Teacher Discussion Forums

Once I taught my student words about investment and finance such as shares, dividends, and mortgage. He performed a matching type activity, used the words in a sentence, and identified the words based on my description. I thought he really learned the words well, but when I gave him a paper and pencil test the following day, he already forgot what he learned. I have also experienced that students quickly forget the grammar lessons I thought they learned so well. Do you have any idea on how to aid retention?

Get him to teach it to someone else. The wonderful thing about being a teacher is that you have to retain and understand what you are teaching or at least, it would be good to do that to be a good teacher.

Was there a good reason for him to learn the words? Motivation is often the key to whether people remember.

Did he know you were going to test him again the next day? That is often motivation to some competitive students.

Did he have something to practice the night before after the lesson? That often helps to secure the knowledge.

Is it important for him to please you or are you marks important to him for some reason? Some people say that is necessary to retain the knowledge.

Did you make the words part of a text that was relevant or were they isolated? Did it relate to what he knows in his own language and experience first so he can anchor the words in his first language? Was he worried that he didn't remember the words or is it just bothering you?

I recently met a woman who said that are arrogant to call ourselves teachers as we can't possibly teach anyone anything but only faciitate what the learners want to know when they are ready to know it. I said that I thought there was a "teachable moment" but she thought that was arrogant and said there was only a "learner's moment". She was a truly humble woman who thought it was priviledge to be with learners to be a resource in their lives so wouldn't worry if something she said had not been intergrated into their brain.

The research suggests that language learners have to see a word somewhere between 9 and 14 times before they will retain it and certainly before it becomes part of their active vocab.

The retention of vocab does obviously depends on the motivation, context and so on but you may have been a little too optimistic, expecting your student to remember all these words the next day.

Thank you very much for your insights. They are very useful. I think one reason why students forget what they learn is that teachers try to teach too much in just a short time. Don't you think that students should learn more slowly. I have read that experienced teachers cover a coursebook four times longer than new teachers because of repetition, practice and depth. What do you think?

I agree although I never cover the textbook only but try to give them the same vocabulary and experience with the topic in four or five didfferent texts over the course of a week or more. This also means that they are writing on the topic as well and presenting to someone or the class as well as doing something fun like making a poster, a movie or text that will go on to be published in some way. I might give them a test on the words at the beginning of the process and give them a chart to check - have they heard the word before, have they ever read the word, have they ever used the word, do they fully know what the word means and can use it easily. This chart helps the students realize that there are steps in learning vocabulary and that they can be on the rung along the way and not feel badly that they can't put all the words in the last category. They can check their chart again after a week of reading about and using the words and see how they have progressed.

Students need to be actively involved in the learning process as Sally described. The more senses they use - sight, hearing, voice, etc - the better.

I assume your students have a vocab notebook where they write all the new words they hear everyday. Then they have to take time to learn these words, at least 3 to 4 times a week. I did this myself for 2 years after arriving in Australia - my first language is Dutch.

I often use these vocab notebooks in class. A very simple exercise is to tell your students to explain 5 words to their neighbour and their neighbour guesses the words. You recycle a lot of vocab this way in a short time.

The key to learning vocabulary (or any aspect of language) is applying it to life. Learn a word or grammar point in a class? Then try to purposefully use it in a conversation during the lesson or later. After several attempts, you're more likely to retain and use the information.

As teachers, we need to build activities that create opportunities for students to use the words naturally, as well as to personalize the information and use material from past lessons. A word match, gap fill, or drill of some sort moves toward making the language automatic. But the students really need more. Give them semi-controlled or free activities, particularly ones that give them a lot of chance to speak without teacher intervention (interviews, role-plays, debates, discussions, etc.)

Chris Cotter
www.headsupenglish.com