Thesis Statement
In this thesis, we pay more attention to cultivating the students’ memory in six teaching methods. Such as reciting, understanding, repeating, associating and applying.
Outline
1. Introduction
2. The significance of the memory cultivation
2.1 The demand for English teaching
2.2 The demand for the all-round development of students themselves
3. Explanation of six teaching methods
3.1 The method of reciting
3.2 The method of understanding
3.3 The method of repeating
3.4 The method of associating
3.5 The method of amusing
3.6 The method of applying
4. Conclusion
How to cultivate the students’ memory
1.Introduction
It is well know that the cultivation of students’ memory is also to improve their competences. Students play the active roles in teaching. Their excellent memory come from daily practice. Therefore, teacher could cultivate and improve students’ memory, according to the principle of memory and psychological characteristic. The American famous speaker, Dyerer, made successful achievements that were related to his exceptional good memory. That is to say, no excellent memory leads to no accumulation of knowledge, no human being’s process of cognitions, even no innovation of knowledge and social civilization. Actually in daily teaching, teachers can not attach enough importance to in. It is necessary for teachers to discuss the topic, memory cultivating in order to improve teachers’ teaching effiency.
2. The significance of cultivating memory
Nowadays teachers face many teaching problem. First of all is how teachers instruct students to memorize materials as much as they could. It is not only the demand for English teaching but for the all-round development of students themselves as well.
2.1 The demand for English teaching
As you know, teaching procedure is a process that students memorize. In teaching teachers should prepare the new materials of various types. Finally it will be changed into students’ knowledge totally. The best way of transformations is to encourage students to memorize. Then it make teaching efficiency more perfect.
2.2 The demand for the all-round development of students themselves
Our educational system emphasizes that students should be developed in morality, intelligence and physique. This has been played an important role in character training. If students have a good memorial habit, it will take benefit for his study as well as his late future developments.
3. Explanation of six teaching method
After the explanation of the significance of cultivating memory, the problem should be solved immediately how the teachers perform in six teaching methods. In the following sections, the method are discussed thoroughly.
3.1 The method of reciting
In teaching, students are required to recite a plenty of materials. sometimes materials are rather dull and complex. In general, to recite by rote doesn’t take any effect. Nevertheless those materials come from pattern drills, text and a certain background. If teachers process and induce them, students can deal with some questions skillfully, only reciting some key words and sentences
In daily life, teachers always give students some homework to recite. When I finished the lesson one “A Vocational School Student” ( Ding, 1999:1 ), I made it as their reciting materials. Meanwhile I assigned them an essay which topic is “ My life at DiTang Vocational School”. Students wrote the essay according to model text they had recited. They did very well. Especially some students, who had lower skill, saw the red mark “A+” on their homework and realized deeply that recitation bought them self-confidence. Karl Marks began to learn Russian in his fifties and grasped it owing to his wonderful recitation. It has been an important teaching method to encourage students to recite a lot.
3.2 The teaching method of understanding
According to V.B.Belyayer (1998:272) memorial procedure refers to complex and psychological process, it includes two respects of memorizing and understanding. Students feel exhausted with materials memorized by mechanical memory. “Soon learnt Soon forgotten”. It demands intelligent memory. In case at the beginning teachers find out internal relations among them, guide students to memorize comparatively, they will get twice the result with half effort.
This method is fit for grammar teaching. Compare with the following two sentences:( see, A.J.Thomson, 1992:152)
(1) I used to swim in the sea.
(2) I am used to swimming in the sea.
Speaker A in (1) expresses a discontinued habit or a past situation which contrast with the present. “used” is followed by the full infinitive. Speaker B in (2) means “After I have swum in the sea for a while I never care of my safety”. “used” can also be a adjective meaning “accustom”. It is then preceded by be, become or get in any tense and followed by the preposition “to + noun / pronoun or gerund”.
3.3 The method of repeating
It is impossible for some students to keep the materials for a long time in their mind by memorizing once. The efficient way is to memorize again, to review. H.Ebbinghaus, German psychologist, analysed that memorial process accompanied with the beginning of forgetting, at first it was forgotten very fast, step by step slowed down, in the end almost forgotten. To avoid forgetting is to repeat to memorize and review.
Being a student, no new word and expression can confuse me. I had a marvelous knock: Those word were written on a pocket notebook. In spare time, before meals, or sleep, even in toilet, I could review those materials. Being a teacher I taught my students the knack and got unimaginable effort. The method of repeat has been one of the most important traditional way of memory.
3.4 The method of associating
As for a certain topic,teachers encourage students to associate abundantly. The method not only trains students’ imagination but also helps them study vocabulary. Seeing the following figures:
Carelessness (n.negative) careful (adj.) → carefulness (n.)
↑ ↑
Careless (adj.negative) ← care (v.)
↓ ↓
Carelessly (adv.negtive) carefully (adv)
Using prefixes and suffixes students can learn all forms of “care”, there are some words like fear, power, hope, ect. Teachers can instruct students to do the following examples:
Example 1: good-bad, high-low, thick-thin, etc.
Example 2: long-length-lengthen,strong-strength-strengthen,
deep-depth-deepen, etc.
After induction, deduction and comparison, students could memorize these words well. With the help of a series of scientific method, students can make more progress in memory cultivation.
3.5 The method of amusing
There are some materials to be quite complicate and incomprehensible in teaching. Although utilized all kinds of methods, students paid more and got less. Suppose teachers prepare teaching materials as a game, adding amusement, their teaching will reach a high level as Chinese Saying “kill two birds with one stone.”
After every unit teachers might sort out the mistakes in students’ homework together. Teachers will have a “correcting mistakes” class with amusement. For example, all students stand up and ask a certain question. The one who answers “right” might continue and the “wrong” sit down. The last to sit down win the game. This will make your class funny and finish your class under amusing atmosphere.
In addition, teachers supply for some English rhymed formulas or memory methods as well as English songs, tongue twisters, poetries, etc. Here is a rhymed formula to help students memorize the principle of changing cardinal number into cardinal number.(see, Hezhaoxiong: 102)
“eight cuts T (eight-eighth)
nine cuts E (nine-ninth)
F replaces V and E (five-fifth)
Y changes into I E (twenty-twentieth)
TH never forget me ( Ordinal number is ended by “th”.)
3.6 The method of applying
Students memorize materials in order to apply. This reflects the function of language communication. By means of application students can check out the completion, accuracy and practicality of their knowledge.
Usually teachers require students to finish homework by themselves, to think carefully and summarize frequently. Every lesson a short summary, every unit a long summary, every semi-term a simple summary, every term a specific summary. Monthly I assign students a short essay or oral practice, which they can discuss and develop their imaginations. When the test (DingMingHua,1998:36) “Pollution and Protection” was finished, I gave them an oral topic, “ how to solve the pollution in the home?”. Students describe it fluently with environmental knowledge according to the text. When the text(DingMingHua,1998:76) “Madam Curie” was over, an essay was given to students. “What will you learn from Madam Curie?” Here are their some model sentence: “Madame Curie was a great woman scientist”, “We must study hard for the people and our country”, “ We learnt from Madam Curie for giving her whole life to science”, etc.
Meanwhile teachers have students write English letter, birthday or New Year Cards. They would have some chance to practice their English. In case they lack knowledge in a certain area, they renew to input immediately. It forms a good circle of input and output. Application is the source of memory.
4. Conclusion
This paper has discussed the problem of students’ memorial cultivation, and put forward six teaching methods. The discussion has clearly expounded the memorial principle and students’ psychological character. Combining two features the methods are explained in detail.
It is not easy to cultivate the students’ memory. Firstly the teaching subject, students, have predominant peculiarity of their own. Secondly every teacher has different experiences, teaching methods and requirements. Even though those causes, teachers have still more and more methods to train this kind of quality. In teaching, teachers should lay stress on these six training methods and encourage student to form a good habit of memory. Then teachers try best to use more new teaching methods to make class more active. With imperceptible influence of the new teaching method, our educational system will be more and more perfect.
Bibliography
1. DingMingHua,TanYunQing and LuHuaShui.1999.Basic English. 3rd ed ZheJing: ZheJing People’s Press.
2. B.V.Belyayev. 1998. The psychology of Teaching Foreign language. 3rd ed. BeiJing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
3. A.J.Thomson. A.V.Martinet. 1992 A Practical English Grammar. 1st .ed. BeiJing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
4. HeZhaoXiong, ShiZhiKang, et al. 2000. Teach yourself English. ShangHai: ShangHai Foreign Language Education Press