Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Pictionary and traditional vocabulary strategies on student performance in a 9th grade English Language Arts classroom. The sample consisted of 30 ninth grade honor students who were randomly assigned to an experimental and control group. Data were collected using teacher made tests. The experimental group and control group was administered a pretest on a set of vocabulary words. After the pretest, the experimental group was taught vocabulary using Pictionary strategy while the control group was taught vocabulary using traditional methods. At the end of instruction, a posttest was administered. Data were analyzed using independent and paired t-test. The results indicated a significant difference between Pictionary and traditional vocabulary instruction (t(28)=2.346, p=0.026, ES=0.86). Similarly, there was a significant difference between students pretest and posttest when they were taught using the Pictionary strategy (t(29)= -6.50, p= 0.001, ES=1.53). The results suggest that Pictionary is an effective instruction strategy on student vocabulary.