Effects of Color and Serial-Position of Words on L2 Vocabulary Recall and Retention

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of word color, serial-position, and their interaction on L2 learners recall and retention of words. Adopting a repeated-measure design, this study presented 19 Korean middle school students with low frequency English words and pseudo words under each of the four conditions: [.Order .Color], [.Order +Color], [+Order .Color], and [+Order +Color]. Their vocabulary recall and retention were measured by immediate and delayed free recall tasks, along with written retrospective protocols. Overall the results of this study supported the effects of color, serial-position and their interaction on immediate recall and partly on retention. The participants immediate recall test scores were higher when some words in the list were marked in color ([+Color] conditions) and the further analyses of individual words showed that those colored words were recalled and retained more frequently and foremost than non-colored ones. It was also found that words in first and last positions resulted in high recall and retention, with stronger primacy effect of the first position than recency effect of the last position. Yet, when color was added, the recency effect turned out to be stronger than primacy effect. Finally, written retrospective protocols confirmed that the participants actually paid attention to color and serial-position of words while processing the presented words.