Application Of Cognitive Psychology To Lexicon Acquisition

Cognitive psychology is a branch of psychology concerned with human mental processes in relation to how we think, learn, process, memorize, feel and behave, especially with respect to the internal events occurring between sensory stimulation and the overt expression of behavior. The acquisition of lexicon is the vital element to understanding and being understood, and it is now recognized as the central and fundamental role to the language acquisition. While in the whole acquisition process, cognitive psychology influences individuals to a great extent, understanding and controlling cognitive process may be one of the most essential skills. Without taking this respect into account, the lexical acquisition will be less efficient. This thesis is devoted to the application of cognitive psychology to the acquisition of the lexicon, and is expected to shed some light on the teaching and learning of lexicon through seeking effective and appropriate ways.This thesis starts with the introduction of the cognitive psychology. The brain receives input from multiple external sources through auditory, visual, and spatial motor, and the information is successively encoded, stored, retrieved by a set of distinc t mental structures. The input of lexicon becomes intake if there is a depth of processing, and this thesis provides some acquisition methods, which involve focusing on the pictorial representations, cognitive map, acoustic input or studying aloud, etc. and as for the mnemonic strategy, one effective way to transfer, working memory into permanent one is through applying frequency effect, spaced rehearsal and the recall of a certain word should follow the initial encounter at regular intervals. Then the author proceeds with the principle of cognitive economy, and indicates that the key word allows for economy of stored representations.Besides, vocabulary is organized in the mental lexicon in multidimensional, meaning-related networks, words must be stored in such a way that they can be searched for in a systematic fashion by their properties of message elements. After that the thesis unfolds the idea that if the meaning of a new word is inferred in conditions which require more careful analysis and decision-making, the retention will be better. Meaningful exercises or classroom activities which promote formation of association and therefore build up students' semantic networks are effective for acquisition. Then it is emphasized that really requiring a word is facilitated by cognitive effort in an explicit learning process, and developing metacognitive awareness in learners may lead to the development of stronger cognitive skills and much deeper processing.The last part includes the conclusion which sums up the main points of this thesis and proposes some suggestions for further research.