Abstract:
This study aimed to examine the impact of the keyword method (KW) on English
vocabulary recall of the new staff in the automotive industry. The research population
was 35 new staff recruited within April, 2013 at Asia Precision Public Company
Limited, Chon Buri province, who graduated Grade 9 or equivalent. It was an
experimental research based on one-group pretest-posttest design, consisting of pretest
and posttest experiments in order to measure the efficiency of the KW training program.
The research instruments included a vocabulary recall training package using KW
method, a pretest, a posttest, and a survey of vocabulary recall method. Also, mean,
standard deviation, and t-test were employed for data analysis. The results revealed as
follows:
1. The average score of vocabulary recall pretest of the staff before attending the
vocabulary recall training using KW method was 6.74, and their mean score after
finishing the training was 16.54. Both average scores were compared and it was revealed
that the posttest mean was significantly higher at the .01 level (t = 14.58, SD = 2.41). In
addition, 65.14% of the staff stated that they employed the KW method for vocabulary
recall.
2. The average score of vocabulary recall posttest of the staff after finishing the
vocabulary recall training with the keyword method was 16.54. After the staff finished
the KW training for 2 weeks, it was found that the average of score of vocabulary recall
retention test based on using the KW method was 15.83. When compared, the two scores
were not significantly different (t = 1.25, SD = 2.87). According to the results of
vocabulary recall retention test, it discovered that 68.43% of the staff stated that they
employed the KW method for vocabulary recall.