Naming fluency on visual and verbal mnemonics for transference, recall, and categorization of secondary global studies knowledge

Janet Sue Wahl, Fordham University

Abstract

This study sought to determine the effects of fluency, (fluent, disfluent), treatment (verbal, visual), and the interactions on (a) the tendency for voluntary strategy use on the transfer task, (b) the amount of material recalled and (c) categorized under teacher-directed strategy use after a 2-day delay, and (d) the recognition recall after a 7-day delay. Forty-two high school students in a culturally diverse small city within a large metropolitan area were classified as fluent and disfluent namers by results of the Test of Adolescent and Adult Word Finding. Intact classes were randomly assigned to the two treatments of a 21- to 26-day duration to accommodate mastery learning. Chi-square procedures were used to analyze the voluntary use of the strategy on a transfer task. ANOVA was used to analyze strategy effectiveness on recall and categorization after a 2-day interval; ANOVA with repeated measures analyzed effectiveness for recognition recall after a 7-day interval. No significant differences for main effects of naming, treatment, or interactions were found for transfer; 57% of the total sample elected to use the strategy to learn new material. Both the visual and verbal strategies were equally effective with both naming types on recall and categorization. One significant interaction was found on the recognition recall true-false format after the 7-day delay: Fluent namers in verbal treatment performed significantly better than fluent namers in visual treatment on categorization. Conclusions were: (a) Students can generate their own mnemonics to acquire knowledge of world religions. (b) Mastery learning enabled 57% of the students to transfer the strategy to new material. (c) Students recalled an average of 81% of the material and could categorize it with 87% accuracy. After a 7-day delay, they could accurately recognize 63% of the material. A lack of a comparison group prohibited a definite statement of strategy impact. Failures were few: 7.14% failed the recall, 4.76% failed the categorization. From a practical instructional point of view, this methodology bears further study as an effective approach.

Subject Area

Secondary education|Social studies education|Special education|Educational psychology

Recommended Citation

Wahl, Janet Sue, "Naming fluency on visual and verbal mnemonics for transference, recall, and categorization of secondary global studies knowledge" (1992). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9304528.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9304528

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