Are Pictures Good for Learning New Vocabulary in a

Foreign Language?

Only If You Think They Are Not

Shana K. Carpenter & Kellie M. Olson

Presentation by: Erica Starr

Literature Review & Background

O Picture superiority effect- when shown a list of easily named pictures versus their corresponding verbal labels, P’s often have an easier time recalling the names of the pictures (Paivio & Csapo, 1973; Paivio, Rogers, & Smythe, 1968).

O The first known theoretical account was based on Paivio’s theory that pictures are remembered better because they are represented by both verbal and image codes.

Background Continued

O Related to the levels of processing theory (Craik & Lockhart, 1972), pictures receive a greater degree of elaborative semantic processing.

O Pictures can be categorized faster than words (Potter & Faulconer, 1975).

O The picture superiority effect can be eliminated through encoding tasks that encourage semantic processing of word labels.

Some More Background

O One area directly relevant to the issue of the picture superiority effect is foreign language vocabulary learning.

O Many studies report the mnemonic advantages of pictures.

O Many foreign language textbooks use pictures.

O Computer-assisted language learning programs with pictures convey concepts in a visually distinctive way.

Language Studies of the Past

O English speakers German wordsO Cantonese speakers English wordsO Cantonese speakers French wordsO Dutch speakers Italian words

O *Cued recall tests have not yielded any advantage in recall when comparing the use of pictures versus verbal translations

2 Important Distinctions

O Picture superiority effect

O 1. Presentations of single items

O 2. Measure single item recall or recognition

O Pictures in acquisition of foreign language vocabulary

O 1. Foreign word paired with either picture or native language translation

O 2. Measure cued recall of a foreign word from a picture or translation

What Does This Mean?

O There are differences between the two tasks in how information is both encoded and retrieved.

O Performance on free recall and recognition tests are more likely to demonstrate the picture superiority effect than are cued recall tests.

What may be contributing to the lack of picture superiority effects in foreign language vocabulary

learning?

O *Replicate the designs of previous studies that have failed to detect advantages in using pictures to recall foreign words.

O *Extend these designs to see whether findings can be attributed to encoding factors, retrieval factors, or both.

Experiment 1

O P’s learned new words in Swahili by seeing the word paired with either a picture or its English translation.

MethodO 116 P’s, 29 P’s randomly assigned to one of the

four between-subjects conditions, approx. 25 min.O 43 single syllable English nouns between 3 and 7

letters (Kamusi Project Website)

OCondition 1

O Saw Swahili word w/ picture Recall Swahili word from picture

OCondition 2

O Saw Swahili word w/ picture Free recall name of picture in English

OCondition 3

O Saw Swahili word w/ English translation Recall Swahili word from English translation

OCondition 4

O Saw Swahili word w/ English translation Free recall the English word

O 1. P’s knew they were going be tested from the beginning. Each item pair was in the center of a computer screen for 6s with a 1s interstimulus interval.

O 2. P’s in each condition saw all items again but in a different random order.

TEST

O In Conditions 1 and 3, P’s had unlimited time to type in their answers in Swahili on the screen upon being presented with the pictures one by one in random order.

O In Conditions 2 and 4, P’s had 5 min. to respond in English by typing the names of as many pictures or words that they could recall, pressing ENTER in between each answer.

Results

O Expected that Swahili words recalled from pictures would not be better than from English translations

O Accuracy = An exact match to the correct Swahili word

O The free recall test revealed an advantage of pictures over English translations, whereas the cued recall test did not.

Interpretations

O Absence of a picture superiority effect with this task cannot be explained by saying the pictures were not sufficiently encoded, as free recall did produce the usual effect.

O Experiment 2 explores why cued recall leads to an absent picture superiority effect.

Experiment 2

O Same general instructions as Exp. 1O 24 P’s from first pool were usedO Same word pairs minus 1 pair (picked at

random)O Used color photographs instead of black

and white line drawingsO 21 items were picture-Swahili word pairs,

the other half were English-Swahili pairs

The items were presented again P’s made a judgment of learning for each item

Picture-Swahili Pairs

English-Swahili Pairs

O “How confident are you that in about five minutes from now you will be able to recall the Swahili word when given the picture?”

O “How confident are you that in about five minutes from now you will be able to recall the Swahili word when given the English word?”

Item presented

__60___ (Press ENTER)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% definitely will not recall ---------------------------------- definitely will recall

O P’s then given a cued recall test on computers using the same cue present at encoding.

O After entering a response, it disappeared and the correct answer appeared.

O P’s made another judgment of learning (JOL) about how well they would do another 5 min. later

O Then the next item was tested for cued recall, followed by feedback and a JOL. This entire recall and JOL procedure was then repeated one more time.

O A final recall test without feedback or JOL’s was given.

O Experiment 2 lasted about 40 min.

Results

At Test 1, overconfidence was higher for Swahili words learned from pictures than from English translations.

By Test 3, P’s were underconfident for

both types of items.

At Test 1, no significant advantage emerged for picture pairs over word pairs. It was significant for Tests 2 & 3.

Interpretations

O When P’s are overconfident in their ability to recall a Swahili word from a picture, they do not recall Swahili words significantly better from pictures than from English translations.

O Removal of this overconfidence bias through retrieval practice resulted in a significant advantage in recall of Swahili words from pictures compared with English translations.

Experiment 3O 50 P’s from same pool, 25 to each of two

conditionsO Same 42 items as Exp. 2, half as picture

pairs, half as word pairsO P’s made a JOL for each item and

recalled items from the same encoding cues used during encoding

*Exp. 3 attempted to reduce overconfidence through an instructional manipulation rather than through retrieval practice.

Condition 1

Warning Group

Condition 2

No Warning Group

O Provided w/ instructions not to be overconfident

O Overconfidence bias is absent

O Prediction: Expect to observe a picture superiority effect

O Received no warning

O Should not observe picture superiority effect

O Prediction: Picture-Swahili pairs would elicit greater overconfidence

Instructions for the Warning Group

Results

The No Warning Group exhibited greater overconfidence for picture-Swahili pairs.

The Warning Group did not.

The Warning group demonstrated superior recall of Swahili words from pictures compared with English

translations, whereas the No Warning Group did not.

Interpretations

O Pictures were more effective cues overall than English translations.

O Conditions with an overconfidence bias did not show a picture superiority effect.

O When this bias was prevented through instructions, a significant picture superiority effect emerged.

Why do people feel overconfident in their ability to recall a word from a picture?

O Evidence for the ease-of-processing heuristic is based on the findings that items which receive high ease of processing ratings will be rated easy to process by another group of people.

Based on the JOL’s from Exps. 2 & 3, evidence for this heuristic will be obtained if a different group of P’s rates Picture-Swahili pairs as easier to process

than English-Swahili pairs.

Experiment 4

O 64 P’s from same pool, same 42 word pairs

O Half with pictures, half with translations

O Pictures were the line drawings from Exp. 1

O Same general presentation as in previous exps.

Following the Items Presentation

O Exp. 4A Each item rated for ease of studying*O Exp. 4B Each item rated for ease of understanding*O Exp. 4C Each item rated for ease of linking*

(*Comparing Swahili word to picture/English translation)

SCALE

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Very hard to understand/study/link ------ Very easy to understand/study/link

Results

P’s rated Picture-Swahili pairs as being significantly easier to study, understand, and link.

Thus, P’s perceived Swahili words as easier to process when paired with pictures rather than English translations. (Supported by high JOL’s in Exps. 2 & 3)

General DiscussionO These experiments addressed the lack of a picture

superiority effect in foreign language vocabulary learning.

O Swahili words that were paired with pictures were not better recalled on an initial cued recall test than those paired with English translations.

O Although pictures were well encoded (shown by superior free recall), sufficient associations between pictures and Swahili words were not made.

Discussion ContinuedO Failure to associate the pictures with Swahili words

appears to stem from overconfidence.

O Eliminating this overconfidence bias through retrieval practice leads to advantages in recall for Picture-Swahili pairs.

O Pictures are perceived as easier to process than English translations, but this can sometimes lead to inaccurate memory predictions.

Pictures can indeed be more effective cues than English

translations, as long as participants are not significantly

more overconfident in the mnemonic power of pictures.

Discussion QuestionsO Did using the same pool of participants for all four

experiments have any biasing effect on the results?

O Is Swahili unique in its vocabulary? What about another language that people are more exposed to?

O Was 42 pairs of words excessive in that it was too much information to be remembered well?

Future ExperimentsO Perform the experiment with children, they may have

different ways of remembering items than adults do or pay more attention to pictures since their reading level is not as advanced.

O If P’s are given more time to learn the material and tested by an incidental learning task, maybe they will be more likely to remember certain pairings. What if P’s are told they must try to teach the material to someone else? Will that change how well they remember it?

O Test overconfidence in a social situation. Do JOL’s change when P’s are asked to show how confident they are by raising their hand in a classroom setting as opposed to working alone?