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Pilot study design: podcast experimental group vs. control group with VKS test and strategy questionnaire

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The pilot study involved 36 students, of whom 30 were present at both data collections. The design compares an experimental group learning vocabulary with self-made German–Italian audio podcasts against a control group learning without podcasts, with classroom observation of both groups, a written survey on vocabulary learning strategies (adapted from Neveling, 2004, changed to an ordinal scale), and the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (Paribakht & Wesche, 1997) administered before and after the 4-month period. The VKS asks students to rate 30 Italian words on a scale from I (full unfamiliarity) to V (correct grammatical and semantic use in a sentence), yielding 30–150 points.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Two participating teachers with their pupils; pre- and post-test administration; questionnaire at beginning and end

Constraints

  • The majority of experimental-group students did not create the audio podcasts, citing lack of time and no grade for the project; two teachers with different teaching styles and schools introduced intervening variables

Target Learners

  • Beginning learners of Italian as a foreign language at school

Learning Goals

  • Italian vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary learning strategies

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Unterrainer, Eva Maria. (2012). Mobile Learning in Foreign Language Learning: Podcasts and Lexicon Acquisition in the Elementary Instruction of Italian. In L. Bradley & S. Thouësny (Eds.), CALL: Using, Learning, Knowing, EUROCALL Conference, Gothenburg, Sweden, 22-25 August 2012, Proceedings. https://research-publishing.net
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id podcast-lexicon-pilot-study-design
title Pilot study design: podcast experimental group vs. control group with VKS test and strategy questionnaire
description The pilot study involved 36 students, of whom 30 were present at both data collections.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — unterrainer-2012

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