- does using an imagery-based mnemonic technique, help students with long-term retention of chinese...
TRANSCRIPT
- Does using an imagery-based mnemonic technique, help students with long-term retention of Chinese characters?- And are subject-generated mnemonics more effective than supplied mnemonics?
By Johanna van Laar-Veth
Rationale
As mnemonic techniques are creative, and can employ a variety of tasks, they should promote
better retention of vocabulary. Therefore students should show a better recall of Chinese Characters using imagery mnemonic technique against rote-learning, especially if they were allowed to write down the character as it was explained to them,
or as they invented a way of remembering it from what it looked like.
Rote-Learning Group
Supplied-Imagery Group
山
雨
Subject- Imagery Group
Individual Results
Experimenter-Supplied Imagery
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Student
Sc
ore
Ou
t O
f 1
5Score 1
Score 2
Rote-Learning
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Student
Sc
ore
Ou
t O
f 1
5
Score 1
Score 2
Subject-Generated Imagery
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Student
Sc
ore
Ou
t O
f 1
5
Score 1
Score 2
Average results
Average Score - Immediate and Delay
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Immediate Delay
Sc
ore
Rote
Subject
Supplied
Analysis
• The results of my study showed that both the subject-generated and experimenter-supplied imagery techniques produced a higher immediate recall than did rote-learning, and also a higher delayed recall
• Although supplied –imagery had a slight advantage over subject imagery on immediate recall, after a delay of 4 days, the subject-imagery group was now indicating slightly better recall.
• The rote-learning group displayed the greatest forgetting after a four day delay.
Next Steps
• Incorporate the use of imagery-based mnemonic techniques into my teaching of characters.
• As Chinese characters contain radicals, that convey meaning, such as the water radical indicating that the word has something to do with water, I would supply this type of imagery to my students, but allow them to build their own images and stories using the radicals as a base.
• Use a variety of mnemonic techniques for other areas of language teaching especially incorporating them into task-based activities.