| This research is made up of seven parts: the introduction, background literature, key-syllable method, design of experiments, five experiments, general discussion and the final conclusion. Various English vocabulary mnemonic strategies were mentioned in the first and second parts, among which the keyword method was focused on.In the third part key-syllable method was introduced. Key-syllable method is an English vocabulary learning strategy with Chinese characteristics which has been researched through theory and experiments. The key-syllable method, which is designed to memorize English vocabulary, is an integration of the keyword method and the meaning-processing strategy. If the key-syllable method is compared with the keyword method, it is a keyword method with Chinese characteristics.Based on the keyword method abroad and national key-letter method, key-syllable method integrates the advantages of various mnemonic strategies, and develops a Simple Syllable English Chinese Corresponding System (SSECCS). As to the choice of the simple syllables, it is the first time to try this idea of picking the initial and ending simple syllables. It covers the disadvantage of keyword method and key-letter method.The SSECCS is developed on the base of the characters of English alphabets which have pronunciation and spelling without meaning, and makes them as an integration of pronunciation, spelling and meaning. The SSECCS and association are the two supporting points of the meaning-processing strategy, and it is essential to remember the SSECCS. The SSECCS is the bridge of English and Chinese as the corresponding Chinese pronounced syllable is discovered to English key-syllable.The functional mechanism of SSECCS is that 103 key-syllables are made up of 21 consonants and 5 vowels which can be recognized in Chinese, of which 90% are summarized though the association of Chinese pronunciation and 10% are summarized through the association of English word spelling. Consequently, it is easy for Chinese to memorize this system.The pronunciation of each Chinese character is a single syllable similar to an English single syllable. The difference is order of consonants and vowels. So the key-syllable has to be picked from English words. It will be too complicated if all syllables are picked. On the basis of multiple experiments, an effective way is chosen for the initial and final simple syllables. And if the initial letter is a vowel, the vowel will be chosen as another simple syllable. That way, the situation of using a same simple syllable in different words can be effectively avoided. If the situation of using a same simple syllable in different words still exists, another vowel can be chosen casually as a simple syllable. The"S+V+O"structure can be set up by the corresponding Chinese word of initial and final key-syllable and the meaning of the English word, which can be easily transferred into long term memory.Experiments were conducted in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh parts of this study to investigate the role of the key-syllable method in Chinese English learners'memorizing of English vocabulary.Experiment 1 was conducted to investigate the role of the key-syllable method in memorizing English vocabulary (from English to Chinese). 70 freshmen from Renmin University were used as subjects and 30 obscure English words were used as materials in the experiment. The result of the experiment is as follows: according to the performance of the subjects on an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the key-syllable method facilitated retrieval of their Chinese definitions when cued with the English words.Based on Experiment 1, Experiment 2 was conducted to investigate the role of the key-syllable method in memorizing English vocabulary (from Chinese to English). 70 freshmen from Renmin University of China were used as subjects and 30 obscure English words were used as materials in the experiment. The following are the results of the experiment: (1) According to the performance of the subjects in an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the key-syllable method facilitated evidently stronger retrieval of the key-syllable parts of the English words when cued with their Chinese definitions. (2) According to the performance of the subjects in an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the key-syllable method facilitated slightly weaker retrieval of the English words when cued with their Chinese definitions.Experiment 3 was conducted to investigate the difference between given-association key-syllable method and self-association key-syllable method. 70 adult learners from the Training School of Being Foreign Studies University were used as subjects and 30 obscure English words were used as materials in the experiment. The result of the experiment is as follows: according to the performance of the subjects on an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the effect of given-association key-syllable method is much better than self-association key-syllable method.Experiment 4 was conducted to investigate the role of the key-syllable method in memorizing English vocabulary in different parts of speech. In Experiment 4.1, 80 high school students were used as subjects and 100 English words in different parts of speech from an American film were used as materials. The result of the experiment is as follows: according to the performance of the subjects on an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the key-syllable method facilitated retrieval of their Chinese definitions when cued with the English words. In Experiment 4.2, 70 college students were used as subjects and 60 English words in which there were 30 non-concrete-nouns from an American film were used as materials. The following are the results of the experiment: (1) According to the performance of the subjects in an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the key-syllable method facilitated evidently stronger retrieval of the English words in different parts of speech when cued with the English words. (2) According to the performance of the subjects in an immediate test as well as in a delayed test, the key-syllable method facilitated the same retrieval of the non-concrete-nouns as the concrete-nouns when cued with their English words.Experiment 5 was conducted to investigate the role of the key-syllable method in memorizing English vocabulary,in which the Experiment 5.1 is a case study to investigate time cost for key letter method learning. The subject in this case was a fourth grade student from an elementary school, and the SSECCS and the memory strategies for the SSECCS were used as materials. Based on the result, the experiment indicates as follows: The subject used 75 minutes to learn the SSECCS by heart as time cost. In the Experiment 5.2, the elementary school student and 40 junior school students were used as subjects, and 30 obscure English words were used as materials. The following are the result of the experiment: (1) The method could save the subject 95 minutes in remembering this word list. (2) The beginning English learners could improve their ability to memorize the extended words if the nuclear words were remembered first.The five experiments above show that the key-syllable method can improve English words memory in both immediate and delayed tests,Based on the experimental results mentioned above, the following aspects are discussed in the sixth part: the significance and characteristics of the key-syllable method study; the effect mechanism of the key-syllable method; the effect of memorizing English vocabulary in different parts of speech; the opportunity cost of key-syllable method and the tasks in the future study of the mnemonic strategy. The conclusion was drawn in the seventh part.The innovation of this research is as following. First, a new English vocabulary learning strategy was set up. Based on the keywords method and key-letter method, key-syllable method integrates the advantages of various mnemonic strategies with Chinese characters. Secondly, key-syllable is abbreviated. Compared with key-letter method, key-syllables are made up by two English letters and are transformed into one Chinese word, thus much time will be saved. Thirdly, the initial and final syllables are chosen as key-syllables. Fourthly, key-syllable method is a method with Chinese characteristics. The corresponding Chinese word of key-syllable is a double-character word which follows the natural way of Chinese imagination, therefore it is easier for Chinese to make an association.The purpose of this research is to find methods to help Chinese memorize English words. Not only is the encode mechanism studied, but also the skills of pick-up are summarized. This research may also have certain academic value to experimental psychology and educational psychology.
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