Quizlet: what the students think – a qualitative data analysis

Abstract

The immediate area of interest in this study is the primary building block of all foreign languages: vocabulary acquisition. Due to recent updates and innovations in educational software, foreign language educators now have a huge supply of ever improving tools to help enhance, transform and completely modify learning. Despite this surge in interest of recent times, there is very little physical evidence that indicates an overall sign of approval from learners. This empirical study used the now well-known digital flashcard tool Quizlet to help a large group of lower intermediate students to improve their vocabulary and ultimately raise their English comprehension levels at a medium sized private university in Japan. They were encouraged to use the said tool throughout the duration of the year-long course and were asked for their feedback about it in the final class. This study helps to reinvigorate the notion that technology can and does help the modern day language learner and can be approved in a positive manner by the majority stakeholder; the student.

The Merits of Quizlet for Vocabulary Learning at Tertiary Level

“…Gravity is wrapped in such a way so students were interested in the game. This is consistent with the fact that Quizlet provides a new, enjoyable way of learning vocabulary (Lander, 2016;Beyer & Lynch, n.d.). One of the features generates enjoyment, as mentioned before, is Gravity.…”

“…It also emphasizes that various types of features are able to give students 'richer ways' to engage with Quizlet (Ravipati, 2017). It also proves that Quizlet is a new, enjoyable way of vocabulary learning (Lander, 2016;Beyer & Lynch, n.d.);…”

“…Research on Quizlet was conducted to see its effect on vocabulary learning (see Vargas, 2011;Ashcroft & Imrie, 2014;Barr, 2016;Kálecký, 2016;Andarab, 2017), and to explore EFL learners' views on the use of Quizlet (Lander, 2016;Kose, Cimen, & Mede, 2016). Despite a few studies concerning Quizlet, research descriptively qualitative investigation of Quizlet at tertiary level, which is particularly combined to search for the students' responses, is lacking.…”

“…The Asso ci atio n of Indones ian Scho lars of Engli sh Educatio n 3 suggesting that commonly students can progress if learning by using Quizlet (Vargas, 2011;Ashcroft & Imrie, 2014;Kálecký, 2016;Andarab, 2017), particularly kinesthetic learners can generally perform well for testing (Barr, 2016); learners' engagement in the classroom is apparent (Vargas, 2011;Barr, 2016;Beyer & Lynch, n.d.); it results in learners' autonomy to learn on their computers and smartphones (Vargas, 2011;Barr, 2016;Kálecký, 2016;Beyer & Lynch, n.d.); a new, enjoyable way of vocabulary learning is provided (Lander, 2016;Beyer & Lynch, n.d.); students can control their progress and directly see at which part of vocabulary sets the students to lack (Kálecký, 2016); and students can benefit from the "spell section" to improve the spelling of words (Vargas, 2011;Kálecký, 2016).…”

The Effect of Quizlet on Vocabulary Acquisition

“…The results revealed that most of the students considered Quizlet effective especially in learning definitions, synonyms and pronunciation. Similarly, Lander [20] explored opinions of 830 low-level students about Quizlet after using it for a period of 9 months inside and outside classrooms. The results revealed that the students have shown a resounding approval of using Quizlet for learning vocabulary.…”