A Study Of The Application Of Associative Memory Strategy To English Vocabulary Learning In Junior High Schools

Vocabulary learning runs through the whole English learning process and the vocabulary learning during junior high school time is considered a foundation stone of English learning.However,most students in junior high school are studying vocabulary by mechanical memorizing.Therefore,how to help students memorize vocabulary effectively becomes a key point of English teaching and learning.In view of this,on the basis of reading lots of professional scholars‘ researches on vocabulary learning strategy especially associative memory strategy,vocabulary associative memory strategy was applied into English teaching and learning in junior high school in this research.A questionnaire survey about vocabulary associative memory strategy among participants was conducted,and then according to students‘ memorizing characteristics in junior high school,an 18-week application research in experimental group was carried out.What‘s more,three tests are conducted to examine if vocabulary associative memory strategy is effective to students‘ vocabulary learning.It‘s aimed to help students find some effective vocabulary memory strategy that fit them,so that students can improve their vocabulary learning efficiency.This research takes a total of 80(40 in each class)students from Class Eleven Grade Two and Class Four Grade Two in Wuning NO.2 Middle School as research participants.Class Eleven Grade Two is experimental group and Class Four Grade Two is control group.In order to improve students‘ interest in learning English,and memorize vocabulary easier and faster,the teacher lead students memorize vocabulary with the help of associative strategy when he teaches vocabulary.The instruments are one questionnaire and three vocabulary test papers related to associative memory strategy.The data collection and data analysis are completed by statistic software SPSS.20.0.The effects of vocabulary associative memory strategy on the junior high students‘ vocabulary learning was analyzed.The research is supposed to give answers to the three questions as follows:(1)What is the general situation of students‘ use of English vocabulary associative memory strategies in junior high school?(2)To what extent does the application of associative memory learning strategies influence junior high school students‘ English vocabulary learning?(3)How will English teachers apply associative memory learning strategies to students‘ English vocabulary learning in junior high school?The present research has concluded the following findings:1.Associative vocabulary learning strategy is not widely employed by the students in junior high school,even the students in Wuning NO.2 Middle School hardly know about these strategies.2.There is a statistical significance of the mean scores of the students between Class Four(CG)and Class Eleven(EG),and the results positively prove that associative vocabulary learning strategy is helpful and efficient to English vocabulary learning in junior high school.3.According to the pre-investigation post-investigation which are taken in Class Eleven(EG)and Class Four(CG)of Wuning No.2 Middle School,associative strategies are able to make vocabulary memory vivid,so that students will be happier and more interested in learning and memorizing,so that students can enhance the capacity of vocabulary learning of junior high school students.4.There are two models to apply it into daily English learning and teaching in junior high school: specialized training and penetrating class teaching in daily teaching.Combining the two methods is the best.Some implications have been drawn from the results of the study for English vocabulary teaching in senior high middle school.Based on these results,the thesis also provides some suggestions on how to apply associative strategy into English vocabulary teaching in senior high middle school,such as specialized training and penetrating class teaching of strategy in daily English vocabulary teaching.