Mental_Lexicon_and_English_Vocabulary_Teaching

Mar. 2009, Volume 7, No.3 (Serial No.65) US-China Foreign Language, ISSN 1539-8080, USA Mental lexicon and English vocabulary teaching ZHANG Chao (Foreign Languages School, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266061, China) Abstract: Vocabulary teaching plays an important role in foreign language teaching. The theory of mental lexicon explains how words are organized and accessed in human brain from the angle of psycholinguistics, studies of which provide vital indications to English vocabulary teaching. With the theories of mental lexicon, this article aims to explore, how to facilitate learner’s vocabulary acquisition effectively in the process of English teaching. Key words: mental lexicon; organization; lexical access; English vocabulary teaching 1. Introduction Acquisition of vocabulary has always played an important role, and maybe a central role in learning a foreign language. Vocabulary is often more important in communication, and a solid vocabulary is necessary in every stage of language learning. Just as McCarthy (1997, p. viii) stated, “No matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how well successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings, communication in an L2 just can not happen in any meaningful way”. Communication will break down when people do not use the right words, and it is frustrating for learners when they discover they can not communicate effectively because they do not know enough words. Mental lexicon has explained how words are organized and accessed in human brain from the angle of psycholinguistics. And studies of mental lexicon can provide some vital indications to English vocabulary teaching. 2. Mental lexicon Psycholinguists refer to the representation of words in permanent memory as our mental lexicon. When a given word in our lexicon has been found, the properties we associate with the word become available for use. These properties include the meaning of the word, its spelling and pronunciation, its relationship with other words, and related information. Much of this is included in dictionaries, but the mental lexicon differs radically from a dictionary, it also contains information that is not linguistic. In the following sections, the paper will explain how the mental lexicon is organized and how we access lexical information. 2.1 Organization of the mental lexicon One might think of the lexicon as having a dictionary-type arrangement. However, lexicon is set up as a network of interconnected elements. The elements are concepts or nodes, which are connected to one another because they have various relations with one another. There are two accepted models explaining the organization of the mental lexicon: the hierarchical network model and the spreading activation model. ZHANG Chao (1975- ), female, lecturer of Foreign Languages School, Qingdao University of Science and Technology; research fields: teaching methodology, translation theories and practice. 42 Mental lexicon and English vocabulary teaching The hierarchical model is developed by Collins and Quillian (1969, 1972). They believed that a hierarchy is a classification system with super ordinate and subordinate concepts, which means some of the elements stand above the network while some others stand below. The figure (which was omit in this paper) they presented illustrated the hierarchical structure. In this figure, they assumed that memory was organized like a hierarchy of concepts with general terms at the top and specific terms lower in the hierarchy. So we might find branches of the super ordinate (animal) as we moved from top to bottom, such as “bird”, “fish”, “canary and shark”. Each node in the hierarchy represents a different concept, at the juncture of each node is stored the semantic features of the node. “Animal” stores the feature of “has skin”, “can move around”, “eats”. “Bird” stores “has wings”, “can fly”, “has feather”, etc. Then another interesting question is how the properties or attributes were stored in the lexicon' According to Collins and Quillian, the space available for the storage of semantic information was limited, so it would be beneficial to store information only in one place in the network. And they assumed that the information would be stored only at the highest possible node. The spreading activation model is network model that is not strictly hierarchical. It is an improvement on the rigid hierarchical conceptualization of semantic information. The spreading activation model assumes that words are arranged in networks of nodes, but not hierarchically. All information is represented at the node level. Spreading activation refers to the idea that finding one concept in the network will activate concepts linked to it. When “truck” is activated, “car” and “vehicle” are activated. The activation of one node spreads out to related concepts like a sound wave ripples outward from its source in all directions at once. The farther it travels, the weaker it becomes. Associated concepts, for example, “red” and “rose”, are associated by links between nodes. The closer the relationship between concepts, the shorter the link. The relationship between one node and another is determined by node length and by its place in the network. The spreading activation model of the lexicon incorporates the conceptual, syntactic, and phonological knowledge, and it is currently regarded as the most realistic model of the mental lexicon. 2.2 Lexical access We have made a good knowledge of the organization of mental lexicon in last section, and then the paper will explain how this organized knowledge is accessed during language comprehension. How we access a word’s meaning is central to the comprehension of speech and writing. At first, we shall address the factors that affect lexical access. Lexical access is influenced by a variety of factors, including the phonological structure of a word, its syntactic category, and its morphological structure, the frequency of a word, the presence of semantically related words and the existence of alternative meaning of the word. Among all these factors, the last three ones are more important than others. According to the results of some studies, the high-frequency words can be accessed much easier than the low-frequency ones. The speed of recognition of the semantically related words (“doctor–nurse”) is quicker than those words which have no semantic relationships (“doctor–computer”). Sometimes a single word can be explained by more than one meaning, which is called lexical ambiguity. Lexical ambiguity is a significant property of language. Considerable research has investigated how we access lexically ambiguous words. Some research suggests that we briefly consider all meanings of an ambiguous word. However, when a preceding context primes the most dominant meaning of a word, lexical access may be selective. There are three models that can explain how the access process operates: search model, logogen model, and cohort model. One of the earliest and most influential models is Forster’s (1976, 1979) autonomous search model. In this model, the word recognition system is divided into several different components. One is devoted to the 43 Mental lexicon and English vocabulary teaching orthographic (spelling) properties of a word and another to the phonetic properties. Each of these is organized in descending order of frequency. Thus, more frequent words are searched before lower-frequency words. Forster’s model assumes that the lexicon is autonomous or independent of other systems involved in language processing. Thus, according to this model, activation of words from the lexicon is not directly influenced by syntactic or semantic factors. Morton (1969) developed a model of lexical access that would account for both priming and frequency effects. In Morton’s model, each word in lexicon is represented as a logogen, which specifies the word’s various attributes (semantic, orthographic, phonological, and so on). The logogen is activated in either of two ways: by sensory input or by contextual information. Consider the first sensory route. As orthographic or phonological features of the input stimulus are detected, they are matched to the logogen. The logogen functions as a scoreboard or counter; when the counter rises above a pre-designated threshold, the item is recognized. The cohort model was designed specifically to account for auditory word recognition. This model in some way captures the best features of the search and logogen models. The cohort model assumes that multiple word candidates are processed in parallel; it assumes that the initial process is strictly bottom-up. Furthermore, by specifically attending to spoken word recognition, the cohort model is more sensitive than other models to the left-right nature of speech. It is thus best equipped to explain how we can recognize a long word before the word is complete. 3. Implications to English vocabulary teaching The organization of mental lexicon and the models of lexical access which discussed above can supply a lot of implications to English teachers: the aim of vocabulary teaching should not just explain a list of items clearly; the teachers should provide students with some effective methods for memory according to the frequency of words, the affection of context and so on. Therefore, on the basis of the theories of mental lexicon, the author explored some effective vocabulary teaching methods as follows. 3.1 Teaching words in context Just as we talked above, lexical access will be influenced by context. Context effect means that the context can not only speed up the recognition of words, but also account for lexicon ambiguity. In the process of vocabulary teaching, we can put some words in a concrete context, such as some sentences or short passages which can intrigue students’ interests. In this way, the students will find that it is no longer boring to learn new words. For example, when one teach the word “speculate”, one can put it into the following context, “Nobody knows for sure why soccer isn’t popular in America, but that doesn’t stop the people from ‘speculating’”. If the students were interested in the topic of soccer, they would memorize this word “speculate”. Furthermore, some words in English, especially the high-frequency ones, have more than one meaning, and the ambiguities usually emerge when there are no clear contexts. For instance, “simple” can have different meanings in the following contexts: (1) The machine is quite “simple” to use. (2) I like my clothes to be “simple” but elegant. (3) She is as “simple” as a child. (4) My farther was a “simple” farm-worker. (5) She doesn’t understand you; she is a bit “simple”. So we can say it is quite important to learn words in concrete contexts to avoid ambiguity. 3.2 Multi-media vocabulary teaching Computer assisted language learning is an emerging force in language teaching, it is maturing and showing that it can be a powerful tool in the hands of experienced teachers because it allows learners to interface with the 44 Mental lexicon and English vocabulary teaching target language in new ways. In actual vocabulary teaching, we can try to use computer to assist words learning. Using multimedia, visual and auditory input delivered in a well-ordered sequence can lead learners to understand the usage of the target word with no need for text support. Well-designed multimedia lessons can now coordinate visual, auditory and contextual input in ways that a book can not. It is now especially possible for beginners, for example, by displaying a simple picture or icon, such as a book, a triangle, or a number, the learner can process the meaning immediately. No need for text and for explanation. Furthermore, learners can interact with the presentation, and have their interactions recorded into their study records and even influence the pace and level of the presentation. 4. Conclusion Vocabulary teaching plays an important role in foreign language teaching. This article, on the basis of the theories of mental lexicon, explores several vocabulary teaching strategies of English and proves that these strategies can facilitate learners’ vocabulary acquisition effectively in the process of English teaching. However, the researches on the mental lexicon are still not sufficient, and the relationships between mental lexicon and the concrete teaching methods need to be explored again. References: Allen, V. F. 2002. Techniques in teaching vocabulary. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Bresnan, J. 2001. Lexical-functional syntax. Blackwell. Carroll, D. V. 2000. Psychology of language. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. 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