Teaching English Language and Literature Society of Iran (TELLSI) Journal of new advances in English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics 2676-2927 7 1 2025 03 31 Effect of Word Sorting Techniques on Iranian Low and Mid Achievers' Vocabulary Recall and Retention 241 256 226518 10.22034/jeltal.2025.7.1.9 EN Farzaneh Mir TEFL Instructor, Department of Foreign Languages, Arv. C., Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran Bahman Gorjian Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages, Arv. C., Islamic Azad University, Abadan, Iran 0000-0003-4932-5028 Journal Article 2024 11 11 The present study examined the effect of word sorting techniques on intermediate Iranian low and mid achievers' vocabulary recall and retention. To fulfill this purpose, 100 intermediate EFL learners aged 18 to 45, majoring in TEFL and Translation courses at Islamic Azad University of Abadan, participated in this research. Regarding their performance on a standard language proficiency test (PET), already piloted, the participants were randomly divided into one experimental (N=50) and one control group (N=50), each of which was subdivided into two levels, namely low (N=25) and mid (N=25). First, the participants took a researcher-made vocabulary pre-test to assess their homogeneity regarding the degree of word familiarity with the target words. During the treatment, the target words were taught with word sorting in the experimental group, while traditional techniques were employed with the control group. Two weeks after the end of the treatment, a parallel post-test (already piloted) was administered. A month later, the participants also took a piloted follow-up posttest. The descriptive and inferential statistics of the mean scores indicated that word sorting had affected the experimental groups’ recall and retention. Their test performances were significantly different from those of their control group counterparts. They outperformed the control group in terms of word recall and retention. https://www.jeltal.ir/article_226518_9452c5e5b96eaa3ff25f8bc22785126c.pdf