The theory of semantic field is the theoretical basis of lexical classification。 Brinton once said “A semantic field denotes a segment of reality symbolized by a set of related words。 The words in a semantic field share a common semantic property。” (2000: 112) According to theory of semantic field, the words in a language are not random and irrelevant words but closely related with each other in an interconnected network。 Around certain concept some words can be organized together as a semantic field。 For instance, when learning the word “color”, some related words such as “red ”, “ green” and “yellow” are hyponyms of “color”。 Students can also associate “red” with “rose”, “green” with “meadow” and so on。 Because well-organized words are more likely to be stored in long-term memory, categorizing words according to the semantic fields can benefit vocabulary learners a lot。 Fan Lin (2007) has trained students this categorizing strategy and found that this training has improved the proficiency of the subjects。 (2007: 33)。论文网

Through empirical study Kachroo(1962) have found the best repeat time in remembering English words, that is, only when a word has appeared no less than seven times in different place can students really master it。 This finding has been widely used in English teaching by teachers around the world。 Dewey Rundus, a Stanford professor, has done a series of studies regarding to the efficiency of rehearsal in remembering words。 In his works he comes to a conclusion that rehearsal, especially read the words out, is of great advantage in remembering vocabulary。

Some psychologists are interested in the persity of learning styles。 A commonly recognized difference in learning style is that some students prefer materials presented on auditory form while other students prefer visual learning materials。 Veronikas and Maushak has found that through dual encoding or using both visual and auditory materials to learn vocabulary is better than encoding them through only one channel。

Information processing theory is not the name of a single theory but a category of theories。 And it is one of the most studied theories in cognitive psychology which has provided lots of learning tactics in learning and memory。 “The central to all information-processing perspectives is the idea that people use a variety of cognitive operations, or strategies, to process information through a limited-capacity system。” (David R。 Shaffer, 2004:292)。 In 1968 Richard Atlinso and Richard Shiffin first proposed the hypothesis of the modal modal of memory which pided the memory processes into three parts: sensory memory, working memory and long-term memory。 In line with their perspective, the sensory memory is the immediate registration of the sensory stimulus, the working memory is the information processed in the mind and the long-term memory is the relatively permanent knowledge we learned well stored in our mind。 “The flow of information among the three systems is to a large degree under the control of the subject,” said by Richard Atlinso (1968:94)。 We control these systems by the executive control processes which enable us to decide what information we shall pay attention to, process and memorize, to decide the strategies and tactics we apply with them as well as to monitor and regulate the process。 This multistore modal continues to be a valuable guide for understanding how we processing information in our mind。 (see David R。 Shaffer, 2004:292)。

Although endless studies on human memory have been done, the findings of those studies are fragmented。 And most of researchers try to focus on a single memory phenomenon。 However, in reality we find that in order to master the vocabulary well, different strategies are needed。 So it is necessary to proposal a more comprehensive depiction about memory strategies。 By reason of the utility value of the information processing theory in English vocabulary learning, this thesis is written to offer several valid and efficient methods based on scientific empirical researches to English vocabulary learning。文献综述