An Iconic-morphological Approach via Commonly-used Roots to English Vocabulary Teaching: How to Help Chinese Senior High School Students Memorize English Vocabulary

Abstract

本研究旨在探討「以常用詞根輔以圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」、「常用詞根無圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」及傳統的「詞義說明式詞彙教學法」在學生的詞彙記憶上的差異；本研究亦探討學生的英文詞彙量、構詞察覺度、短期記憶、長期記憶及拼詞能力之間的相關。\r\n 本研究的主要發現如下：接受「以常用詞根輔以圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」的學生比接受「常用詞根無圖像構詞式詞彙教學法」及傳統的「詞義說明式詞彙教學法」的學生表現出更好的構詞察覺度、短期記憶、長期記憶及拼詞能力。在這三組中，構詞察覺度較高的學生對生詞有較佳的短期記憶與長期記憶能力，反之亦然；在詞彙記憶方面，短期記憶力較佳則長期記憶力也是較佳，反之亦然；並且，一星期後的後測分數比較高的學生在一個月後的後後測分數也會比較高；再者，詞彙的短期記憶與學生英文詞彙量的差異無關，因為學生所記住的生詞都可以持續短暫的時間，但不一定能長久記憶。

This study aims to investigate the discrepancy in the use of the iconic-morphological approach via commonly-used roots, the non-iconic morphological approach via commonly-used roots, and the traditional definition-based teaching method in vocabulary memorization. It also explores the correlation between English vocabulary size, awareness of morphology, short-term memory for words, long-term memory for words, and vocabulary spelling abilities.\r\n The subjects of this study are 91 third-year students studying at the National Overseas Chinese Experimental Senior High School in Taipei County. They received instruction in the iconic-morphological approach via commonly-used roots, the non-iconic morphological approach via commonly-used roots, and the traditional definition-based teaching method, respectively. In the beginning, the three groups took the same pre-test to examine their vocabulary size. Then, subjects were immediately asked to take post-test 1 to examine their awareness of morphology after receiving different instructions. Later, subjects were asked to memorize forty unknown words within twenty minutes and then to take post-test 2 to investigate their short-term memory for words. A week later, post-test 3 was held to check their long-term memory for words. A month later, they sat for post-test 4, used to explore their longer-term memory for the forty words.\r\n In conclusion, the study summarizes the main findings pertinent to the proposed research questions. The students who receive instruction in the iconic-morphological approach via commonly-used roots finally develop higher awareness of morphology, better short-term memory for words, better long-term memory for words, and better spelling ability than those who learn in the traditional definition-based approach or in the non-iconic morphological approach via commonly-used roots. Among the three groups, the students who display higher awareness of morphology have better short-term memory and long-term memory for words, and vice versa. Moreover, those who have better short-term memory have better long-term memory, and vice versa; those who have better one-week long-term memory for words definitely have better one-month long-term memory for words. Interestingly, students can learn words by rote for a short period of time regardless of their vocabulary size. That is, one person’s short-term memory for words is not correlated with his vocabulary size.