An Experimental Study On The Effects Of Vocabulary Presentation Modes On Vocabulary Retention Of Non-english Major College Students Of Low Proficiency

Vocabulary is one of the most significant elements in a language. Vocabulary acqusition plays the center role in the second language acquisition and second language teaching. As a branch of vocabulary teaching, vocabulary presentation modes become a trend of vocabulary teaching research at home and abroad. Effective vocabulary presentation mode which can improve students'words memory has important practical significance.This thesis introduces some theories and empiments which related to vocabulary presentation modes, contrasting three kinds of vocabulary presentation modes: word list, context and semantic field by experiment in order to find out what effect they have on English low proficiency college students, which can provide some new ideas, teaching principles and feasible suggestions to improve vocabulary teaching of low English proficiency college students and provide effective vocabulary learning way for low English proficiency college students.160 first year low English proficiency studens who are in three classes were chosen as subjects. Three classes adopted three different presentation mode, after the presentation, an immediate test was carried out. Three days later, the first delayed test was administered. And another delayed test was administered a week after immediate test. The data were analyzed by SPSS 16.0 ( Statistical Package for the Social Science ). By comparing the results of vocabulaty tests including the immediate test and the delayed test, the following conclusions have arrived:In the immediate test the presentation by word list was the best in vocabulary learning and retention while the presentation by context was the worst, and the presentation through semantic field lied between the two.Three days later, the results of first delayed test were consistent with the results of the immediate test.That is the presentation by word list was the best in vocabulary retention while the presentation by semantic field was the second, and the presentation through context was the worst among three.In the second delayed test a week after the immediate test, the presentation through context was the best in vocabulary retention while the presentation through semantic field was the worst. The presentation through word list lied in the middle.There was a significant difference between the immediate test and the second delayed test in each presentation mode, while the memory-fading speed of the three presentation modes varied: the memory-fading speed of the presentation through context was the slowest among the three; the memory-fading speed of the presentation through semantic feild was the fastest; the speed of the presentation through word list lied in the middle.We can draw the following conclusions through this experiment:1. Teachers and learners should choose the appropriate vocabulary presentation mode according to the specific objectives and the actual situation.2. Although many scholars oppose to memory words through word list, it doesn't mean that the word list doesn't work at any time.3. Memory-fading can not be avoided , while the repetition should be adopted after words are learned to reduce the speed of memory-fading and try to make the words into the long-term memory.