Learning Spanish: How a class of Thomson Holiday executives learned in 12 hours what normally takes 40 hours when they used Linkword!
LINKWORD BOOSTS LEARNING SPANISH OF TRAVEL EXECUTIVES BY OVER 300%: A CASE STUDY
Reported in an article published in the Language Learning Journal
THE THOMSON HOLIDAY STUDY
Five Thomson holiday executives were presented with the Linkword Language course by a teacher reading the Linkword Script. After 12 hours of teaching (Spread over 3 days) the executives were tested by a consultant employed at that time by Berlitz. He was not told of the method of teaching but was presented with the vocabulary and grammar taught and he tested the executives for over half an hour mostly in a question and answer session held in Spanish.
Peter Marsh, the training Manager at Thomson holidays reported to the Financial Times .It took around 12 hours to teach them about 400 words and as basic grammar, a regime that would normally take about 40 hours using traditional techniques. At the end of the three day course we were amazed , particularly at the 98% recall and the high level of motivation of the managers concerned. The managers made no mistakes in finding the English equivalents of Spanish words and only four minor mistakes in translating from English to Spanish.
Learning Spanish: How a class of poor language learners were able to use Linkword to learn Spanish and vastly improve their exam performance
LINKWORD GIVES PUPILS A BOOST IN LEARNING SPANISH: A CASE STUDY
Reported in an article published in the Language Learning Journal
THE BISHOP VAUGHAN SCHOOL STUDY
A B stream class of second year pupils learning Spanish used the Linkword Spanish Language course. The pupils has one session per week and another session using conventional teaching methods, for one term. A different vocabulary was taught in each session.
An end of term test administered by Mr Vernon Thomas, head of Languages, found the mean vocabulary score on Spanish following conventional teaching was 23.5% but 69% for the vocabulary taught using Linkword. One pupil out of 16 passed with conventional teaching, 14 out of 16 passed with Linkword Teaching.
Mr Thomas reported to the Western Mail that the performance of pupils with low Linguistic ability was considerably higher using Linkword than with conventional methods.
Retention of foreign vocabulary learned using the keyword method: a ten-year follow-up.
- Alan Beaton, University of Wales, Swansea
- Michael Gruneberg, University of Wales, Swansea
- Nick Ellis, University of Wales, Bangor
Abstract
This article assesses one individual’s level of recall for foreign vocabulary learned ten years previously using the keyword method. Without any revision at all, he remembered 35% of the test words with spelling fully correct and over 50% with only very minor errors of spelling. After 10 minutes spent looking at a vocabulary list, recall increased to 65% and 76% respectively. After a period of revision lasting a further 1½ hours, recall was virtually 100%. This level of recall was maintained for at least one month. The results indicate 1) that the keyword method (as incorporated in Linkword courses) may be used to learn a large list of vocabulary; and 2) this method of learning is not inimical to retention in the long term. Some theoretical aspects of the findings are discussed.
