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Using psychological knowledge skillfully to effectively memorize English vocabulary test papers
The size of vocabulary is an important sign to measure a person's English level, and it is also a key factor to restrict a person's English ability. However, the memory of English vocabulary has always been the biggest obstacle for English learners, which directly affects their learning efficiency. Therefore, finding effective ways to overcome word memory is the key to improve learning efficiency. This paper summarizes some practical and effective vocabulary memory methods from the perspective of psychology and combining the laws of human memory and forgetting.

Keywords vocabulary memory memory law forgetting law

1 Introduction

David Wilkins, a British linguist, once summed up the importance of vocabulary learning and said, "Without grammar, only limited information can be conveyed, and without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed." As one of the three elements of language, vocabulary is the building material of language, and no language skill can exist independently without vocabulary factors. According to the requirements of college English syllabus, after two years of English study, college students should master 4200 words. Obviously, this is an arduous task for students. Generally speaking, the improvement of students' listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating ability depends largely on the expansion of their vocabulary after mastering the basic knowledge of pronunciation and grammar. The size of vocabulary is an important symbol to measure a person's English level and an important factor to restrict a person's English ability, so the importance of vocabulary memory is self-evident. However, the vast number of English learners can't find an effective vocabulary memory method, and the result is often half the effort.

From the psychological point of view, the author analyzes the laws of human memory and forgetting, and puts forward the following effective methods of memorizing vocabulary.

2. 1 Review frequently

Confucius mentioned in The Analects of Confucius that "learning from time to time" and "reviewing old things and learning new things" all emphasized the important role of review in the learning process. There is no once-and-for-all memory. Even words with a solid memory will be forgotten because of the influence or interference of other factors. The most effective way to avoid forgetting is to review frequently. Review should also pay attention to strategy, that is, to allocate review. Generally speaking, to be dense before being sparse means to review the materials you have just learned more, and the interval between reviews should be shorter. With the improvement of memory consolidation, the number of reviews can be gradually reduced and the interval can be gradually increased.

2.2 timely review

Not only should we review regularly, but we should also review in time. German psychologist Ebbinghaus was the first to systematically study forgetting. The Ebbinghaus forgetting curve he drew reveals that the process of forgetting is unbalanced, and it is the law of fast first and then slow. Because forgetting is fast first and then slow, we should review vocabulary in time, and prevent forgetting quickly after learning before forgetting on a large scale. Some students also review, but the review is not timely enough, which affects the effect of memory. We should understand that some things are not a question of doing or not doing, but a question of when to do something useful.

2.3 Multiple senses participate in memory

When memorizing, what kind of sensory channel is used to input information affects the memory effect. For example, someone once did an experiment: let three groups of students remember the same material-10 pictures, one group used visual memory, one group used auditory memory, and the third group used audio-visual memory. Results One group can recall 70%, another group can recall 60%, and the third group can recall 83.6%. This shows that visual memory is better than auditory memory, and audio-visual combination is better than visual memory. Obviously, multi-sensory channels * * * can make the same content establish multi-channel extensive contact on the cerebral cortex, which is better than single-channel memory. Therefore, when memorizing vocabulary, if the five senses of the subject can be fully mobilized to participate in memory, the memory effect will be greatly improved by combining sight, hearing, reading and writing. At the same time, in the process of memory, because of the participation of many senses, it is easier to concentrate and concentrate without interference from external things, thus ensuring the quality of memory. 2.4 Establishment of associations

There are extensive relations between words, such as similar meanings, antagonistic relations, similar forms and derivative relations. Associative memory based on these relationships can receive the effect of "remembering this and recalling that". Practice has also proved that whether you are good at using association to expand the memory range is an important reason for the difference in memory level between people. Some people can extrapolate and extrapolate; Some people don't remember anything. In the process of vocabulary memorization, when encountering a new word, we can use memory methods such as proximity association, analogy association, contrast association and classification association. , so that a word from point to surface, as far as possible to link to various forms, structures and usages related to it. For example, when you learn the phrase having a reliable memory, you will think of its similar expression: having/tenacious/retentive/photographic/unsuccessful memory, and at the same time you will think of its opposite expression: having/unreliable/terrible/selective memory. When learning blue collar (blue collar, referring to "manual workers"), it is analogously associated with white collar (white collar, referring to "mental workers"), pink collar (pink collar, referring to "typical female professional workers") and gold collar (gray collar, referring to "maintenance workers"). When remembering the word drought, we use the method of classification and association to think of other words belonging to the same natural disaster, such as flood, hurricane, typhoon, tornado, earthquake, volcanic eruption, debris flow and so on. When I think of the word accelerator pedal, I think of other words belonging to the same automobile device, such as brake pedal, clutch pedal, dashboard, horn, ignition switch, seat belt, steering wheel, windshield, wiper, bumper and so on.

2.5 Try to recall

When using associative memory, on the one hand, it emphasizes its importance to "memory", on the other hand, it also emphasizes its convenience to "memory". The so-called memory, including memory and recall, refers to the memory, storage, extraction and reproduction of knowledge. Therefore, the memory that is remembered but not remembered cannot be called real memory or complete memory, and the combination of remembering and recalling can ensure the effect and quality of memory. The experiment also shows that the effect of simply repeating reading is not as good as the effect of actively trying to recall in reading. This is because the combination of repeated reading and hard memory is an active learning process, which requires high concentration and more intense mental activity. It can promote the establishment and consolidation of temporary neural connections, and at the same time, it can check the memory situation in time, concentrate on weak links and easily deepen the impression. Experiments show that the best ratio of the two is 20% reading +80% trying to recall.

3 Conclusion

Mastering a large number of English words is the premise and foundation to improve the ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating. However, such a rich vocabulary, if there is no scientific theory as a guide, it is difficult to learn by rote only by the patience and perseverance of learners. The process of memorizing vocabulary is the process of unremitting struggle with "forgetting", so it is particularly important to understand the necessary psychological knowledge and control forgetting to a minimum, so as to strengthen memory. Memorizing English words in this way is not only more, accurate and firm, but also easy to extract and confuse. When using vocabulary, you can really be handy and draw inferences from others.

References:

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[2] Meng. College English vocabulary teaching. Journal of Jilin Institute of Technology, 2008, (7).

[3] Jiang Lin et al. Psychology Tutorial. Dongying: Petroleum University Press, 2000.

[4] Xiao. English vocabulary expansion-analogy word formation. Journal of Hubei University of Finance and Economics, 2008, (2).