This study aimed to identify the effect of cooperative vocabulary learning activities using advertisements for English vocabulary competence and vocabulary learning attitudes in South Korean middle school students, and ascertain an effective activity ... This study aimed to identify the effect of cooperative vocabulary learning activities using advertisements for English vocabulary competence and vocabulary learning attitudes in South Korean middle school students, and ascertain an effective activity plan for the teaching and learning of vocabulary that can be used for English education. Accordingly, the purposes of the present study are as follows. What effect does cooperative vocabulary learning activities using advertisements have on short-term vocabulary ability in middle school students? What effect does cooperative vocabulary learning activities using advertisements have on long-term vocabulary ability of middle school students? What effect does cooperative vocabulary learning activities using advertisements have on the middle school students’learning attitude? An experiment was conducted on 70 students in the second grade of I middle school located in Seoul with the students divided into a control group and two experimental groups. All three groups had eight times lessons comprising presentations, practices, and reinforcement activities: The two experimental groups completed vocabulary activities using advertisements, whereas the control group completed vocabulary activities using practice questions. Each experimental group was instructed using the instruction models based on advertisement-based individual learning and advertisement-based cooperative learning. After the completion of the eighth class, an assessment on short-term vocabulary was conducted, and an assessment on long-term vocabulary was performed one week after the assessment on short-term vocabulary. In addition, students' responses on their overall vocabulary learning, vocabulary learning using advertisements, and cooperative learning using advertisements were surveyed. The results are as follows. First, for short-term memory, a positive effect was found in all three groups of individual learning using advertisement, cooperative learning using advertisement, and traditional learning of vocabulary, understanding, and expression. The group that used advertisement-based cooperative learning obtained statistically significant higher scores in vocabulary, understanding, and expression than the group with individual learning or the control group. Therefore, statistical verification was obtained for the prediction that confirmed cooperative learning as more effective than individual learning in improving vocabulary competence through the vocabulary activities using advertisements. Second, for long-term memory, a positive effect was also observed in all three groups of individual learning using advertisements, cooperative learning using advertisements, and traditional learning on vocabulary, understanding, and expression. In addition, the cooperative learning group using advertisements also obtained statistically significant higher scores in the assessment of long-term vocabulary, understanding, and expression than the individual learning group or the control group. Statistical verification was obtained for the prediction that affirmed cooperative learning using advertisements as more effective than individual learning for long-term memory retention of vocabulary. Third, no statistically significant difference was observed between the control group and the individual learning group using advertisements in terms of short-term and long-term vocabulary memory retention. Thus, no statistical verification was obtained for the two predictions in which vocabulary activities using advertisements are more effective in vocabulary learning, and vocabulary activities using advertisements positively influence long-term memory retention of vocabulary. Fourth, the analysis results of the pre- and post-survey on vocabulary learning activities using advertisements showed that the control group demonstrated a positive attitude towards “interest” on the “overall attitude toward vocabulary learning,” and the two experimental groups showed a positive attitude towards the learning “culture” and the “willingness for future application”of“vocabulary learning using advertisements.” In addition, the survey results on cooperative learning on the advertisement-based cooperative vocabulary learning showed post-experiment improvements in “effectiveness” and “interest” of cooperative learning, but the improvements were not statistically significant. Based on the result of the study, the educational implications of advertisement-based learning for English education in our country are as follows. First, regardless of the use of advertisements, all types of learning had a positive effect on vocabulary learning. This suggests that the activities, which allow students to systematically input and output vocabulary items, can be used as an effective vocabulary activity in English education. Second, the cooperative vocabulary learning activities using advertisements did not show a significant effect in individual learning when compared to the control group, but it showed a positive effect on cooperative learning. This indicates that it is desirable to provide a classroom environment where students have opportunities to communicate through cooperative learning when they learn vocabulary. In other words, the result suggests that students with high participation rate and positive attitude toward the process of peer interactions will have a positive effect on vocabulary learning. Moreover, it is necessary to fulfill the learning desires of the students by developing vocabulary activities using more diverse and specifically practical materials hereafter. Third, since the vocabulary activities used in the study were composed of several steps, it may be difficult to use these activities in daily instruction, and the amount of vocabulary learning could be ineffective for the limited class time. Furthermore, as seen in the results, positive learning was found when advertisement-based cooperative learning was used, whereas no significant learning effect was observed when individual vocabulary learning was used. Thus, there were positive responses from both experimental groups, on foreign culture education through vocabulary classes using advertisements and on their intention to learn the vocabulary. These positive responses indicate that the activities of the present experiment can be considered an effective vocabulary learning method. They can be used as a performance assessment tool in the form of group activities over several times lessons or as a holiday group assignment.
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