The Effect of Different Presentations on English Words Retention of Chinese Learners of English

Abstract

The authors of the present paper carried out some experiments of different presentations of English words (context, image and semantic field) so as to observe the effects of different presentations upon the memory retention of Chinese learners of English. The subjects of the experiments were 36 non-English majors from North China Electric Power University. The words used in the experiments were 45 English words selected from the glossary in the Band Eight Syllabus for English Majors, published by the Ministry of Education. The data from the experiments were mainly obtained through one immediate test and two delayed tests. After the experiments, the researchers interviewed several subjects to gain more feedback and further information. The results of the study show that image presentation is the most effective on short-term memory, and that context presentation is the most effective on long-term memory.

Keywords: English words; presentation; image; context; semantic field; effect; Chinese learners of English