英语词汇学习七种武器之四：促进深层次理解 - 英语教学法原著选读77（附导读、译文与家长指南）

以下“导读”为武太白原创内容，英文原文节选、整理自上海外语教育出版社出版的《教学法丛书：词汇：描述、习得与教学》一书。

导读

上周我们读了《英语词汇学习七种武器之三：有规划反复重现 （英语教学法原著选读76）》，文中指出，既要追求英语词汇学习的绝对词汇数量，也要注意词汇学习的相对学习深度；艾宾浩斯遗忘曲线是很有用的，最好能照此安排词汇记忆；有些游戏对词汇记忆很有用，比如scramble、bingo等。

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下面这段文字主要讲了：

1、重复性的维持演练（maintenance rehearsal）固然也能记住单词，但不断深入的“详述演练（elaboration rehearsal）”更能帮助我们学好词汇；

2、可以用英语对一个单词进行穷举性的“此为何物”型学习；

3、还可以用“划掉不属于同类的词”的方法弄明白几个词的共同点；

4、多进行比较、鉴别，对英语词汇学习大有裨益。

当然，具体内容要比上面的总结丰富、具体、生动得多。朋友们还有什么不明白的，欢迎留言哦！

家长指南

要利用本篇中的方法帮助孩子学习词汇，家长自身的英语水平就必须不断提高，不然怎能想象用英语去解释英语？故，家长手边常备词典是必须的。这里要向家长朋友们特别推荐《朗文英汉双解词典》，或者说朗文的词典系列，因为朗文的词典有一个很特别的设计，就是用最基础的2000词解释所有的词条，这样一来家长就能从中逐渐学会怎样用英语解释英语了。当然，这是一个长期的、可能比较艰苦的过程，但为了自己的提高，为了孩子的提高，有什么做不得的呢？

此外，本篇还提及了一些具体方法，可以多搜集一些相关习题（比如划掉不属于同类的词，这样的练习蛮多的），为孩子的学习做好准备。

原文 

Thesis Title: Current Trends in Vocabulary Teaching

Author: Anita J. Sokmen

Promote a deep level of processing

Better learning will take place when a deeper level of semantic processing is required because the words are encoded with elaboration (Craik and Lockhart, 1972). This doesn't mean that simply repeating items, 'maintenance rehearsal’, will not lead to retention. It will. However, according to Baddeley (op. cit.) providing ‘elaborative rehearsal’, richer levels of encoding, will result in better learning. When students are asked to manipulate words, relate them to other words and to their own experiences, and then to justify their choices, these word associations are reinforced. Students need to be encouraged to think aloud, give reasons for their word choices, and to extend their learning of the world outside of the classroom, e.g. report when they encounter the target word in the real world (Beck, McKeown, and Omanson, 1987). Classroom activities which demand deeper processing, 'rich instruction', can be time-consuming and hard work for students, but, as Ellis (2.2) maintains, really acquiring a word is facilitated by cognitive effort in an explicit learning process.

Describing a target word to the student until the meaning is clear, is one way to engage the learner in deeper processing. Nation refers to this as the What is it? technique. His example is for learning the word stirrup:

A stirrup is silver. A stirrup is strong. A stirrup is made of iron. A stirrup has a flat bottom. We can find a stirrup on a horse. A stirrup is used to put your foot into when you ride a horse. (1990: 67)

Since the meaning is not quickly given away, the learner has a reason to continue to process all of the input, until it is understood.

Another example of encouraging deeper encoding is asking students to describe how a word, in this case order, is distinguished from similar ones. The directions are to cross out the word in each series which does not belong.

(a)order    command    advise        demand

(b) order   tell                instruct        suggest

(c) order   ask   obey

In the process of deleting one, the characteristics which categorize the others will emerge. An even richer opportunity comes from having students supply the initial synonyms for this activity.

Visser's (1990) underlying meaning technique is an example of a classroom activity which tries to promote a more in-depth understanding of a word. In her example, students are given a polysemous word in two contexts:

(a)If people or things saturate a place or object, they fill it so completely that no more can be added.

(b)If someone or something is saturated, they are extremely wet.

Then they are encouraged to interact in small groups, discussing questions which focus their attention on the similar feature or idea within this word. For example, what happens when cheap imported goods saturate the market? Can you get saturated with sweat? From their discussion, students have to decide what the similar features/ideas are in (a) and (b) and determine an underlying meaning of saturate. Whatever classroom techniques are applied, the degree of processing required will have an important effect on how well the words are remembered.

译文

当需要进行深层次的语义处理的时候，更好的学习效果就会产生，因为词汇的编码加入了详细阐述（克雷克与洛克哈特，1972）。这并不意味着重复再重复，“维持性演练”，就完成不了词汇的留存。也能完成。然而，根据巴德利（同上）的理论，提供“详述演练”，即更丰富的编码层次，能够获得更好的学习效果。要求学生运用词汇，把词汇与其他词、与学生的自身经历联系起来，并解释他们如此选择的道理，这些词汇间的联系就得到了巩固。要鼓励学生把所思所想说出来，给出选择的理由，并把学习从课堂延伸到课外，即报告他们在真实世界遇到目标词汇的情形（贝克，麦基翁与奥曼森，1987）。需要进行深层次处理的课堂活动需要“丰富情境”，可能会比较耗时，对学生来说也不容易，但如同埃利斯（2.2）所坚持认为的那样，显性教学过程中的认知努力对词汇的真正习得是有促进作用的。

要使学习者深入处理词汇，向学生进行穷举性说明、直到意思清晰是一个办法。纳辛把这种方法称为“此为何物”法。他举的例子是学习“stirrup”这个词：

A stirrup is silver. A stirrup is strong. A stirrup is made of iron. A stirrup has a flat bottom. We can find a stirrup on a horse. A stirrup is used to put your foot into when you ride a horse. (1990: 67)

因为词义并不是迅速就说明白了，学习者还是需要持续处理所有的输入，直到词语得到理解。

另一种鼓励深层编码的例子是要求学生描述一个词和类似的词是怎样区分的，在这个例子里是按照所属范畴来分。要求是把每系列词中不一样的词划掉。

(a) order command advise demand

(b) order tell instruct suggest

(c) order ask obey

在删除其一的过程中，另外几个词的共同特征就得到了凸显。更丰富的机会是，让学生给出该活动中每组词起首的同义词。

韦瑟尔（1990）的“内在意思法”也是一种课堂活动的范例，这种方法尝试促进单词的深入理解。在她的例子中，给学生一个多义词，两种上下文环境：

(a)If people or things saturate a place or object, they fill it so completely that no more can be added.

(b)If someone or something is saturated, they are extremely wet.

鼓励学生以小组形式互动，讨论问题，把他们的注意力集中到这个词内部相近的特色或意念。比如，如果市场被便宜的进口货saturate了，会发生些什么？出汗会使你saturated吗？从讨论中学生们必须做出决定，说明（a）和（b）中的相似特色/意念是什么，并提出saturate这个词的内在意思。不管采用怎样的课堂技巧，所需要的处理程度都会对单词记忆的程度产生重要的影响。