Keyword method

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The keyword method , substitute word method or keyword method is a mnemonic method to learn vocabulary efficiently and over the long term.

construction

The memory or the memory technique is based on the association of the old with the new. In addition, the brain can remember images and impressive ideas better than abstract learning material. The keyword method is based on various brain-friendly principles:

  1. New vocabulary is linked to existing knowledge.
  2. Abstract and unknown material is transformed into easily imaginable images.
  3. There is a mental processing and a conscious confrontation with the new knowledge.

functionality

A word from the native language that sounds similar to the vocabulary being learned is the key word. An image is created in the mind from the key word and the meaning of the word. However, the keywords can come from any other language, even the target language itself.

Examples

engl. mice - mice
Many mice nibble on a large cob of corn. (Corn is the key word)
french chien - dog
A dog is racing downhill on skis. (Ski is the key word)
engl. bile - gall
an angry man who is overflowing with bile rages around with an ax in his hand. (Hatchet is the key word)

effectiveness

The keyword method has been tested in several studies. According to Atkinson and Raugh (1975), the effectiveness of the method is higher the closer the language to be learned is to the mother tongue. They had American students study 40 Russian vocabulary each for three days. On the fourth day, all 120 words were queried again. The group that had learned using the keyword or substitute word method remembered 72% of the vocabulary compared to 46% in the control group. Even with an unannounced test after 43 days, the memory performance was significantly higher at 43% than in the control group at 28%. In similar studies with Spanish words, Atkinson and Raugh (1975) found even more pronounced differences (88% in the keyword group versus 28% in the control group). More recent studies by Lawson et al. Hogben 1998 confirmed the effectiveness of the substitute word method in learning vocabulary. The method also proved to be effective for learning facts (Brigham and Brigham 1998, Dretzke and Levin 1990, Levin et al. 1983 and 1983).

Memorize entire dictionaries

The memory grandmaster Yip Swe Choi memorized an entire dictionary ( Mandarin , English ) with over 58,000 entries and more than 1,700 pages using the keyword method . He can not only say the corresponding translation for each word from one of the two languages, but also knows the exact definition in the national language, the page number and the place on the page where the word is.

Choi also used the loci method for this memory performance . He has a mental route with over 58,000 points on which he stores the respective vocabulary.

literature

  • Gunther Karsten: Memory of Success , Munich 2002, ISBN 3-442-39035-4 , 177 ff.
  • Werner Metzig, Martin Schuster: Learning to learn , Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York 2006, ISBN 3-540-26030-7 , 74ff
  • Oliver Geisselhart and Helmut Lange: "Schieb das Schaf", Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-86882-258-8

See also

Web links