An experiment assessed the effectiveness of a mnemotechnic (memory technique), the keyword technique, for learning foreign language vocabulary. Participants were 60 Army enlisted personnel, 20 from each of the following ranges of general technical (GT) aptitude: 90 and below, 91-109, and 110 and above. All personnel learned the English translations of 15 Korean vocabulary terms at a self-paced rate. Half the personnel in each group were instructed in the keyword technique and were supplied keywords for each vocabulary item, whereas the remaining personnel served as a control group. According to the most representative criterion, the keyword group performed 79% better than the control group. Although of primary interest to other researchers, this report should also be of direct interest to the Defense Language Institute and the training community. (Author)
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