The Implication Of Memory Working Principle On College English Vocabulary Memory Strategies Training

Vocabulary constitutes the foundation of English learning. Many college students have difficulty in remembering English vocabularies, making impossible making great progress and having passion for English. It is a good teacher’s duty to teach students effective learning strategies to remember English words. Therefore, vocabulary memory strategies as effective and useful tools become the focus of this paper. And the training of vocabulary memory strategies is necessary for learners to master a good learning method systematically.Based on the theoretical foundation of cognitive psychology and memory psychology, this paper puts forward eight vocabulary memory strategies and lays emphasis on the eight vocabulary memory strategies training with a wish to improve learners’vocabulary memory ability. The results of the empirical study are as follows:(1) most of vocabulary memory strategies are not easy to be changed within a short term;(2) key words strategy after training has a significant difference, and the experimental class (M=26.6667) performed better than control class (M=22.0526) in vocabulary memory tests. A higher mean is found in post-test for vocabulary memory ability test than the control class, with the experimental class being2.5882and the control class being2.0702. The experiment proves that the training of key words strategy is valid and the use of key words strategy can improve the students’memory ability;(3) the success of vocabulary memory lies in the effective and reasonable application of vocabulary memory strategies, not in the quantity of vocabulary memory strategies;(4) the learners use key words strategy more and their vocabulary memory ability gets better which shows that students have paid attention to the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of English words when the words entered short term memory from sensory memory, which has decreased forgetting. This indicates that in the five steps of memory working principle, the strengthening of the first step (selective noticing) can decrease forgetting effectively and improve memory.The implications for English teaching and learning are:Firstly, teachers are obligated to do planned, organized and conscious vocabulary memory long-term training to students. Secondly, on one hand, teachers should focus on valid strategies for students when conducting vocabulary memory strategy training, and the training of vocabulary memory strategies should focus on the quality rather than the quantity; on the other hand, learners, based on individual differences, should find out certain effective vocabulary memory strategy that is applicable for them to learn. Thirdly, teachers should put individual differences such as motivation into consideration and apply the studies of personal differences on vocabulary memory strategies. Fourthly, vocabulary memory strategies training should be conducted with the combination of sensory memory principle and put focus on the five key steps, among which, the enhancement of the first step (selective noticing) has a great effect on the improvement of vocabulary memory.