Introducing Mnemonics to Japanese Students as a Vocabulary Learning Strategy

Mnemonic strategies are not often utilised by Japanese students to learn and consolidate vocabulary, despite research showing that they are particularly effective. As part of an informal action research process, a structured lesson plan was devised that would introduce mnemonic strategies indirectly, that is, not by applying them directly to second-language vocabulary study from the outset, but instead as a means of memorising simple word/number pairings in something of a game. The strategy’s applicability to vocabulary study was shown only after it had been witnessed and practised by the students. This lesson was given in numerous classes from a variety of academic disciplines. A survey of the students (n = 361) was later carried out to ascertain whether despite its initially bypassing second-language concerns and complications, the lesson had been effective in introducing mnemonics as a vocabulary learning strategy that the students might choose to utilise in an upcoming programme of vocabulary learning and testing. Responses indicated that the lesson had been highly effective and that students in similar contexts might benefit from being introduced to mnemonics in such a way.