An Experimental Research On The Effects Of Different Presentation Modes On Vocabulary Acquisition Of Senior High School Students

Vocabulary is extremely important to a language learner. As for English learning, the first year, Grade One, in a senior high school is a key period. However, problems of high rate forgetting exist with single method of learning applied by high school students. According to cognitive psychology, the ways in which people understand and forget vocabulary information can vary with presentation modes. Appropriate presentation modes can facilitate the acquisition of vocabulary. It is, therefore, practical and necessary to explore some effective presentation modes for the improvement of high school students' vocabulary retention effect.Based on information-processing mode of cognitive psychology and elaboration theory, the present study investigates the different effects of English vocabulary acquisition with three different presentation modes(mode of word list, mode of context, and mode of example sentences). In this study, 135 senior high students are selected as the subjects, randomly divided into three groups, and each group, according to the Latin Square Design, undergoes three presentation modes in different orders. After the presentation of the vocabulary, the subjects are immediately given a short-term memory test and, one week later, a long-term memory test. The contents, forms, and duration of the tests are all the same.After the experiments, SPSS 19.0 is applied to analyze the data. Three kinds of statistics analyses were involved: the Descriptive Statistical, One-way ANOVA, and Multiple Comparisons.Comparing the effects of the three presentation modes, conclusions are reached as follows:(1) In the short-term memory test, the effect with mode of word list is the best among the three in vocabulary learning and retention, while that with the mode of context is the worst, and that with the mode of example sentences lies between the two.(2) In the long-term memory test, the effect with the mode of context is the best in vocabulary learning and retention, while that with the mode of example sentences is the second, and that with the mode of word list is the worst.(3) There are significant differences between the effects of each two presentation modes in short-term and long-term memory tests, while the fading speeds of the memory effects with the three presentation modes are also significantly different: the fading speeds of the memory effects with the mode of word list is the fastest, while that with the mode of context is the slowest, and that with the mode of example sentences lies in between.Some enlightenments or revelations are obtained thereby: in English teaching, there is no universal presentation mode; the teacher should choose among the appropriate vocabulary presentation modes according to the specific group of students and teaching objectives, and no matter which presentation mode is used, students should review timely to consolidate their memory of the words presented.