Lecture 1: Five Principles for Learning Vocabulary
z The idea of chunking vocabulary items is related to a well-known
concept in cognitive science: schema theory. According to this
theory, we organize and categorize knowledge by abstract mental
frameworks or structures called schema. Think of schema as mental
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keep track of information in our brains and avoid the pitfalls of the
“mental junk drawer.”z Compare the chunking technique of vocabulary learning—grouping
related words into categories by meaning—with the traditional
approach to vocabulary instruction that many of us experienced in
school.
ż Often, we were given lists of vocabulary words to memorize
that were organized alphabetically, such as baleful, ballyhoo,
bastion, bedlam, and so on. Many of us learned these words for
the test on Friday and promptly forgot them by the following
Monday. We simply stuffed these words into our mental junk
drawers, not making connections among them or organizing
them into chunks by common meaning.ż A better approach to learning vocabulary would be to give
students a list of related words, such as NHUIXIÀH, imbroglio,
melee, hullabaloo, tussle, GRQQ\EURRN, and spat. If this was our
list for the week, we’d not only study the common meaning
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meaning among the words.ż If we organize our vocabulary learning by meaning, honoring
the way our brains work, we will dramatically improve our
chances of remembering and using new words. This method of
organizing words by meaning is known as VHPDQWLFFKXQNLQJ.
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this principle will give us a solid foundation for building a
better vocabulary.