The Korean Association for the Study of English Language and Linguistics

Korean Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 22
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Korea Journal of English Language and Linguistics - Vol. 22, No. 0, pp. 441-457
Abbreviation: KASELL
ISSN: 1598-1398 (Print) 2586-7474 (Online)
Received 10 Apr 2022 Revised 15 May 2022 Accepted 27 May 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15738/kjell.22..202205.441

Effects of Part and Whole Learning on the Learning of L2 Words and Idioms
Jungyoon Choi ; Hyunsook Yoon
(1st author) Graduate Student, Dept. of TESOL, Graduate School, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Tel: 02) 2173-3978 (nadia0308@naver.com)
(corresponding author) Professor, Dept. of English Education, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Tel: 02) 2173-3978 (hsyoon3@hufs.ac.kr)


© 2022 KASELL All rights reserved
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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Abstract

This study examined the interrelation between spacing and types of lexical items in SLA. The study compared the effects of four spacing methods (i.e., 1-item part, 5-item part, 10-item part, and 20-item whole learning) on the learning of L2 words and idioms. The experiment was held in a classroom-based environment to suggest the optimum spacing when learning a wordlist and whether the optimum spacing should be applied differently depending on vocabulary types in the real classroom. Eighty adult learners of English in Korea participated in learning L1-L2 paired associates of 20 words and 20 idioms in one of the four spaced conditions with different spacing. The results of the study showed a significant interaction between spacing methods and vocabulary types. On the immediate posttests, whole learning generated better performances than the 1-item and the 5-item part learning when learning words, while all spaced learning performed better than 1-item part learning when learning idioms. On the 1-week delayed posttests, the 10-item part learning produced more correct responses than the 1-item and the 5-item part learning in word learning but outperformed all the other groups in idiom learning. The results of the study suggest that (a) overall, spaced learning has a better effect on learning lists of words and idioms than 1-item part learning, and (b) the optimum spacing should be determined based on retention intervals and the types of vocabulary, including length, difficulty, frequency levels.

Keywords: spacing effect, part learning, whole learning, idioms
Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Research Fund of 2021.

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