 (1,00)
1,12 (1,00)
Picture Choice
(1: very good – 4: very bad)
Picture Fit
(1: very good – 4: very bad)
Picture Meaning
(1: very high – 4: very low)
Picture as Help
(1: yes – 4: no)
Picture for Motivation
(1: yes – 3:no)
Overall Program
(1: very good – 4: very bad)
Fun Factor
(1: yes – 2: no)
33% of the learners estimated the test as too easy, 56% evaluated it as easy and 9% as
just right (see Appendix N). The results were distributed similar in both conditions. The
comparison of the means regarding the following 7 items (see Table 3) showed slightly higher
ratings for the first 4 items in condition 2. Following that, participants in condition 1
considered the picture choice, the fit of the pictures to the word concepts, the meaning of
pictures as aid for vocabulary learning in general and the help of the pictures for the test as
more positive. The opinion on the learning software in general and on pictures as motivatingand fun factor was worse in condition 1. Since the mean is not as meaningful as the median
for ordinal scaled items, it was just used to compare the two conditions. Calculating the
median showed differences between condition 1 (Mdn = 1) and condition 2 (Mdn = 2) just for
the item ‘picture fit’. It can be assumed that the images are considered more convenient when
36
the participants were provided with images including target-culture. Taking the comparison of
the means into account as well, underlines the positive effect of cultural images once more.
The results of the final questionnaire provide interesting insights into the participant’s
evaluation of the learning program and opinion about the use of images. Nevertheless the
former discussion represents just assumptions and first approaches for analyzing the
outcomes. Further research should be conducted to get a deeper understanding regarding the
effect of images including target culture on variables like the participant’s learning motivation
and software evaluation.
37
5. Discussion
The results of the experiment lead to different conclusions in terms of using images as
support for vocabulary learning. First of all the outcomes of the final questionnaire showed
the positive feedback for the web-based learning environment and vocabulary learning with
the help of pictures in general. Furthermore the qualitative analysis of private feedback via
email and the critique section in the questionnaire demonstrated the participant’s satisfaction
and surprise about their positive learning outcomes. Especially the images were considered by
the majority of the participants as great support while learning vocabularies. And also the
results after the first multiple choice test, which contained 16 Turkish vocabularies totally
new to the learners, were unexpectedly high. The participants provided with condition 1
(target-culture images) reached on average 88% and the learners in the second condition (nontarget-culture images) 79% of the total score. The amount of vocabularies seemed to be just
right, since the participants had to repeat the multiple choice test after approximately one
week. After doing the test again the learner’s results in condition 1 dropped by 21% (67%)
and in condition 2 even by 31% (48%). Considering the results of both tests demonstrated the
better performance of participants, which were provided with images, including targetculture-specific content. After the first round of the multiple choice test the learners of
condition 1 gained in average 9% more points, after the second round even 19%, which
showed a 10% less decline in performance than those in condition 2. The statistical analysis
showed significant differences between the participant’s performances in the two conditions
just for the second multiple choice test. Considering that the effects of the learning treatment
got visible only for long-term retention, it can be concluded that providing second language
learners with images containing target-culture-specific content has positive effects on the
vocabulary retention (Hypothesis 1 accepted).
To strengthen the already gained results and gather new ones, the word concept scores
were examined. A first observation was the higher performance score for nouns in both
conditions and multiple choice test rounds (Hypothesis 2.2 accepted). Moreover it emerged
that the effect was higher while learning with images including target-culture. In other words
the differences in noun retention between the two conditions were higher than the ones for
verb retention. Furthermore the nouns performed better within each condition, but just in
condition 1 significantly. It can be concluded that the effect of images including target-culture
is greater on nouns than on verbs (Hypothesis 2.1 rejected). Furthermore the results showed
an increase of word score with an increase of culture rating for condition 1
38
(Hypothesis1/Hypothesis 2 accepted). Contrary to that, the word concept rating seemed to
play no major role in determining the word performances.
The words ‘bardak’ (glass), ‘yemek’ (to eat) and ‘oturmak’ (to sit) illustrated the
biggest score differences between the two conditions in round 1. It can be assumed that for
these words the cultural content played a major role. The vocabulary ‘oturmak’ scored the
worst in both conditions though. This is mainly due to the fact that it was often interchanged
with ‘oynamak’(to play), which constitutes a failure in word selection. In the second multiple
choice test ‘yemek’, ‘bardak’ and ‘oynamak’ exhibited the greatest differences. The word
‘oturmak’ scored worst again. This observations demonstrate just initial approaches of
examining the single word concepts and it relations. Further statements require deeper and
additional research.
At last the final questionnaire provided data concerning the participant’s evaluation of
the learning program and opinion about the applied images. Learners in condition 1 reviewed
the use of images and its effect as slightly better. Especially the picture’s fit to the word
concepts was considered more positive. It can be assumed that providing images including
target-culture leads to higher consistency of the whole learning program. Nevertheless the
examination of the influence of cultural content on the participant’s attitudes and learning
motivation expresses one constrain of the study. Since different approaches exist to measure
these variables, additional work has to be done to build adequate questionnaires. Moreover
qualitative research can provide a proper way to gather sufficient data.
With regards to the research question it can be concluded that images including targetculture content have a positive influence on the learner’s vocabulary retention. Especially
nouns seem to profit from the specific content. The increase of performance with higher
culture rating strengthens this observation once more. Questions about the particular effects of
the images including culture content cannot be answered sufficiently by the research. It can be
just assumed that the images lead to a higher learning environment consistency, which finally
increases the learner’s motivation and attention towards the material. Nevertheless further
research has to be conducted to gain meaningful results.
Another assumption is that the better retention of the nouns is due to their higher
concreteness on the one hand and better cultural expression possibility on the other. Nouns
can be pictured very concrete, which also effects the inclusion of culture content. Since
39
culture content is likely to lead to misinterpretations anyways, the concreteness of the noun
concepts seems to be more advantageous for images including target-culture content.
The outcomes of this study are evoking new fields and questions for further research.
The most demanding issue is to get deeper insight into the effects of the images including
target-culture content. Is it the motivation or attention, which is increased by the content or is
it other cognitive processes leading to the results? Moreover research into the
conceptualization of cultural words and images has to be extended. Since this study provides a
first approach to build a word taxonomy it lacks in evaluating it. A last consideration is to
improve the idea of including target-culture-specific content in second language learning
material. Since culture content is present in the majority of school books, new creative ways
of including culture can be discovered. Especially web-environments provide endless
possibilities to include culture through multimedia materials.
40
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43
Appendix A: Questionnaire A
[http://daglin.com/wp/?step=person&mcquestion=oynamak]
Translation:
Participant
Age
Gender
Experiences
How do you estimate your
Turkish language level?
- No prior experiences
- Familiar with basic words
(vacation vocabulary)
- I engaged myself more than
the vacation vocabulary
- I am attending an A1 or
similar course at the moment
- I completed an A1 or
similar course
- I am over A1 level
Motivation
What is your motivation to
learn Turkish?
- I attend out of interest in
the experiment and less in
the Turkish language.
- I attend out of general
interest in foreign languages
and less in the Turkish
language.
- I attend out of interest in
the Turkish language but less
want to seriously learn the
language.
- I attend out of interest in
the Turkish language and
want to seriously learn the
language.
44
Appendix B: Questionnaire B (Part 1)
[http://daglin.com/wp/?step=final]
Translation:
Difficulty
How do you rate the difficulty of the test?
Too hard, hard but doable, just right, easy, too
easy
Pictures
Please explain 3 learned pictures coming to
your mind first.
Picture Choice
How did you like the pictures in general
(aesthetic and content)?
Very good, good, bad, very bad
Picture Fit
How do you think fit the pictures to the
words?
Very good, good, bad, very bad
Picture Meaning
How high you estimate the meaning of
pictures while learning vocabulary?
Very high, high, low, very low
45
Appendix C: Questionnaire B (Part 2)
Translation:
Picture Help
Did the pictures help you reminding the
vocabularies?
Yes very, more yes, more no, no very
Picture Motivation
Did the pictures increase your motivation
to learn the vocabularies?
Yes, no influence, no
Learning Program
How did you like the overall learning
program?
Very good, good, bad, very bad
Learning Program Motivation
Did the learning program increase the fun
factor for vocabulary learning?
Yes, no influence, no
Suggestions and Critic
Please write in the following field any
suggestions, critic or other notes with
regards to the learning program
46
Appendix D: Landing Page (Part 1)
[http://daglin.com/wp]
47
Appendix E: Landing Page (Part B)
48
Appendix F: Landing Page Translation (Part 1)
Welcome to the Turkish course!
Thank you for the participation. Please take a few minutes and read the instructions carefully.
Background:
This experiment is developed in connection with my Masters Thesis in the field of
Communication and Information Sciences at the University of Tilburg. My exact topic is
‘Games for language learning’, for what I am mainly concentrated on learning vocabulary
with the help of pictures, which are considered as effective aid.
Procedure:
The following experiment is a vocabulary learning program with a following multiple choice
test. After one week you will be tested again to measure your long-term retention. The
experiment has the reason to examine the supportive effect of pictures while learning
vocabularies. The learning software itself consists of 16 words and 3 learning phases:
1. Presentation of vocabulary with picture
Here you get every Turkish word with a picture presented. Through roll-over the
frame under the picture you have the possibility to receive the German translation of
the word. Through click on weiter you will be directed to the next vocabulary. This
part is for supporting your memorization with the help of pictures. Try to remember as
much words as possible.
2. Match Turkish vocabulary to the right picture
In this stage you get one Turkish vocabulary plus 4 different pictures presented, at
which just one picture is the fitting one. You have the task to match the word with the
right picture. You do so by clicking on the picture of your choice. If your choice was
wrong, a red frame appears around the picture and you have as many new tries as you
choose the right picture and a green frame will appear. The wrong 3 pictures will
disappear and you get the German translation presented. Additionally you have the
possibility like in phase 1 to get the German translation through roll-over before.
3. Match the picture to the right word
In this learning phase you get one picture together with 4 different Turkish
vocabularies presented, at which just one word fits to the picture. You choose the
word you think is right by just clicking on it. The procedure is the same like in phase
49
Appendix G: Landing Page Translation (Part 2)
2. If you choose wrong, the word will turn red and you can try as long as you choose the right
word. Again you have access to the German translation of the right word through roll-over.
You get the words presented in two blocks, each consisting of 8 words, with the help of phase
1. After each block phase 2 follows, just concerned with the previous learned vocabularies.
Finally phase 3 follows concerned with all 16 words. The whole experiment takes about 15-20
minutes.
Important:
All 3 phases just try to support your memorization and are not part of the following multiple
choice test. Your performance in the 3 phases will not be evaluated. It is of importance to
complete the test until the end, since just then your data will be saved. If you leave the
experiment longer than 15 minutes, your data will be deleted.
Multiple Choice Test:
After the learning stage the multiple choice test follows, concerned with the 16 learned words.
You get the Turkish vocabulary plus 4 possible German translations presented. Just one
answer is possible to choose and right. Additionally you will be prompt to leave your
certainty regarding your answer.
Questionnaires:
After the MC test you will be prompt to answer two short questionnaires with regards to the
experiment and some demographic data.
Repetition after one week:
For measuring your long-term retention just the multiple choice test has to be repeated after
one week. I would be glad if you do so. On the last page you receive a code, which you
50
Appendix H: Landing Page Translation (Part 3)
should use after one week to log-in on the landing page. This procedure will automatically
redirect you to the multiple choice test. It is very important that you enter the right code,
because I have to compare your results. Furthermore you have the possibility to leave you
email address on the last page. This is no duty, but if you do so, you email will be just used to
remind you after one week and send you the code again. If you will not provide your email
address, please try to remind yourself after one week and note the code.
Data policy:
All data you provide during the experiment will be just used with regards to my thesis and in
no other way. The participation is completely anonym and no data will be collected without
your approval. After the analysis I will delete all data, including your email address, from the
server and my hard drive. The data, which will be saved is following:
- MC answers
-Time and date of participation
- Questionnaire answers
- Email address (as reminder)
I would be glad, if you would participate. If you have further questions or remarks, just write
me an email:
New? Just click on weiter without filling the code.
If you were participating already and have a code, please enter it in the following field:
51
Appendix I: Final Page
[http://daglin.com/wp/index.php?step=thanks]
Translation: Please note the code and repeat the test (just the multiple choice test has to be
repeated) after one week. To login with the code you just have to enter it on the landing page
and you will be redirected automatically to the MC-Test. Please leave your email address if
you want to get a reminder after one week (recommended but no duty). Your email address
will be just used for the explained purpose and will be deleted afterwards.
52
Appendix J: MC-Test Performances and Word/Picture Rating
a) Word Performances
WORD
göz
köprü
yemek
aile
para
bardak
evlenmek
yürümek
erkek
okul
oturmak
oynamak
dans etmek
satmak
beklemek
oda
Performance_Cult(MC1)
2,88
2,94
2,73
2,97
2,88
2,64
2,27
2,64
2,91
2,76
1,85
2,36
3
2,42
2,06
2,73
Performance_non_Cult(MC1)
2,76
2,58
2
2,52
2,85
1,85
2,33
2,58
2,58
2,42
1,24
1,88
2,94
2,3
2,18
2,61
Performance_Cult(MC2)
2,73
2,55
2,39
2,48
2,33
2,21
1,73
1,85
2,52
1,64
0,33
1,52
2,94
1,55
1,24
2,3
Performance_non_Cult(MC2)
1,85
1,7
1,27
1,64
1,82
1,12
1,22
1,61
1,79
1,79
0,27
0,64
2,42
1,3
0,82
1,48
b) Word/Picture Ratings
Concept_Cult
6
5,9
6,1
5,8
6,5
5,9
5,7
5,9
5,7
5,5
4,9
6
6,1
4,7
5,5
5,9
Concept_non_Cult
6
5,5
6,2
5,3
5,8
5
6
5,5
6
6
6
5,3
6,6
5,9
5,6
4,3
Culture_Cult
6
5,9
6,1
5,8
6,5
5,9
5,7
5,9
5,7
5,5
4,9
6
6,1
4,7
5,5
4,9
53
Culture_non_Cult
3,6
2,2
1,4
1,7
1,7
2,7
1,6
1,9
1,8
2
2
1,4
1,7
2
1,8
2
TRANSLATION
eye
bridge
to eat
family
money
glas
to marry
to run
man
school
to sit
to play
to dance
sell
to wait
room
Appendix K: Distribution Histograms
a) Distribution Histogram for results in Condition 1 (MC-Test1)
b) Distribution Histogram for results in Condition 2 (MC-Test2)
54
Appendix L: Questionnaire A Results (Condition 1)
AGE
GENDER
26
27
20
46
23
25
25
26
27
21
22
55
26
52
25
23
30
24
28
27
16
28
28
24
27
27
25
24
28
21
26
19
24
XP
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
55
MOTIVATION
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
3
0
1
0
2
1
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
0
0
1
1
3
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
Appendix M: Questionnaire A Results (Condition 2)
AGE
GENDER
24
28
25
31
28
25
28
25
27
19
25
63
22
26
22
26
29
48
28
28
17
24
17
31
23
45
21
23
26
26
26
28
29
XP
0
1
0
0
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
56
MOTIVATION
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
3
3
0
3
0
0
1
0
0
3
1
0
0
2
0
0
3
2
0
0
0
1
Appendix N: Questionnaire B Results (respectively to appearance in
questionnaire)
a) Condition 1
Difficulty
CHOICE
3
3
4
5
4
4
3
5
4
4
3
3
2
4
4
3
2
3
4
3
5
4
5
4
3
2
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
3,484848485
FIT
MEANIN
HELP
PIC_MOT
PROGR
FUN
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
1,545454545
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
0
2
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
1,454545455
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
3
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
2
1
1,393939394
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
3
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1,272727273
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1,333333333
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1,484848485
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1,151515152
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
3
2
1
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
1,696969697
1
2
1
1
2
2
1
3
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
1
2
2
3
3
1
1
1
2
2
1,666666667
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
2
2
1
2
2
2
1
2
1
2
3
1
2
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1,454545455
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
2
1
2
3
1
1
3
3
1
1
2
1
1
1
1,424242424
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
3
1
1
3
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1,303030303
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
2
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
1
2
1
1,363636364
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1,121212121
b) Condition 2
4
3
3
4
4
4
3
2
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
2
3
2
3
3
4
4
3
3
3
4
3
3
4
4
4
3
3
3,242424242
57
58