The present research tested the effectiveness of the word part technique in comparison with the keyword method and self-strategy learning. One hundred and twenty-one Chinese year-one university students were randomly assigned to one of the three learning conditions: word part, keyword or self-strategy learning condition. Half of the target words were high imageability words and the other half low imageability words. Learning was assessed immediately after the learning phase and after a 9-day delay using three different test formats: word-form recognition, meaning recognition and translation. Results showed that the keyword method was inferior to the word part technique and self-strategy learning on the translation test format. No significant difference was observed on the form recognition test between any two of the three learning conditions.