Exploring the affordances of mobile-assisted instruction for technical vocabulary learning and retention among university students

Technical vocabulary is central to academic participation in English for Specific Purposes contexts, yet evidence remains limited concerning how mobile-assisted flashcard systems support distinct dimensions of discipline-specific vocabulary development. This mixed-methods study examined psychology-related technical vocabulary learning and retention among 80 Uzbek undergraduates in a quasi-experimental intact-class design. Two classes used digital flashcards through Anki on smartphones (n = 50), whereas one class used paper-based flashcards containing the same 100 target terms (n = 30) during a ten-week intervention. Vocabulary development was assessed at pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test through depth of vocabulary knowledge, meaning recognition, and productive vocabulary use. Baseline-adjusted multivariate analyses showed stronger post-test and delayed post-test vocabulary profiles in the digital-flashcard group. Gain-retention analyses indicated larger immediate and retained gains across the three outcomes. Post-to-delayed change also differed between conditions, specifically because productive vocabulary continued to increase in the digital condition but declined slightly in the paper condition. A Bayesian mixed-effects comparison of Vocabulary Knowledge Scale trajectories decisively favored the Group × Time model. Interviews with 15 digital-flashcard users, analyzed through cultural-historical activity theory, indicated that digital flashcards mediated planning, monitoring, and motivation while creating tensions involving distraction and workload. Mobile-assisted flashcards therefore supported technical vocabulary learning through the interaction of spaced review, self-regulated engagement, and delayed productive consolidation.