Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary
Memorizing Language Vocabulary
A Review of the Literature
Sara Gibbs
University of Maryland University College
EDTC 670
Professor Tim Green
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Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary
Abstract
This paper is a literary review of why memorization is important in learning another language and what are some strategies for memorizing. The studies show that the most
2 beneficial way to learn another language is to use flashcards on a computer that include text, voice, and graphics. Students working collaboratively to learn another language on computers helps them to have a positive experience and remember the words better.

Gibbs
Introduction
Memorizing Language Vocabulary
There are many parts that come in to play when learning another language. One of the biggest is memorizing vocabulary words. Nakata (2008, p. 3, para. 2) states that “vocabulary knowledge constitutes an integral part of learners’ general proficiency in a second/foreign language (L2) and is a prerequisite for successful communication.” If students are to communicate in another language, they must memorize vocabulary words. “The critical importance of vocabulary in all languages is undeniable because it not only establishes cognitive systems of knowledge, but also facilitates the communicative and comprehensive interaction” (Lin, et al., 2011, p. 93, para. 2). Our students might ask us why they need to memorize vocabulary words when they can easily look them up on their Smart Phone or other electronic devices. Pogue (2013, p. 1, para. 13) writes about his grandfather asking his father and then his father asking him to memorize the names of the U.S. presidents. Pogue then in turn asks his son to memorize them, who responds with asking why, when he can just look them up on his Smart Phone. Pogue goes on to explain that “we'll always need to memorize information that would be too clumsy or time-consuming to look up daily.” In order to become fluent in another language, one needs to memorize the vocabulary words.
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Memorizing vocabulary words can be a serious challenge for the students who are used to having all information at their fingertips. “Inherent in the learning of a foreign language is the learning of a large number of words” (Mondria & Mondria-De Vries, 1994, p. 47 , para. 2).
Students need to be given strategies in order to know how to memorize large quantities of vocabulary words. According to Nakata (2008, p. 6, para. 1) new words must be practiced or

Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary they will be forgotten. Learning another language is different than learning one’s own first language. Lin, et al. (2011, p. 93, para. 2) states that “L2 vocabulary acquisition, unlike the incidental learning in L1, requires more efforts and time in learning target words intentionally.”
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Students need to be given strategies and time to memorize the new vocabulary words. Xia
(2013, p. 732, para. 7) explains that “following the tradition of ‘good language learner ’ research, both of the above mentioned studies sets out to relate the high achievement of the successful foreign language learners to the use of certain learning strategies (for instance, text memorization).”
Memorization
There are multiple studies that have been done on memorization. It has been determined that memorization is a skill that is learned not one that comes innately.
Ericcson(2003) did a study on people who had memorized many numbers, to identify how they could dictate all the numbers. He discovered “that participants do not support the existence of naturally superior memory, and are consistent with the experts’ skilled application of special encoding strategies” (Ericsson, 2003, p. 234, para. 2). He did more studies that reiterated his initial findings. “First, to attain exceptional memory performance individuals need to rely on prior knowledge and patterns to encode the presented items and store the items as encoded groups in LTM (encoding principle)” (Ericsson, 2004, p. 193, para. 2). Students build on prior knowledge in order to memorize better.
Since memorization comes by practice students need to be taught strategies to memorize. In order to do this, it is important to understand how the memory in the brain works. Mondria & Mondria-De Vries (1994, p. 49, para. 3) explains that “Ever since Ebbinghaus

Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary
(1885) we have been familiar with the general characteristic of forgetting: immediately after
5 learning knowledge decreases rapidly, but subsequently it does so much less quickly.” When students learn something new, they quickly forget it, but if repetition is used, each time it is presented to them, they remember it longer. Mondria & Mondria-De
Vries (1994, p. 49, para. 4) continues by stating “owing to the fact that knowledge decreases less rapidly after each repetition, the interval between the reviews will increase.” So students will remember the information the more they review it and each time it becomes more permanent in their memory. Lin, et al. (2011, p. 93, para. 2) explains “effective vocabulary learning reflects in the useful retrieval of receptive and productive knowledge and requires deep processing that enhances long-term retention of vocabulary.” Picard, et al. (2012, p. 1037, para. 1) emphasizes that the “a bility to memorize factual content emerges early, whereas context retrieval abilities continue to improve until adolescence, due to persistent encoding difficulties (isolated by comparing results on free recall and recognition tasks).” Because the students’ brains are still developing, it takes more effort for them to memorize the words.
Picard, et al. (2012, p. 1039, para. 1) summarizes his research by stating that “the abovementioned studies confirm that childhood is a period of considerable development when it comes to memorizing core factual content.” Memorizing is a part of child development and students need assistance in developing it.
A strategy to help students memorize words is to make it relevant to their lives and have them use it in their daily lives. Also when students have prior knowledge on the vocabulary words, they can make a connection with the words and remember them better. Erricson (2003, p. 234, box 2) states that “in skilled activities, people spontaneously encode information using

Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary 6 their relevant knowledge within the domain.” Students’ common background knowledge needs to be built upon when new vocabulary is taught. Also we need to build up students’ background knowledge by giving them experiences with the vocabulary words. They need to understand what the words mean. Xia (2013, p. 732, para. 2) says that “Taking the position of ‘learning by heart’ rather than ‘learning by rote’, text memorization is here defined as the attempt to commit a text to memory through verbatim repetition based on the understanding of the content of the text.”
When teaching students new vocabulary it is important to test them on it right after they’ve memorized it, to help them retain it. Nakata (2008, p. 6, para. 3) explained that “when a new lexical item is introduced, it should be tested immediately. Otherwise, our memory for that item will decay to the extent that a successful recall is impossible because less consolidated memory decays relatively quickly.” We also need to show them how to memorize words. Jutras
(2008, p. 50, para. 3) says that “as teachers, it is our responsibility to help our students understand that there are steps and strategies that will help build a secure and confident memory, and we must set a good example by both demonstrating these strategies in the lesson and then asking students to demonstrate them back to us.” This will help to make their memorization of words permanent.
Flashcards vs. Lists
The two most common forms of memorization are flashcards and lists. (Nakata, 2008, p.
3, para. 2) There has been much debate on whether flashcards or lists are most beneficial.
Mondria & Mondria-De Vries (1994, p. 47, para. 2) states that the “word cards (also called
“flashcards” cards with-in the simplest form-the foreign-language word form on one side and

Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary the translation on the other), especially when they are combined with a repetition system, can
7 significantly contribute to a more efficient process of vocabulary acquisition.” Mondria &
Mondria-De Vries and others have found flashcards to work the best because the order of the cards can be varied so that the students don’t just memorize the words in the order of the list.
The flashcards were also found useful in repetition. “In Landauer and Bjork’s experiment these objections were actually overcome by making the learners learn by means of a prepared deck of cards, in which all target-items occurred an equal number of times, with repetitions at ever bigger intervals” (Mondria & Mondria-De Vries, 1994, p. 51, para. 3). Nakata (2008, p. 7, para.
2) says that “it is true that by using cards, learners can divide items into several decks and implement expanded rehearsal more easily than with a list.” The flashcards seem to be the tool of preference.
Computers
Using computers to generate and alternate flashcards seems to be the best option.
Students now-a-days are accustomed to using computers. Pogue (2013, p. 1, para. 5) said that
“having a computer in your pocket is the norm. Google is always one tap away.” The program used in teaching another language by using computers is named CALL – Computer Assisted
Language Learning. Computers have been used in language learning for over 30 years. Mondria
& Mondria-De Vries (1994, p. 51, para. 3) did a study to see if using computers helped to increase students ability to memorize vocabulary. They referenced other studies in stating that
“another way of overcoming these objections is programming the learning process with the help of a computer, such as Siegel and Misselt (1984) did during their word-learning experiment.” Nakataalso did a study comparing the effectiveness of computers in learning

Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary another language. In the study one group used computers with flashcards, one group used lists
8 without computers, and the last group used flashcards without the computer. The findings were that “the PC group significantly outperformed the List group on the delayed post-test”
(2008, p. 3, para. 1). The study goes on to state that “computers were evaluated more favorably than lists or cards. At the same time, however, learners exhibited large variations in their evaluation of computers, implying the importance of considering individual differences when introducing CALL to learners.” They discovered that it is important when using computers as learning tools, to make sure students have a firm grasp of how to use the program. Nakata
(2008, p. 3, para. 1) summarizes by saying “the study has demonstrated the superiority of computers over lists, the limited advantage of word cards over lists, and no statistically significant difference between computers and cards.” Using computers to add graphics to language learning are also very beneficial. “Studies have shown that providing multimedia annotations such as pictures or video clips can enhance retention because such additional information gives a learner multiple access routes to the word and leaves a deeper memory trace” (Nakata, 2008, p. 4, para. 2). Nakata found that the group on the computer scored higher on the memory test because the computer organized the flashcards and the learning. Some other advantages that were found by using the computers are the “enhanced presentation of materials due to its multimedia capabilities, a high degree of autonomy given to learners, introduction of new exercise types, or positive effects on students’ motivation (Nakata, 2008, p.
7, para. 2). Samur did a study to see if it was helpful to add text, voice and graphics to the presentation even though it is breaking the redundancy principle. “ Overall, the results show that adding on-screen text to a multimedia presentation with animation and narration helped

Gibbs Memorizing Language Vocabulary student learning new vocabulary in a previously unfamiliar foreign language.
(Samur, 2012, p.
9
168, para. 1).
According to the studies, using computers to learn another language is very effective.
In furthering the study of the use of computers in learning another language, it has been discovered by Lin, et al. that students working collaboratively on computers is even more beneficial. The results “showed better retention, outperforming the others in the delayed posttest. From the qualitative data, more than 70% of the participants in the computer group reported a positive attitude and anticipation to learning vocabulary in such an environment”
(Lin, et al., 2011, p. 91, para. 1). It was also found that having students work collaboratively on the computers helps to motivate them and “develop positive attitudes toward learning, result(ing) in higher-order thinking and better recall, as well as improve language skills” (Lin, et al., 2011, p. 91, para. 3). Lin, et al. (2011, p. 93, para. 2) also found that “effective vocabulary learning reflects in the useful retrieval of receptive and productive knowledge and requires deep processing that enhances long-term retention of vocabulary.” Having students collaboratively using computers to learn another language is the most beneficial.

Gibbs
Sources
Memorizing Language Vocabulary 10
Ericsson, K. (2003) Exceptional memorizers made not born. Cognitive Psychology, 7(6), 233-235.
Ericsson, K., Delaney, P., Weaver, G., & Mehadevan, R. (2004). Uncovering the structure of a memorist’s superior “basic” memory capacity. Cognitive Psychology, 49, 191-237. doi:
10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.02.001
Jutras, P. (2008). How do you teach students to practice memorization?. Keyboard Companion,
19(1), 50.
Lin, C., Chan, H., & Hsiao, H. (2011). EFL students' perceptions of learning vocabulary in a computer-supported collaborative environment. Turkish Online Journal Of Educational
Technology - TOJET, 10(2), 91-99.
Mondria, J., & Mondria-De Vries, S. (1994). Efficiently memorizing words with the help of word cards and "hand computer": Theory and Applications. System, 22(1), 47-57.
Nakata, T. (2008). English vocabulary learning with word lists, word cards and computers: implications from cognitive psychology research for optimal spaced learning. ReCALL,
20(1), 3-20.
Picard, L., Cousin, S., Guillery-Girard, B., Eustache, F., & Piolino, P. (2012). How do the different components of episodic memory develop? Role of executive functions and short-term feature-binding abilities. Child Development, 83(3), 1037-1050.
Pogue, D. (2013). The last thing you'll memorize. Scientific American, 309(2), 32.
Samur, Y. (2012). Redundancy effect on retention of vocabulary words using multimedia presentation. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 43(6), E166-E170.
Xia, Y. (2013). Learning a foreign language through text and memorization: The Chinese learners' perceptions. Journal Of Language Teaching & Research, 4(4), 731-740. doi:10.4304/jltr.4.4.731-740