The impact of cognate strategy training on guessing accuracy for unknown visually-presented words: The case of Japanese learners of English

However, because learners do not always recognize these cross-linguistic relationships, cognate strategy training has been recommended. The present study investigated the impact of cognate strategy training on Japanese speakers’ accuracy when guessing the meaning of unknown English words.

The findings revealed that participants were significantly more accurate in responding to cognates after training than prior to it, while responses to noncognates were similar in both rounds. Moreover, participants were more accurate in identifying cognates with common grapheme–phoneme correspondences in English (e.g. fleece) after training than those that had less-common correspondences (e.g. gauge). Considering error rates, the benefit-cost ratio of applying the strategy was four correct guesses to one incorrect guess.