Effect of Audio-Visual Mnemonic Technique 0n English Vocabulary Learning and Retention among Grade VIII Learners

Abstract

This study set out to see whether an audio-visual mnemonic technique could help Grade VIII learners pick up and hold onto English vocabulary better than the traditional paraphrase-and-memorise approach most classrooms rely on. The question mattered because vocabulary taught through translation and memorisation alone is often recognised on a test but poorly retained once time has passed. Using a pre-test–post-test control-group design, 54 learners were matched on their pre-test scores and split into two equal groups of 27, with treatment then assigned at random to one group. Over eight weeks, four 40-minute sessions a week, the experimental group worked through 640 vocabulary items using audio-visual mnemonic instruction, while the control group learned the same words by paraphrasing or translating them into simple English and memorising the result. A 50-item multiple-choice test, developed for the study, was used at three points — before treatment, right after it, and again four weeks later to check retention. The results were fairly clear-cut. On the post-test, the experimental group came out ahead of the control group (M = 21.37, SD = 4.06 vs. M = 17.96, SD = 3.48), a difference confirmed by an independent-samples t-test, t(52) = −3.31, p = .002. The advantage held up over time as well: even after controlling for post-test performance, an ANCOVA showed a significant group effect on the four-week retention scores, F(1, 51) = 68.92, p < .001, partial η² = .575 — a large effect. Taken together, these findings suggest that the audio-visual mnemonic technique gave learners a real edge over the traditional method, both in how much vocabulary they picked up and how much of it stuck a month later. This supports the broader case for building audio-visual mnemonic activities into vocabulary instruction, rather than relying on translation and memorisation alone.