Vocabulary Leaning and Retention of Young Learners of English: Comparative Effects of Game, Song and Flashcard

Words are the most important meaningful building blocks of human language without which the primary communicative function of language is not efficiently achieved. Hence the most effective techniques and procedures for vocabulary development of second or foreign language learners have long been sought for at different levels of language pedagogy. The primary purpose of this study was to explore the comparative effectiveness of games, songs or music and flashcards on the Young Learners of English (YLE) vocabulary development. To this end, 30 kindergarten level young learners of English were put into three experimental groups and a set of 36 concrete vocabulary items were taught to them using vocabulary games, songs and flashcards. The ANOVA analyses revealed the game technique as superior in its impact on the young learners of English vocabulary learning. The flashcard and the song were not proved to be statistically different from each other in their effect on the participant's vocabulary learning although the flash card strategy was found to be the second effective procedure in the descriptive statistics. The analysis of the results of the delayed test confirmed the first set of results indicating that the same order of superiority is conceivable for the three methods in their effect on the young learners of English long term retention of vocabulary items. The results imply that the foreign or second language teachers of young language learners could enhance the efficiency of their vocabulary instruction through the more constructive techniques like vocabulary games, moreover, material designers and textbook writers are suggested to incorporate vocabulary games more intensively in the materials that are developed for young language learners.