The Influence Of Vocabulary Presentation On English Vocabulary Learning In Junior Middle School

Vocabulary, as the basic element in a language, plays an important role in language learning.In recent years, vocabulary presentation has attracted more and more attention. However, the result of vocabulary retention is not so satisfied. Therefore, it is necessary and practical to explore the effective vocabulary presentation modes.Based on the theories of Cognitive Psychology of Memory, the Depth of Processing Theory and Elaboration Theory, the present study, by using the real classroom experiment, has explored the different results of vocabulary retention of junior middle school students by adopting different vocabulary presentation modes(presentation through a word list, presentation through pictures and presentation through examples). 161 junior middle school students of Grade Two who come from three different classes have been chosen as the subjects of the study. In the study,each class adopted a vocabulary presentation mode and after that the subjects have been given to a short-term memory test. The long-term memory test was carried out one week later. The data of the two tests were analyzed by SPSS 20.0.Through the analysis of the data, we find that:(1) In the short-term memory test, the presentation through pictures got the best result in vocabulary retention. At the meantime, the presentation through examples is the worst, and the presentation through the word list lies in the middle; The long-term memory test got the same result to the short-term memory test.(2) In the short-term memory test, the variation of the scores under the different presentation modes has reached a significant level; In the long-term memory test, the variation of the scores has not got a significant level;(3) The memory fading speed of the three different presentation modes is different: the memory fading speed of presentation through the word list is the slowest while the speed of presentation through examples is the fastest; the speed of presentation through pictures lies in the middle.Based on the findings, we got the conclusion:(1) The teacher had better use pictures, videos in vocabulary presentation, especially facing middle school student who are in low grades.(2) It is effective to memorize words by using the word list, especially in reviewing.(3) In this study,presentation through examples got the unsatisfied result in vocabulary learning, so the teacher should use it carefully. In conclusion, the teacher should choose suitable presentations according to the students and the teaching environment in language teaching.The three presentations in this study are different. They are combined with the practical vocabulary teaching. The three presentations are the most common in daily teaching. At the same time, the study also has limitations. The study just made a investigation in the same grade,while it didn’t check the differences between different grades. Therefore the future study can investigate the differences on vocabulary learning between different grades by using different presentations.