英文阅读：Improving memory for foreign language vocabulary
One of the most frequent questions received during my time teaching Englishwould have been, "How can I try and improve my memory for new English words?"
With one of the most commonly heard ailments being expressed, "I always seem to
forget words I'd learnt".
I can fully appreciate the pain and frustration students feel regarding
this. For some reason I am able to remember words in Japanese, which I haven't
used for 10 years, far easier than if I am asked to remember the Chinese word
that I practiced last week in class. It makes me 'bakka' – which is the Japanese
word for 'fengzi' - or crazy.
I remember my old girlfriend's phone number from 18 years ago – yet still
have problems remembering my own current phone number. To get to the heart of
the matter, I think it is a good idea to look at the work of a "brain expert",
an English fellow by the name of Tony Buzan.
According to Buzan our brain and its capacity is virtually limitless
allowing us to remember all sorts of things. What is important is the ability to
make connections, to make memory bridges, from past known knowledge to presently
being learned knowledge.
Buzan uses the metaphor of a jungle to describe the brain and the cutting
of plants to make a walking path to describe something that is learnt
successfully. Our memory is like this path, with the more we use information –
the better cleared the path and the less likely it will be forgotten. Whereas
like in the jungle, if you don't cut the trees often enough the path gets lost
amid the trees, so too with our memory – it needs to be constantly used.
For language learning he states our ability to make connections – to join
one jungle path to the next - is the key to its improvement. He has adopted what
he calls mind maps to assist with memory and creativity whereby one idea or word
is then expanded to its next idea or word and on and on until the picture
resembles something like a red eye that has lots of other lines coming out from
the center.
My wife who is Chinese and has taught English for several years and now
works as a translator for government has a good ability to remember new words
and when I asked for her advice she said first she likes to learn the sound of
the word, the phonetics, then she likes to learn the components of the word, the
root, prefix and suffix (e.g. 'dis' and 'ease' for 'disease') and then she likes
to connect these words to other words she has previously learnt (e.g. a serious
disease, heart disease etc).
The beauty of Buzan is his belief and optimism in the brain's potential. A
common myth, which he challenges as false, is the idea that as we get old our
memory gets worse. A complaint post graduates often make saying that the English
they studied as an undergrad has now been lost. Buzan however says this
knowledge has just not been exercised – that it is still present just that the
connections; the brain paths have not been cleared as frequently as they should
have been.
I think when it comes to learning vocabulary – the key is actually frequent
use and exposure. Be it via flash cards, writing it down a hundred times,
screaming it out at the top of your lungs like Li Yang's Crazy English – ideally
what will occur is a connection made between a previously learnt word, or
emotion to the new word that is sought to be learnt. Then ideally a connection
from that new word just learnt to an even newer word – and so the jungle path
gets more expansive.
I noticed once I started using mind maps in my language classes' students'
ability to retell a lesson, using the just learnt vocabulary, was certainly
enhanced. In particular the learning was more organic and exploratory – rather
than linear – and replicated the very brain structure that Buzan suggests.
Likewise when it came to reviewing the previous lesson, by incorporating
the mind map, students were able to recall and build and reach back into their
memory much more effectively than if I was just to give them a word test
numbered from one to ten.
It is a fascinating field and one he has written many books about. Go
online and check it out or browse through any foreign language bookshop for
books by Tony Buzan.
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