Reading Aloud As A Vocabulary Mnemonic Technique

To offer leamers, especially Chinese learners a particular vocabulary rnnemonictechnique, i.e., reading aloud tecboque is the pmpose of this paPer. The thesisinvestigates the effect of reading aloud on word memory with theories of linguistics,psycholinguistics and neurolingUistics.Reading aloud differs from silent reading in that a leamer receives only visual+stimuli when he reads silelltly while he will receive visual, auditory and oral stimuliwhen he reads aloud. The three stimuli reinforce one another and thus enhance wordmemory. Reading aloud doesn't impede inference and gUessing, whch are thought tohave positive effect on retention. The leamer can hear his own voices When he readsaloud, Which become the aural stimuli. As psychologists believe that soundrepresentations retain longer than images (Zhu Chun, l994f l88, my translation),aural stimuli also have a positive effect on word memory. The oral stimuli have twofunctions. One is to practice the speech muscles of leamers, so as to be familiar withthe place and manner of articulation of English sounds and the other is to helpphonological leaming of words. Leamers can establish strong links among fOrm,prontinciation and meaning with the help of these three stimuli and thus enhance wordmemory.The thesis employs both quaIitative and quantitative studies. The qualitative dataare reached by interviews with some high school students, which reveal that most, Chinese high school students emphasize vocabulary ledring and word lists techniqueis the most often used to remember new words. A questionnaire stUdy with 58 firstyear undergraduate stUdents from Hebei University of Technology suggests that thevocabulmp leaming belief is changing from words should be memorized to wordsshould be lert in context. Of their memory strategies, the data reveal that oral andvisual repetition are more often used than word simctUre and contextual encoding,which suggest that these leamers still use memory strategies associated with rotelearning in their vocabulaIy memorization though their belief have changed. These 58subjects then participate the experimental study Which is designed to find out theeffect of reading aloud technique on word memory compared with the silent readingmethod. The subects are divided into the experiInental grouP and the contro1 group.Three vocabulary tests, the irnmediate visual, the delayed visual and the delayed auralare made and their data are analyzed by SPSS. The data in the delayed atiral test showthere is sighficant difference between the tWo groups, which imPly that the readingt aloud technique does help word memoryThe stUdy makes an attemPt to examine the effect of reading aloud technique onword memory and the vocabulary memory strategies used by Chinese high schoolstudenis.