Acta Psychologica Sinica


Vol. 36 No. 4 , Pages 482 - 490 , 2004

The Effect of Mnemonic Key-letters Method on Chinese Children at Risk in English Vocabulary Learning

LIN Chongde, LI Tsingan, & LI Hongyu

Abstract

The key-letters method is the integrative product of the keyword method, a well-known mnemonic strategy in the Western world, with the characteristics of the Chinese characters. With 21 fifth-graders at risk for learning disabilities at elementary school as the experimental group subjects and 39 first-grade normal students from a junior high school as the control group subjects, and with 64 obscure English words as memory test materials, the current experiment examined the effect of the mnemonic key-letters method on Chinese children at risk in English vocabulary learning. The most important and the most exciting finding obtained from the current experiment is as follows: prior to the instructions on the key-letters method, the experimental group subjects were much poorer in English vocabulary learning than the control group ones, however, after completion of the instructions on the key-letters method, the differences between the experimental and control group subjects didn’t approach significance.

Keywords: mnemonic; keyword method; ECIID; key-letters method; Chinese-speaking children

[Chinese Version | Index | Acta Psychologica Sinica | Other Journals | Subscription form | Enquiry ]


Mail any comments and suggestions to hkier-journal@cuhk.edu.hk .