The comparative effects of song, picture and the keyword method on L2 vocabulary recognition and production

The  present  study  investigated  the  effects  of  three  methods  of  vocabulary  presentation,  i.e., picture,  song,  and  the  keyword  method  on  Iranian  EFL  learners'  vocabulary  recognition  and production.  The  participants  were  102  Iranian  lower-intermediate  EFL  learners  in  Zaban  Sara English language institute in Kermanshah. To make sure that they had no previous knowledge of the target words, a pretest was administered. Those words about which the participants had prior knowledge were excluded from instruction. After administering the pretest, the participants were divided  into  three  groups.  Each  group  was  instructed  through  a  specified  method  of  vocabulary presentation  including  picture,  song,  and  the  keyword  method  for  a  whole  semester.  The participants' receptive vocabulary knowledge  was tested through a  multiple-choice test and their productive  vocabulary  knowledge  through  a  fill-in-the  blank  test.  The  collected  data  were analyzed using two separate one-way ANOVA procedures. The results of both tests showed that the  group  instructed  through  picture  had  the  best  performance,  followed  closely  by  the  group instructed  through  the  keyword  method.  The  group  taught  through  the  song  method  performed significantly worse than both the picture group and the keyword method group.