Spacing Effect and Its Implications on ESP Students' Vocabulary Learning Through ICT

Due to living in an advanced technology world, using ICT in learning has not only been recommended but also an inevitable way of running any academic process, including teaching English for Specific Purposes. The current mixed-method research aimed to investigate the effect of using digital flashcards on learning technical vocabulary in specific intervals via online learning. Into the bargain, the students’ perceptions regarding the use of digital flashcards with and without intervals were explored. To this end, a number of ۶۰ undergraduate Architectural Engineering students at Pars institute of higher education were randomly assigned into an experimental and a control group. Although both groups were asked to use digital flashcards on the Quizlet website, the experimental one was instructed to do this activity with specified intervals. To meet this objective, first, a pre-treatment survey and then two technical vocabulary tests were conducted among all ESP students. Afterward, a post-treatment questionnaire and an interview were distributed among ۳۰ ESP students of the experimental group to measure their perceptions toward using digital flashcards and the usefulness of Quizlet to study technical vocabulary. A series of MANOVA and t-test were employed for analyzing quantitative data. The findings of the study revealed that there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of technical vocabulary learning. Moreover, Quizlet was a useful predictor of learners’ success in ESP vocabulary learning. Accordingly, it was concluded that students who learned vocabularies through teacher-prepared digital flashcards over time intervals performed better at learning vocabularies and this program helped them to achieve higher efficiency. The results of the current research may be beneficial for those who are dealing with English for Specific Purposes, including ESP instructors, learners, and syllabus designers.

کلیدواژه ها:

ESP ، ICT ، Digital Flashcards ، Technical Vocabulary ، Quizlet