The Role of Quizlet in Vocabulary Acquisition

Quizlet is a widely used online vocabulary learning tool comprising seven different self-study modes, viz.Match, Learn, Test, Write, Spell, Gravity, and Flashcard.This study explores the following aspects of Quizlet use among a sample of 165 first-year business students: (a) the degree of voluntary uptake of Quizlet, (b) its effectiveness for vocabulary retention (both overall and of its individual study activities), and (c) the impact of the use of PC vs. smartphone on the choice of self-study activity.In this context, a regression analysis confirms that overall Quizlet made a significant contribution to students' vocabulary acquisition.In fact, Quizlet use had a slightly greater impact on students' vocabulary scores than their underlying English competence did.However, despite its potential to support vocabulary learning, over a third of students (35.2%) did not use Quizlet even once.In addition, a single study mode, i.e.Match, was responsible for half of overall Quizlet use.This is problematic as the Match activity is unchallenging, being exclusively based on word recognition, and accordingly a further regression analysis confirmed that Match did not make a significant contribution to vocabulary growth.On the other hand, the other six activities made significant contributions to vocabulary learning being either partly or exclusively based on more challenging recall tasks, rather than mere recognition.However, these more effective recall-based tasks require typing the correct answer, and this invariably proves cumbersome on mobile phones, which were unfortunately the preferred device among the subjects studied.