FROM ‘BURGER’ TO 'TACO': UNVEILING STUDENT ARGUMENTATION SHIFTS IN SEMANTIC MASTERY THROUGH CULINARY MNEMONICS

Abstract

Due to the high cognitive load associated with complex language jargon, understanding semantics frequently presents a substantial obstacle for EFL students, especially when it comes to differentiating subtleties between polysemy, hyponymy, and homonymy. Grounded in cognitive load theory, mnemonic strategies are theoretically well-suited to address this challenge, as they reduce extraneous cognitive burden by anchoring abstract semantic categories to familiar, concrete schemas. This qualitative case study examines the efficacy of the Semantic Menu, an original instructional framework using culinary-themed mnemonics individually assigned to students based on their specific diagnosed semantic learning difficulties. Over the course of six weeks, two stages of interviews and written assignments were used to gather data from six undergraduate students, each purposively selected based on notable difficulty articulating semantic relations and subsequently paired with a mnemonic, such as B.U.R.G.E.R, N.A.C.H.O.S, or C.H.I.P.S, tailored to their diagnosed conceptual gap. The findings suggest substantial qualitative improvement in students' performance: structured, logical, and accurate argumentation replaced the initial conceptual ambiguity ('the terminological fog'), with each participant's progress closely aligned with the semantic sub-domain targeted by their assigned mnemonic. By using culinary anchors as an individualised cognitive scaffold, learners' anxiety levels decreased and their capacity to classify complex sense relations stabilised. These findings suggest that connecting abstract theoretical concepts to familiar, personally relevant schemas increases confidence in academic analysis while also improving retention. This study implies that individualized, creative scaffolding is an essential teaching strategy for closing the gap between passive theoretical knowledge and active analytical proficiency in linguistics.