Abstract

Facilitating vocabulary learning is a central task for language teachers, yet little research compares the relative efficacy of different vocabulary tasks (Webb, et al. 2020), and less still the effect of learner grouping, with one exception being Iwata et al. (2024). When selecting words for study, one important variable is grapheme-phoneme consistency — how closely a word's spelling matches its pronunciation — which may complicate acquisition some aspects of word knowledge due to the relatively high number of English words with low grapheme-phoneme consistency (Share, 2008). This study aims to bring together these elements to compare paired and individual vocabulary study and asks whether high- or low-consistency words are more readily acquired in either condition. 140 Japanese learners were assigned to a paired or individual condition and studied 28 target words across three sessions, with half of the words introduced in each of the first two sessions and all 28 reviewed in the third. The individual group studied alone in a written mode, using progressively demanding Quizlet tasks; the paired group worked primarily in an oral/aural mode, moving from meaning recognition and meaning recall to form recognition and form recall. Pre and posttests comprised 56 items covering oral receptive knowledge (14 items), written productive (14 items) knowledge, and form recognition (all 28 items). No significant difference emerged between conditions on meaning recognition or form recall, but the paired group outperformed the Quizlet group on oral meaning recall. Grapheme-phoneme consistency did not affect acquisition of aural forms, though low-consistency words were recalled significantly more accurately in the written productive posttests. Pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed as are directions for future research.