（20 届）
论 文 题 目 **************** 作 者 指 导 教 师 ××（副教授） 学 生 所 属 系 旅外系 毕 业 专 业 英语（体育外事方向） 学 号 201101202
一律用A4纸制作，封面建议采用白纸。
A Thesis Submitted
to Foreign Language Department of
Physical Education College of Zhengzhou University
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
By Chang Jingjing Supervisor：
May 10, 2014
郑州大学体育学院本科生毕业设计（论文）诚信承诺书
thesis.
My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor, Peng Yongjing, for her constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this present form.
I also owe a special debt of gratitude to all from whose devoted teaching and enlightening lectures I have benefited a lot and academically prepared for the thesis.
Last but not the least, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis.
英语学习包含着大量的词汇及语法结构的记忆，其中词汇记忆对英语学习尤为重要，因为它是构成英语语言的基石。然而，很多英语学习者都表示词汇记忆是他们英语学习的一大障碍，集中反映的问题是遗忘过快。因此如何有效地提高词汇记忆效果也成为学界研究的焦点。本文通过分析艾宾浩斯遗忘曲线, 结合英
numerous grammatical structures. Vocabulary acquisition is a principal issue for English learning because vocabulary comprises the basic building blocks of English. However, it is proved to be a major obstruction to English learning, which is mostly presented as forgetting too fast. Therefore, many scholars focus their attention on how to improve the efficiency of English vocabulary acquisition. Based on the analysis of Forgetting Curve of Ebbinghaus and the major problems in the process of English vocabulary acquisition, the thesis explores some learning strategies to promote the efficiency of English vocabulary acquisition in hope of providing some help to the
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... I .................................................................................................................................................. II
............................................................................................................................................ II ............................................................................................................................ I
II Part One
Introduction
.....................................................................................................................
1 Part Two English Vocabulary Acquisition ...................................................................................... 2
2.1 The Concept of Language Acquisition ................................................................................ 2 2.2 Vocabulary Acquisition ....................................................................................................... 2 Part Three Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve .................................................................................... 4
3.1 A Brief Introduction of the Forgetting Curve ...................................................................... 4 3.2 The Influence of Different Materials on Memory Effect .................................................... 6 Part Four The Application of the Forgetting Curve in English Vocabulary Acquisition错误！未定义书签。
4.1 Strategies of English Vocabulary Acquisition ................................... 错误！未定义书签。
4.1.1 Activating English vocabulary in Regular Intervals ............... 错误！未定义书签。 4.1.2 Using Spaced Repetitions....................................................... 错误！未定义书签。 4.1.3 Brainstorming ......................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。 4.2 Stepped Contextual Mnemonics ........................................................ 错误！未定义书签。 4.2.1 Half-month Stepped Plan ....................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
4.2.2 Memorizing in Context .......................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
Part Five Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications .................................................................... 8 5.1 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 8
5.2 Pedagogical Implications .................................................................................................... 8 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................................... 9
and Naylor 24).
Hermann Ebbinghaus, a famous psychologist in German, studied the forgetting behavior of human beings and drew the famous Forgetting Curve. He told us the truth that there are two kinds of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory (Ebbinghaus 38). “The short-term memory is formed after we get the information. But we will forget the information soon if we don’t give it a timely review. On the contrary, the short-term memory will turn into the long-term memory with timely review and application. Thereby, the information will be kept in mind for a long time” Therefore, to have a good memory of vocabulary, students must enhance the memory right after they meet the new vocabulary and give it as much application as possible. Only in this way can they have a firm memory of vocabulary. Based on these cases, this thesis tries to put forward some effective vocabulary acquisition strategies combined with Ebbinhaus’s Forgetting Curve.
languages is studied primarily by developmental psychologists and psycholinguists. However, the acquisition of second or foreign languages is studied primarily by applied linguists. Generally, people rarely become as fluent in a second or foreign language as in their native tongue. Most traditional methods for learning a second or foreign language involve some systematic approaches interrelated． “In terms of the mental lexicon, a new lemma is created for a newly encountered word”(Widdowson, Teaching 17). The word not only is attached to particular meanings but will be included in a network of between the word’s separate senses”memory: short-term and
seconds, usually by repeating the information over and over. For example, you look up a number in the telephone book, and before you dial, you repeat the number over and over and you can remember it long enough to dial them. While, the latter concerns the wide range of ways in which experiences can affect behavior many years later, which refers to the continuing storage of information. In Freudian psychology, the long-term memory would be called
Part Three Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
most potentially confounding variables, Ebbinghaus wanted to use simple acoustic encoding and maintenance rehearsal for which a list of words could have been used. The reasoning behind his use of the nonsense syllables was that learning would be affected by prior knowledge and out the syllables and attempting to recall them at the end of the procedure. And according to the resultant data, he acquired the following data——the forgetting curve, which describes the exponential curve that illustrates how fast learners tend to forget
the information they had learned.
The sharpest decline is in the first twenty minutes, then in the first hour, and then the curve evens off after about one day, which shows that reviewing at the first time should be in time, and the content of the new study is better to be reviewed in 12 hours, so the memory learners seized is still clear, and memory in brain with the more information is strengthened. The second review can last for a long time interval, for example, two days (Jiao 41).
In the study of psychology, someone once drew a memory curve according to the relationship among a review times (Fig.1), the time interval and velocity forget. This curve can explain two problems: one is that the more times the repetitions last, the slower learners will forget ; the other shows that forgotten speed is not simply proportional to the time interval, but fast at first and slow down later.
Later, Ebbinghaus has used the method of written meaningless syllables to study. He find that, after memorizing, only an hour, he forget the 56%, and two days later he forget the 16%, then the speed of the forgotten significantly slow down., which shows that reviewing at the first time should be in time, and the content of the new study is better to be reviewed in 12 hours (Table 1).
Table 1 受试者性格、家庭背景、始学年龄、英语水平调查
性格 外
内
农
家庭背景
中小城镇
大城市
7岁以下
始学年龄 7-13岁
13-16岁
16岁
未达
英语水平 已达到四级
已达到六级
向 向 村 以上 到四
级
人数 %
58 42 59 58 42 59
33 33
8 8
3 3
47 47
29 29
21 21
91 91
8 8
1 1
3.2 The Influence of Different Materials on Memory Effect
Everybody has made the experience that learning can be both fun and tedious depending on the setting. If there is something, which is really interesting to learners, then learning is a breeze and most things can stick easily in their memory:
memorized. [t/o] (Shelly 1-14)
And since the forgetting curve is in terms of nonsense syllables, Ebbinghaus achieved different kinds of forgetting curves in terms of different materials. But generally they are similar, which is shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3 below.
Fig.2 The Forgetting Curve Fig.3 The Forgetting Curve (in terms
of different materials)
Those curves show that the forgetting rapidity of meaningful materials is much slower than that of nonsense ones. Thus, choosing memory materials or organizing memory materials should also be considered as effective methods of memorization.
According to the forgetting curve, “learners can memorize 100% of the information they learned at the very end of their study behavior / the retention drops sharply down to around 40% in
The forgetting curve is exponential, which means that in the first days the memory loss is the biggest, later (as shown in the forgetting curves at above) learners still forget but the rate is slower and slower.
Part Five Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications
5.1 Conclusions
The present study has explored if the application of Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve in English vocabulary acquisition can improve English learner’s vocabulary acquisition and retention and tries to find out an effective way to help improve the efficiency of English vocabulary acquisition and eventually enlarge their vocabulary. From the analysis of the forgetting curve and the influence of different materials on memory effect, this thesis has drawn the following conclusions. Choosing or organizing proper learning materials and contexts, which should suit the level of learners well, plus effective repetition could improve learners’ acquisition and retention than those only relying on memorizing vocabulary words mechanically. In accordance with Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve, the half-month stepped plan could be an effective method to improve the English vocabulary acquisition.
Although great amount of literature has been reviewed for the research, as is done in other researches, there are inevitably some limitations in this thesis, for example, the selection of the context needs further research.
5.2 Pedagogical Implications
Many western and Chinese researchers have made a great deal of contribution to the study of word acquisition and retention in second or foreign language learning, but there are still some pedagogical implications can be drawn from the current study, which would be helpful in the process of English vocabulary teaching to some extent.
In conclusion, teachers should pay more attention to two aspects, which is as follows: 1. putting emphasis on repetition: Leading recall or using all kinds of methods to repeat to help students timely review what they have learnt rather just teaching knowledge what is new. Also, teachers can make learning plans for English learners to help promote their memory effect. 2. meaningful analysis of new vocabulary words: Providing meaningful explanations by giving a context of the words is conductive to students’ memory.
Austen, Jane. Ed. Tenry Churchard. 1996. 10.
Ebbinghaus, Columbia UP, 1913: 30-89.
Gui Shichun桂诗春新编心理语言学2000.
Hymes, Dell H. “Phonological aspects”[M] qtd. in M.A.K. Halliday. “Linguistics”
Jean, Aitchison, Diana Lewis and Bronwyn Naylor. “Car Murder”23-32.
Jiao Yan焦艳. “Analysis on English Vocabulary Forgetting Curve”Kelly, Gregory J. and Charles Bazerman. “How Students 文献类型标志代码：
普通图书：[M] 论文集：[C] 报纸：
（20 届）
论 文 题 目 **************** 作 者 指 导 教 师 ××（副教授） 学 生 所 属 系 旅外系 毕 业 专 业 英语（体育外事方向） 学 号 201101202
一律用A4纸制作，封面建议采用白纸。
A Thesis Submitted
to Foreign Language Department of
Physical Education College of Zhengzhou University
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
By Chang Jingjing Supervisor：
May 10, 2014
郑州大学体育学院本科生毕业设计（论文）诚信承诺书
thesis.
My deepest gratitude goes first and foremost to my supervisor, Peng Yongjing, for her constant encouragement and guidance. She has walked me through all the stages of the writing of this present form.
I also owe a special debt of gratitude to all from whose devoted teaching and enlightening lectures I have benefited a lot and academically prepared for the thesis.
Last but not the least, my thanks would go to my beloved family for their loving considerations and great confidence in me all through these years. I also owe my sincere gratitude to my friends and my fellow classmates who gave me their help and time in listening to me and helping me work out my problems during the difficult course of the thesis.
英语学习包含着大量的词汇及语法结构的记忆，其中词汇记忆对英语学习尤为重要，因为它是构成英语语言的基石。然而，很多英语学习者都表示词汇记忆是他们英语学习的一大障碍，集中反映的问题是遗忘过快。因此如何有效地提高词汇记忆效果也成为学界研究的焦点。本文通过分析艾宾浩斯遗忘曲线, 结合英
numerous grammatical structures. Vocabulary acquisition is a principal issue for English learning because vocabulary comprises the basic building blocks of English. However, it is proved to be a major obstruction to English learning, which is mostly presented as forgetting too fast. Therefore, many scholars focus their attention on how to improve the efficiency of English vocabulary acquisition. Based on the analysis of Forgetting Curve of Ebbinghaus and the major problems in the process of English vocabulary acquisition, the thesis explores some learning strategies to promote the efficiency of English vocabulary acquisition in hope of providing some help to the
Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................... I .................................................................................................................................................. II
............................................................................................................................................ II ............................................................................................................................ I
II Part One
Introduction
.....................................................................................................................
1 Part Two English Vocabulary Acquisition ...................................................................................... 2
2.1 The Concept of Language Acquisition ................................................................................ 2 2.2 Vocabulary Acquisition ....................................................................................................... 2 Part Three Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve .................................................................................... 4
3.1 A Brief Introduction of the Forgetting Curve ...................................................................... 4 3.2 The Influence of Different Materials on Memory Effect .................................................... 6 Part Four The Application of the Forgetting Curve in English Vocabulary Acquisition错误！未定义书签。
4.1 Strategies of English Vocabulary Acquisition ................................... 错误！未定义书签。
4.1.1 Activating English vocabulary in Regular Intervals ............... 错误！未定义书签。 4.1.2 Using Spaced Repetitions....................................................... 错误！未定义书签。 4.1.3 Brainstorming ......................................................................... 错误！未定义书签。 4.2 Stepped Contextual Mnemonics ........................................................ 错误！未定义书签。 4.2.1 Half-month Stepped Plan ....................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
4.2.2 Memorizing in Context .......................................................... 错误！未定义书签。
Part Five Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications .................................................................... 8 5.1 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 8
5.2 Pedagogical Implications .................................................................................................... 8 Works Cited ....................................................................................................................................... 9
and Naylor 24).
Hermann Ebbinghaus, a famous psychologist in German, studied the forgetting behavior of human beings and drew the famous Forgetting Curve. He told us the truth that there are two kinds of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory (Ebbinghaus 38). “The short-term memory is formed after we get the information. But we will forget the information soon if we don’t give it a timely review. On the contrary, the short-term memory will turn into the long-term memory with timely review and application. Thereby, the information will be kept in mind for a long time” Therefore, to have a good memory of vocabulary, students must enhance the memory right after they meet the new vocabulary and give it as much application as possible. Only in this way can they have a firm memory of vocabulary. Based on these cases, this thesis tries to put forward some effective vocabulary acquisition strategies combined with Ebbinhaus’s Forgetting Curve.
languages is studied primarily by developmental psychologists and psycholinguists. However, the acquisition of second or foreign languages is studied primarily by applied linguists. Generally, people rarely become as fluent in a second or foreign language as in their native tongue. Most traditional methods for learning a second or foreign language involve some systematic approaches interrelated． “In terms of the mental lexicon, a new lemma is created for a newly encountered word”(Widdowson, Teaching 17). The word not only is attached to particular meanings but will be included in a network of between the word’s separate senses”memory: short-term and
seconds, usually by repeating the information over and over. For example, you look up a number in the telephone book, and before you dial, you repeat the number over and over and you can remember it long enough to dial them. While, the latter concerns the wide range of ways in which experiences can affect behavior many years later, which refers to the continuing storage of information. In Freudian psychology, the long-term memory would be called
Part Three Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve
most potentially confounding variables, Ebbinghaus wanted to use simple acoustic encoding and maintenance rehearsal for which a list of words could have been used. The reasoning behind his use of the nonsense syllables was that learning would be affected by prior knowledge and out the syllables and attempting to recall them at the end of the procedure. And according to the resultant data, he acquired the following data——the forgetting curve, which describes the exponential curve that illustrates how fast learners tend to forget
the information they had learned.
The sharpest decline is in the first twenty minutes, then in the first hour, and then the curve evens off after about one day, which shows that reviewing at the first time should be in time, and the content of the new study is better to be reviewed in 12 hours, so the memory learners seized is still clear, and memory in brain with the more information is strengthened. The second review can last for a long time interval, for example, two days (Jiao 41).
In the study of psychology, someone once drew a memory curve according to the relationship among a review times (Fig.1), the time interval and velocity forget. This curve can explain two problems: one is that the more times the repetitions last, the slower learners will forget ; the other shows that forgotten speed is not simply proportional to the time interval, but fast at first and slow down later.
Later, Ebbinghaus has used the method of written meaningless syllables to study. He find that, after memorizing, only an hour, he forget the 56%, and two days later he forget the 16%, then the speed of the forgotten significantly slow down., which shows that reviewing at the first time should be in time, and the content of the new study is better to be reviewed in 12 hours (Table 1).
Table 1 受试者性格、家庭背景、始学年龄、英语水平调查
性格 外
内
农
家庭背景
中小城镇
大城市
7岁以下
始学年龄 7-13岁
13-16岁
16岁
未达
英语水平 已达到四级
已达到六级
向 向 村 以上 到四
级
人数 %
58 42 59 58 42 59
33 33
8 8
3 3
47 47
29 29
21 21
91 91
8 8
1 1
3.2 The Influence of Different Materials on Memory Effect
Everybody has made the experience that learning can be both fun and tedious depending on the setting. If there is something, which is really interesting to learners, then learning is a breeze and most things can stick easily in their memory:
memorized. [t/o] (Shelly 1-14)
And since the forgetting curve is in terms of nonsense syllables, Ebbinghaus achieved different kinds of forgetting curves in terms of different materials. But generally they are similar, which is shown in Fig.2 and Fig.3 below.
Fig.2 The Forgetting Curve Fig.3 The Forgetting Curve (in terms
of different materials)
Those curves show that the forgetting rapidity of meaningful materials is much slower than that of nonsense ones. Thus, choosing memory materials or organizing memory materials should also be considered as effective methods of memorization.
According to the forgetting curve, “learners can memorize 100% of the information they learned at the very end of their study behavior / the retention drops sharply down to around 40% in
The forgetting curve is exponential, which means that in the first days the memory loss is the biggest, later (as shown in the forgetting curves at above) learners still forget but the rate is slower and slower.
Part Five Conclusions and Pedagogical Implications
5.1 Conclusions
The present study has explored if the application of Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve in English vocabulary acquisition can improve English learner’s vocabulary acquisition and retention and tries to find out an effective way to help improve the efficiency of English vocabulary acquisition and eventually enlarge their vocabulary. From the analysis of the forgetting curve and the influence of different materials on memory effect, this thesis has drawn the following conclusions. Choosing or organizing proper learning materials and contexts, which should suit the level of learners well, plus effective repetition could improve learners’ acquisition and retention than those only relying on memorizing vocabulary words mechanically. In accordance with Ebbinghaus’s forgetting curve, the half-month stepped plan could be an effective method to improve the English vocabulary acquisition.
Although great amount of literature has been reviewed for the research, as is done in other researches, there are inevitably some limitations in this thesis, for example, the selection of the context needs further research.
5.2 Pedagogical Implications
Many western and Chinese researchers have made a great deal of contribution to the study of word acquisition and retention in second or foreign language learning, but there are still some pedagogical implications can be drawn from the current study, which would be helpful in the process of English vocabulary teaching to some extent.
In conclusion, teachers should pay more attention to two aspects, which is as follows: 1. putting emphasis on repetition: Leading recall or using all kinds of methods to repeat to help students timely review what they have learnt rather just teaching knowledge what is new. Also, teachers can make learning plans for English learners to help promote their memory effect. 2. meaningful analysis of new vocabulary words: Providing meaningful explanations by giving a context of the words is conductive to students’ memory.
Austen, Jane. Ed. Tenry Churchard. 1996. 10.
Ebbinghaus, Columbia UP, 1913: 30-89.
Gui Shichun桂诗春新编心理语言学2000.
Hymes, Dell H. “Phonological aspects”[M] qtd. in M.A.K. Halliday. “Linguistics”
Jean, Aitchison, Diana Lewis and Bronwyn Naylor. “Car Murder”23-32.
Jiao Yan焦艳. “Analysis on English Vocabulary Forgetting Curve”Kelly, Gregory J. and Charles Bazerman. “How Students 文献类型标志代码：
普通图书：[M] 论文集：[C] 报纸：