An Action Research On Junior Middle School Students' English Vocabulary Retention With The Application Of Association Memory Strategies

Scholars at home and abroad think English vocabulary is an essential element for English vocabulary learning,which matters very much in English learning(Wilkins,1972;???,2003).In Daily English teaching,the author finds that almost students depend on memorizing English vocabulary by rote and their vocabulary retention is at lower efficiency,resulting in losing confidence in English learning.In order to solve those problems,the author intends to take an action research of 3 rounds on junior middle school students'English vocabulary retention with the application of association memory strategies based on the theory of Memory and Levels of Processing Theory.In the action research,there are 31 subjects in total,and four specific types of association memory strategy,including sound association memory strategy(sound AMS),word formation association memory strategy(word formation AMS),word meaning association memory strategy(word meaning AMS)and self-involvement association memory strategy.During preliminary investigation,with the help of data collection instruments(pretest,questionnaire and interview),the author identified the research questions:1.Can the application of association memory strategies have a positive effect on junior middle school students' English vocabulary learning?2.How to enhance junior middle school students' English vocabulary retention by using association memory strategies ?Before carrying out the action research,there is a training on the application of association memory strategies for students,so as to ensure the validity and success of action research.Then,there are three rounds arranged in the research.In each round,there are two vocabulary retention tests,an immediate test and a delayed test,which share the same contents but the order.Those immediate tests are conducted immediately at the 1st week and those delayed tests are at the 3rd week.And last,the author gathers data through tests,classroom observations and interviews,and then uses Paired Samples T-test for the data analysis.The results of the research show that: 1.The application of AMSs can have a positive effect on students' English vocabulary learning in the end(correlation:0.800>0.05;Sig.(2-tailed): 0.024< 0.05),but there is not a significantly great progress in their English vocabulary learning.2.In terms of short-term and long-term retention,the application of AMSs help students enhance their vocabulary retention gradually during three rounds of action research.Thus,in the future,the author hopes students in junior middle schools can take advantage of AMSs in their English vocabulary retention as well as English vocabulary learning.