My Views on Remembering WordsThere was once a metaphor: If sentences are buildings, then words are bricks, and grammar is structure drawing. No matter how beautiful the drawings are, they are nothing without bricks. Therefore, even if you learn grammar very well, you can do nothing if you do not remember any words. From this, you can see the importance of remembering words. Just like the famous British Linguists D.A.Wilkins once said: “You can’t express many things without grammar, but you can’t express anything without words.”Of course the larger the vocabulary is, the better it is. If we have a very large vocabulary, then we can express anything as we please. However, as human beings, our faculty of memory is limited. Moreover, our time to remember words is limited too. So we cannot remember all the words we meet. Because of this, we should have a selection before we remember them. We can divide words into three levels, and then remember them according to different situations and different demands. The first level, daily words. As to these words we should mast them practically. We should master not only their meaning, but also their spelling and their usage. The second level: mid-level words. We often see them, but we seldom use or write them. As to these words, we only need to remember their meanings. We needn’t spend much time on their spelling. As we read more, we can remember their spelling gradually. The third level: words that we seldom or occasionally meet. As to these words, I personally think that we just need to read them four or five times. If we can remember them, that is good. If we cannot remember them, it doesn’t matter. We needn’t spend much time in remembering them. Of course, the division of these three levels is not absolute. It is different to different people, and it may be different to the same people at different time. We should decide how to divide words according to our own reality. If we divide words into different levels, we can raise the use rate (1) of the words that we remembered. Thereby we can raise the efficiency of remembering words.When we meet a new word, we can remember it through the follow procedure: listen, read, remember, practise, and use.I.Listen.Words are not only for writing, it is even more for speaking. Therefore, when we remember new words, we should not only remember their meaning and spelling, but their pronunciation as well. This step is especially useful for the new learners. Because the new learners have just encountered English, they are not very familiar with the pronunciation and intonation of English. Even if they have learned the IPA (2), they still may not read the new words exactly. Therefore, they must grasp the right pronunciation through listening to the tape of the teacher. Then they can remember the right pronunciation of words. In addition, they can lay a good foundation for remembering new words through the rule of pronunciation.II.Read and decide the levels of words. We should imitate to read after we know the right pronunciation. By reading, I do not mean read silently, but read aloud. Because on the one hand, you know the right pronunciation does not mean you can read out them correctly. On the other hand, to read aloud can stimulate your brain strongly, and it can make you excited. So that you can achieve good result. And when we are reading, we should think and analyze, and decide the level of the words. Then we can know to what degree we should mast the word.III.Observe and remember. After we have decided the level of a word, we shouldn’t remember it at once mechanically. We should observe it carefully at first, to see if the word accords with the rule of pronunciation, or if the word has some outstanding features, and then we can decide in which way can we remember it. If we do like this, we can get twice the result with half the effort. Take the word “language” for example. First we should grasp the right pronunciation through listening and reading, then we decide it is a daily word, and should mast it practically. Then we observe and analyze the word carefully. If we put its pronunciation and its meaning together, it sounds like a Chinese sentence “Lan gui zhi yu yan.” Therefore, we can remember its meaning. Then let’s remember its spelling. The first syllable accords with the rule of pronunciation, and it is the same as the Chinese word’s CPA (3). The second syllable “gu” makes a [gw] sound, “a” makes a [i] sound. [gwi] “gua” is a little different from the sound “gui” in CPA. “ge” makes a [d ] sound. When we are observing and analyzing the word, we focus out attention on it, so even we cannot find a good way to remember it, we can remember it easily.IV.Practise. When we feel that we have remembered a word, it may be just a superficial phenomenon. It may be forgotten easily. So we should review and strengthen it by practice. There are many different kinds of ways to practise, such as dictation, write from memory, word puzzles, games about words etc. V.Use. To learn is to use. The purpose of remembering words is to use. On the other hand, to use is also a very good way of remembering, reviewing and consolidating new words, and a very important procedure of remembering words. As to those words that we have learnt and remembered, we should try our best to create more chances to use, so that we can really remember them.
When we are remembering words, we must grasp some scientific methods. There are many kinds of them, among which the most important I think are the following.I.Remembering words according to the Rule of Pronunciation. English is a kind of alphabetic writing, which is quite different from Chinese—a kind of pictograph. Except for very few words, such as “eye”, the word spelling itself has no inevitable connection with its meaning. Moreover, except for some onomatopoeia, the word’s sound also has nothing to do with its meaning. But there is something regular between the word’s pronunciation and its spelling. That’s called the Rule of Pronunciation. Most English words accord with the RP (4). That’s to say, as to most words, if we can read them out correctly, then we can write them out correctly. So we can remember those words that accord with the RP very easily. To remember this kind of words is only to remember the pronunciation and the meaning. But at first, we must grasp the RP, especially the pronunciation of some letter combinations. For example, “pronunciation” is a rather long word, and it is even very difficult to read the letters out one by one. So of course, it’s quite difficult to remember it mechanically. But relay on the RP, it becomes much easier. [pr ] is “pro”, [n n] is “nun”,[si] is “ci”, [ei] is “a”, [ n] is “tion”. But when you are using this method, you should pay attention to those letters of letter combinations, which are the same in pronunciation but different in spelling. For example, [f un] is “phone”, but not “fone”. You shouldn’t spell [in k rid ] as incuridge, it’s “encourage”.
II.Remembering words according to word building. In Chinese words, there are many radicals and these radicals often convey certain meanings. This makes it easy for us to recognize and write Chinese words. In English, there is something similar. Many English words are composed of roots and affixes. The root is the most important part of a word that carries the principal meaning. Affixes are lexically dependent on root and don not conveys the fundamental meaning of words, and affixes include prefixes and suffixes. If we can remember some basic roots and affixes, it’s sure to be very helpful. For example, “associate” is a root, based on this root we can remember many words, such as “associable, associability, association, associationism, associationist” etc. “~ism” is a suffix, then we can remember “Marxism, attomism, capitalism, associationism, socialism, pessimism, optimism” and so on.
III.Remembering words by spelling them rhythmically.To some new learners who has not grasped RP and word building, the main way of remembering words is to read and spell. It may be easier if we spell words rhythmically. For example, we can spell “eleven” as “el-ev-en”, “Wednesday” as “wed-nes-day”, “September” as “Sep-tem-ber”, etc.
IV.Association.What is “association”? It is a kind of psychic activity. When some outstanding features of one object stimulate person’s brain, he would think of another object. This is called association. (巴甫洛夫) thought that “Remembering relays on association, and association is an outcome of linking a new thing with and old thing.” Harry Raleigh, a famous French remembering expert of present age, has also pointed out that the elementary rule of remembering is to link the new information with something known. Many people’s practice of remembering has also proved that association is a kind of practical and efficient remembering method. Association itself does not stick to one pattern. It is to all directions. For example, the word we have mentioned before, “eye”, from its appearance, we can find that the two “e”s are just like our eyes, and the “y” in the middle looks like a nose between two eyes. So that we can remember the word. Now let’s look at the word “lobster”. From its pronunciation, we find that it sounds like “lao bu si de” in Chinese, then we can recall the appearance of a lobster: bend and looks like a very old man. Then we can easily remember its pronunciation and meaning. Though it is not so cultured, it is efficient. Here is another example: when we see “hear” we think of “ear”. There is an “h” beside the “ear”, the things beside our ears we hear them. Then we can remember the meaning and the spelling of “hear”. Beside these, when we read some words, we can think of the scene interrelated. For example, when we are reading “smile”, we can smile. And cry when we are reading “cry’. In addition, we can think of a mountain road when we read “zigzag” etc. I think if we do so, it will be very helpful for us to remember words.
V.Classification.Professor Cao Richang, a psychologist, thinks that to classify the materials is a very important procedure in remembering. A human being’s experience is kept in mind in different classifications. To recall the former experience also needs the help of classificatory category of experience. Why should we classify the words? On one hand, the words, which belong to the same classification, have some similarities, so it makes our remembering much easier. On the other hand, it is helpful for us to recall the words we remembered. So when we are remembering words, we should classify the words frequently, and we should try our best to be good at classifying. We can classify the words according to different bases.1). Based on the natural attribution. Such as: Fruits: pear, lemon, banana, strawberry, damson, plum, cherry, apple, almond… Birds: duck parrot, sunbird, crane, thrush, stork, and sparrow, tit…Condiments: salt, sugar, sesame oil, lard, salad oil, and pepper, curry… 2). Based on spelling. For example: night, light, right, fight, fright, flight, bright… bit, lit, kit, hit… 3). Based on the meaning of words. For example: big, huge, large, gigantic…
VI. Phrases and sentences making.(艾宾浩斯)，the famous German psychologist, once did an experiment. A person need to read 16.5 times to remember meanless syllables and 54 times to remember 36 one. However, if he wants to remember 6 sections of poems, which consists of 480 syllables, he only needs to read 8 times. That is to say, conscious remembering is more efficient than mechanical remembering. The words in the word table are usually separate from the others, so it is difficult to remember them. Nevertheless, if we make phrases and sentences with these words, we can remember those words with the help of the words that we are familiar with. For example, when we learn “modern”, we can make many phrases with it to help us to remember, such as “a modern life, a modern machine, a modern car”, etc. Alternatively, we can make a sentence with these phrases. “I can live a modern life with a modern girl, because modern machines have made many modern things, such as modern cars.” Some English idioms and famous remarks are also good tools for us to remember words. For example, “trouble” can be a verb, and it can also be a noun. Then we can remember this with the help of the following sentence: Don’t trouble trouble, until trouble troubles you.” If we put “indeed” in the sentence “A friend in need is a friend indeed”, it will be very easy to remember.
Of course, there are more methods. It is impossible that these methods suit to every word, and not everyone likes these methods. So if we want to remember words, we should think more, and find out the best way for ourselves. But no matter which way you choose, just like doing any other things, it needs the guide of scientific theories. I think the main theories are the following two:I.Pre-influence (5) and Sur-influence (6).Many people have this kind of experience. When we read an article or see a film, we can easily recall the beginning and the end, even after a long time. But the mid-part will soon be forgotten. Two German psychologists once did an experiment. They ask someone learn something, and then not to do anything with his brain any more, he could remember 72% of what he had learned. But if he went on using his brain, he could only remember 26%. If after he had learned one thing, he went on to learn some other things, both he had learned. In psychology, the obstruction of the first on the second is called pre-restrain, and the second on the first is called sur-restrain. That’s to say, what you remembered after you have just got up is only influenced by sur-restrain, and what you remembered before you go to sleep is only influenced by pre-restrain. So when we are remembering words, we should take this into consideration, and make full use of the time in the morning and at night, so that we can get the best result.II.Forgetting theory.(艾宾浩斯) has once done an experiment. He used a poem of 80 syllables as the experimental material. On the first day, he needed to read 7.8 times to recite it. On the second day, it cost him 3.8 times, and on the third day, he reviewed it 1.8 times, then that’s OK. On the fourth day, he needed to review it 0.5 times. He can recite it without reading it at all on the fifth and the sixth day. It’s the same that one day passed, but he needed to read more times to remember on the first and the second days. That’s to say, he forgot much more at the beginning. According to this experiment, he drew the famous forgetting curve. This curve indicates that you will forgot what you remember very fast at first, but as time goes on, it will become slower and slower. So you must reviews what you remembered immediately, and then reviewed them for times. But the intervals between your revision can become longer each time. It’s not enough to have scientific theories and methods; we should also make some psychic preparations. And there is something we should pay attention to.I.Adjust the mood. We all have these kinds of experience that if we are willing to wash the bowls, we can do it very well. But if we are not willing to do, but our parents compel us to do it, it can’t be done so well. Different mood causes different effect. The same thing will happen when we are remembering words. We must adjust the mood before we remember words. We can’t regard it as a burden, and remember words passively. We should remember words with full confidence actively. Only so can we achieve good effect.
II.Focus our attention and Persevere.A psychologist has done an interesting experiment, which is called “Two ears listen to different materials”. The experimenter (7) wears an earphone on each ear, so that his two ears can listen to different materials. Under those circumstances, he can’t remember both of those two materials. The same thing will happen if you read a material and listen to another one. So we must focus our attention on it when we are remembering words. In addition, we may meet a lot of troubles and setbacks. So we must keep it on no matter what happens. Only so can we succeed in learning English at last, and not give up halfway.
What a happy thing it is if we have a large vocabulary. We can express anything we want freely, we can communicate with others freely, and we can go to many countries without so much trouble, and… I believe we are sure to achieve that only if we work hard. Let’s try our best to struggle for that! A more wonderful tomorrow if waiting for you.
