Mnemonics: Effectiveness of Highlighting Keywords to Knowledge Retention Among

Senior High School Students

Chapter 1

Problem and Its Scope

Rationale made by Austin and Cantay

Students need to absorb ideas from different subjects in just one day, that leads to

confusion and difficulty in understanding all of the discussion. They are not able to comprehend

all the information; that is why they tend to forget it. In their journey to academic success, they

tend to use different study techniques to improve their retention of information necessary for

passing the school year.

The act of underlining or emphasizing significant information has been used for ages.

The idea of highlighting important information dates back to the days when ancient scribes and

scholars employed a variety of methods to direct readers’ attention to essential parts of written

works. Furthermore, text marking (highlighting and underlining) has frequently been cited as one

of the more common strategies employed by college students (Anderston and Armbruster, 1984).

The purpose of highlighting is to bring attention to the important information in a text

and help with comprehension and retention. It requires the students to identify the keywords or

phrases and provides a useful method for later reviewing the information. Highlighting improves

retention (Fowler and Barker, 1974). Highlighting keywords can lead to better memory and
better comprehension for students to evaluate the importance of individual passages or studies

and to understand and improve their knowledge of the study.

The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of highlighting keywords for

knowledge retention. The academic performance of students reflects their ability to demonstrate

the knowledge they have learned in tests, quizzes, presentations, and the final examination

(Barkey, 2004). This study aims to determine if it helps students' knowledge retention in any

circumstances to enhance their participation in school. To determine the potential of highlighting

and whether it is convenient or unnecessary to use for student improvement in class.

THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

This study is supported by the Dual Coding Theory by James M. Clark and Allan Paivio,

the Generation Effect by Karpicke and Roediger, and the Attention and Arousal theory by Yerkes

and Dodson.

Dual Coding Theory by Clark and Paivio (1991), The Dual Coding Theory proposes

that integrating verbal and visual information improves memory, which is relevant to underlining

keywords for knowledge retention. They are simply making a visual indication that supports the

verbal materials and when highlighting terms. The brain can encode and retrieve information via

a variety of neural pathways thanks to this dual representation, which combines verbal (text) and

visual (highlighted keywords).

Generation Effect by Karpicke and Roediger (2008), Research in cognitive

psychology backs up the claim that underlining significant words can improve memory. The

"Generation Effect" describes a phenomenon in which actively interacting with the material, like

underlining, can enhance memory retention. A 2008 study by Karpicke and Roediger titled "The
 Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning" discovered that active retrieval of information,

such as highlighting, improves long-term retention.

THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK made by Fuentes and Cantay

Mnemonics: Effectiveness of Highlighting Keywords to Knowledge Retention

Among Senior High School Students

Dual Coding Theory by James M. Clark and Allan Paivio (1991)

Theory proposes that integrating verbal and visual information improves memory, which is

relevant to underlining keywords for knowledge retention.

Generation Effect by Karpicke and Attention and Arousal theory by Yerkes

Roediger (2008) and Dodson (1908)

claim that underlining significant words can suggests that certain colors and visual

improve memory. elements can capture attention effectively.

 Figure 1. Theoretical Framework

Attention and Arousal theory by Yerkes and Dodson (1908), Attention and Arousal

Theory: Certain colors may capture attention more effectively than others. Colors that stand out

can increase arousal and focus, potentially leading to better retention of information associated

with those colors. Colors can help with remembering by acting as clues. When certain colors are

repeatedly linked to terms during the learning process, coming across such colors subsequently

can prompt memory recall and help with information retention. It also identifies visual

differentiation, and color-coding keywords make the text around them stand out visually. This

facilitates the quick identification and recognition of key terms by students, making the learning

process more effective.

Statement of the Problem

Students are having a hard time understanding their discussion, resulting in their failure

to pass the exam. This study assessed the senior high school students of Advance Institute of

Technology, Inc. of Lapu-lapu City to improve their scores in an examination. This study aims to

know the effectiveness of highlighting keywords for knowledge retention.

Specifically, it answers the following questions:

1. What is the profile of the respondents, in terms of:

1.1 Age

1.2 Grade level

1.3 Strand

1.4 Favorite color

2. What subject do they often use the highlighting technique?

3. Does highlighting help in preserving the knowledge, in terms of:

3.1 Procrastination

3.2 Unbalanced time

4. Will they remember the words they highlighted?

5. Can they figure out what color they used to highlight the keywords?

6. What possible intervention can be proposed?