6 Memory and written storage

Understanding how we store information in the memory and why certain

chunks of it seem t o 'stick' while others slip away is obviously a matter
of concern to anyone whose work involves helping others to learn. For
language teachers this knowledge should help to establish classroom
procedures that will promote more effective learning and retention of
new language items.
These are the issues we will be considering in this chapter, but first
a word about the organisation of the chapter. The first section is devoted
t o theoretical aspects of memory but is both brief and selective. We
have tried t o define and outline only those aspects of memory that are
particularly relevant to the later discussion, and provide the necessary
background to allow a more objective assessment of certain classroom
activities. The sections o n classroom suggestions and written storage
take up the practical aspects more explicitly but also contain descriptions
of scientific experiments that we have found interesting and relevant
t o classroom teaching.

THEORETICAL ASPECTS
6.1 Types of memory
Most readers will be familiar with the experience of looking up a tele-
phone number and then repeating it to themselves for the time it takes
t o sit down and dial the number. As luck would have it, this is invariably
the occasion for somebody t o ask a distracting question with the result
that the number is forgotten and has to be looked up all over again.
Equally familiar and irritating is when you need the same number twenty-
four hours later and find that you are quite unable t o remember it.
These experiences reflect the widely recognised view among psycholo-
gists that with verbal learning the ability to hold information over brief
periods (usually up t o thirty seconds in duration) demands fairly constant
repetition, and any distraction o r interruption is likely to severely impede
that ability. Moreover, it has been established that our capacity for short
term retention is remarkably consistent, and that most people experience
 Memory and written storage

some breakdown in retention as soon as the number of items or chunks

of information exceeds seven.
This type of memory, known as short term memory, is clearly different
from long term memory, which is our capacity for recall of information
minutes, weeks and years after the original input. Furthermore the differ-
ence is not simply one of duration. Unlike short term memory which
is limited in capacity, long term memory is seemingly inexhaustible and
can accommodate any amount of new information. Not surprisingly
this additional information can only be stored at a price; it is generally
acknowledged that we need to work much harder to commit information
to long term memory, and the type of repetition we described as being
essential to short term retention may not be adequate for long term
retention.
Some readers may feel uneasy about this last comment, as it would
seem to contradict an experience we have all shared, namely the ability
to remember certain information either by means of repetition, or with
no conscious attempt t!o learn it at all. This certainly does happen, and
the distinction between short term retention and long term retention
is not always clear-cut. Information entering short term memory may
pass quite effortlessly into long term memory, and some learners may
find repetition a very effective way of transferring information into long
term memory. Later in the chapter we will take up the issue of repetition
in more detail; at this stage we will simply acknowledge it has a role
in long term learning but reiterate the importance of more thorough
processing and systematic organisation as the basis for effective long
term retention.

6.2 Organisation of the mental lexicon

In part A of this book, we looked at the relationships between lexical
items and other linguistic considerations such as pronunciation, gramma-
tical values, derivation, spelling, etc. All this information is stored in
the brain, so we should now examine how this data is organised and
stored.
Our 'mental lexicon' is highly organised and efficient. Were storage
of information haphazard, we would be forced to scan in a random
fashion to retrieve words; this simply is not feasible when one considers
the speed at which we need to recognise and recall. Furthermore, it
is extremely improbable that we organise words in the brain as a diction-
ary does. Imagine you were trying to recall the word 'nozzle', for instance.
It is unlikely that you would retrieve the word 'noxious' (which appears
next to 'nozzle' in the LDCE) in place of the target word.
Some very interesting experiments carried out by Brown and McNeil
Principles in learning a n d teaching vocabulary

(1966) exemplify this point forcefully and give us clues about lexical
organisation. The experimenters gave testees definitions of low frequency
vocabulary items and asked them to name the item. One definition was,
'A navigational instrument used in measuring angular distances, espe-
cially the altitude of the sun, moon and stars at sea'. Some testees were
able to supply the correct answer (which was 'sextant'), but the
researchers were more interested in the testees who had the answer 'on
the tip of their tongues'. Some gave the answer 'compass', which seemed
to indicate that they had accessed the right semantic field but found
the wrong item. Others had a very clear idea of the 'shape' of the item,
and were often able to say how many syllables it had, what the first
letter was, etc. It seems, then, that these systems are interrelated; at
a very basic level, there appears to be a phonological system, a system
of meaning relations and a spelling system.
One way in which researchers investigate how the mental lexicon is
organised is by comparing the speed at which people are able to recall
items. It is generally accepted that if certain types of prompts can be
answered more quickly than others, then this will reflect the lexical sys-
tem. Freedman and Loftus (1971) asked testees to perform two different
types of tasks:
e.g. 1 Name a fruit that begins with a p.
2 Name a word beginning with p that is a fruit.
Testees were able to answer the first type of question more quickly than
the second. This seems to indicate that 'fruits beginning with p' are
categorised under the 'fruit' heading rather than under a 'words begin-
ning with p' heading. Furthermore, experimenters discovered in subse-
quent tests that once testees had access to the 'fruit' category, they were
able to find other fruits more quickly. This seems to provide further
evidence that semantically related items are 'stored together'. Most
researchers (albeit from varying viewpoints) appear to agree that items
are arranged in a series of associative networks. Forster (1976, 1979)
put forward the theory that all items are organised in one large 'master
file', and that there are a variety of 'peripheral access files' which contain
information about spelling, phonology, syntax and meaning. Entries in
the master file are also held to be cross-referenced in terms of meaning
relatedness.
We also have to consider other variables which affect storage. One
important factor here is word frequency; items which occur most fre-
quently are also easily recognised and retrieved. Imagine a pile of cards,
each representing an item of vocabulary. In this system, the most fre-
quently used items are 'at the top of the pile', and therefore easier to
retrieve. Recency of use is another variable, and, to return to the analogy
of the pile, one can imagine words more recently used being at the top.
These variables are concerned with the use of items, but it is also impor-
88
 Memory a n d written storage

tant t o consider when items were first learnt. Imagine a pile of words
organised chronologically: the words learnt on the first day of a course
would be a t one extreme and those most recently learnt a t the other.
Clearly, native speakers d o not acquire all their vocabulary in lexical
sets, but rather acquire items in a haphazard, chronological fashion,
generally in a fairly predictable order of frequency. However, native
speakers have many years in which to build up a comprehensive lexicon,
whereas foreign learners are limited in this respect. Exploiting our present
knowledge of storage systems to the full should allow us to attempt
to speed up the learning process and facilitate storage. This will be true
whether we are trying to clarify associative networks, classify by categor-
ies o r organise the vocabulary syllabus in a way which will assist the
contribution of frequency and recency of use and other variables. We
will discuss the practical implications of this in the second part of this
chapter.

6.3 Why do we forget?

In spite of the efficiency of these various organisational networks in
the memory, we still suffer lapses when we are unable to remember
something that we thought was well established in our long term memory.
Why does this happen?
One theory of forgetting suggests that information stored in the
memory falls into disuse unless it is activated fairly regularly. In other
words, we need t o practise and revise what we learn otherwise the new
input will gradually fade in the memory and ultimately disappear. This
is called the decay theory.
In opposition t o this theory is the notion of cue-dependent forgetting,
which asserts that information does in fact persist in the memory but
we may be unable t o recall it. In other words, the failure is one of
retrieval rather than storage. Evidence for this theory resides in a number
of experiments. In one of these, subjects were given lists of words to
learn and then tested on their powers of recall. Later they were tested
again, only this time they were given relevant information t o facilitate
recall. For example, if a list contained the words 'sofa', 'armchair' and
'wardrobe', the subjects would be given the superordinate 'furniture'
as a cue t o help them. These experiments showed that recall was consider-
ably strengthened by appropriate retrieval cues, thus suggesting that the
information was not permanently lost but only 'mislaid'.
In addition t o the theories of decay and cue-dependent forgetting there
is further evidence that any significant mental activity undertaken before
o r after periods of learning can also account for poor learning and reten-
tion. The activities undertaken prior to learning may have a detrimental
Principles in learning and teaching vocrlbularv

effect o n our ability t o absorb new input, while activities undertaken

after periods of learning can interfere with the effective consolidation
and retention of new input. H o w long this interference persists is difficult
t o determine but the effects are likely t o be most acute in the hours
immediately preceding o r following periods of learning. This contrasts
with 'decay' which is obviously more significant in accounting for
memory failure over a long period of time.
O n e final point about forgetting is the rate at which we forget. It
is generally believed that of the information we forget, eighty per cent
is lost within twenty-four hours of initial learning. This may help t o
explain why testing activities carried out the day after input may yield
rather distressing results, while further testing activities carried out a
week later appear quite satisfactory. This rate of forgetting clearly has
implications for revision and recycling which will be discussed later.
As language teachers, o u r main concern is t o ensure that what is taught
will be permanently retained in long term memory, so it is clearly a
matter of some importance that classroom activities take account of
these various theories, and strive t o combat decay and interference while
developing and facilitating efficient retrieval systems.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
6.4 Meaningful tasks
Recent trends in methodology have stressed the need for meaningful
activities in the classroom. There are a variety of reasons for this, among
them the swing towards realism and authenticity and the need t o engage
learners in activities which will enable them to be more self-reliant.
Equally important here is the fact that more meaningful tasks require
learners t o analyse and process language more deeply, which helps them
t o commit information t o long term memory. The theory that a student's
'personal investment' has a very positive effect on memorisation is one
that many teachers and learners will intuitively agree with.
An experiment by Wilson and Bransford provides an interesting insight
here. In this experiment, three different groups of subjects were used.
The first group were given a list of thirty words and told that they would
be tested on their ability t o recall the words. The second group were

its pleasantness o r unpleasantness; they were not told that they would
given the same list of words and told t o rate each word according to

be tested on their ability to recall the words. The third group were given
the list and asked t o decide whether the items on the list would be impor-

were not told that they would be tested on these items. The results of
tant o r unimportant i f they were stranded on a desert island. They too

90
 Memory and written storage

the tests showed a similar degree of recall between groups one and two,
while group three recorded the highest degree of recall. This experiment
illustrates several important points:
1 That the intention to learn, however laudable, does not in itself ensure
that effective learning will take place.
2 That subjects are more likely to retain verbal input (i.e. commit new
items to long term memory) if they are actively engaged in a meaningful
task that involves some kind of semantic processing, and provides
a unifying theme to facilitate organisation in the memory.
To test some of these assertions, you could try the following experiment
with your class. Divide the class in half and send one half out of the
room. Tell the remainder that they must learn the following group of
words:
aubergine (+ mother-tongue equivalent in all cases)
courgette leek cabbage
celery swede beetroot
(If any of these vegetables are not found in your country, you could
change the item for another vegetable which will be familiar to your
students although a new item for them in English.) Then instruct the
second group that they must list the items in order of personal preference.
At the end of the lesson, after an intervening activity, you could test
both groups on their ability to recall the items.
Guided discovery is another way in which teachers can engage the
students' interest and involve them in a level of semantic processing
which should promote more effective learning and retention. An impor-
tant qualifying statement here is that the students have the means to
perform the learning task, otherwise they will become frustrated and
lose motivation.
Consider the following methods of presenting the item 'to swerve'.
1 The teacher explains that 'swerve' is a verb and means to change
direction suddenly. He exemplifies this on the board with the sentence
'the car swerved to avoid the child', and then conducts some drilling
of the example sentence.
2 The teacher asks the question, 'Why would you swerve in a car?'
The students are then supplied with dictionaries to look up the word
'swerve' and told to write their answer on a piece of paper.
The first presentation is probably quite adequate to convey the meaning
of 'swerve', but the second approach may be more memorable for the
learners. Not only does it involve an element of guided discovery, but
it also engages the students in a degree of semantic analysis i.e. what
causes somebody to swerve; this is not required of them in the first
presentation.
Principles in learning and teaching vocabulary

6.5 Imagery
Teachers often make extensive use of visual images in the classroom
for illustrating meaning. One further advantage of this is that our memory
for visual images is extremely reliable and there is little doubt that objects
and pictures can facilitate memory. Equally obvious is that it is easier
to conjure up a mental image of a concrete item than an abstract one;
try, for instance, to 'image' the following: 'bottle', 'dog', 'truth', 'life'.
You will probably have had no difficulty with the first two, but it is
extremely difficult to supply a visual image for 'truth' and 'life'.

known as the key word technique. It consists of associating the target

Our ability to produce mental images has led to a memory technique

word with a word which is pronounced or spelt similarly in the mother

e.g. Rathaus (German, meaning 'town hall') sounds like 'rat house' in
tongue, but is not necessarily related in terms of meaning.

English.
The learner then conjures up a visual image of a lot of rats coming
out of his local town hall, for instance. It appears to aid memory if
the meaning and the key word are made to interact, as in the case above.

Some claims are also made that the more bizarre the image, the easier
it will be to recall, but the evidence for this is unconvincing. We feel
that this type of 'mnemonic' or memory aid has a very limited application.
It may be particularly useful for certain types of learners (who may
use it without prompting in any case) and we suspect that many learners
make use of this in the very early stages of learning a language for a
handful of items. The results of classroom trials (Fuentes, 1976) seemed
to indicate that the use of key words did not produce higher recall than
any other type of memory technique, including rote learning. We also
feel that, if used exclusively, it approaches vocabulary learning in a very
one-dimensional way and in effect fails to take into account most of
the linguistic problems discussed in chapters 2 and 3, much in the same
way as a traditional translation equivalent vocabulary list.
 Memory a n d written storage

6.6 Rote learning

Another memorisation technique which has a long history in language
learning is rote learning. This involves repetition of target language items
either silently o r aloud and may involve writing down the items (perhaps
more than once). These items commonly appear in list form; typical
examples being items and their translation equivalent (e.g. door = die
Tiir), items and their definitions (e.g. nap = short sleep), paired items
(e.g. hot-cold, tall-short), and irregular verbs. A common practice is
for the learner t o use one side of the list as prompts and cover the
other side in order t o test himself.
In the early stages of language learning, repetition gives the students
the opportunity t o manipulate the oral and written forms of language
items, and many learners derive a strong sense of progress and achieve-
ment from this type of activity. For this reason it can be very valuable.
It may also be a very legitimate means of transferring items into long
term memory where there is a direct mother-tongue equivalent and very
little semantic coding is involved in the learning process. For universal
paradigms such as days of the week, o r for irregular verbs (as long
as the meaning of the verb is known), a mechanical learning activity
of this type may be quite useful.
However, earlier in this chapter we indicated that a far deeper level
of processing is required to commit items to long term memory and
we illustrated the type of processing that will be involved. In addition,
lists of translation equivalents may be counter-productive for learners,
as memorisation of this type may delay the process of establishing new
semantic networks in a foreign language.

6.7 Recycling
The importance of recycling previously presented lexis is a direct conse-
quence of the theories of forgetting, discussed in an earlier section. If
memory traces d o gradually fade in the memory without regular practice
then it is clearly necessary that we create opportunities in the classroom
for students t o practise what they have learnt. And given that other
learning activities will interfere with effective retention of new lexis,
we should try t o ensure that practice is carefully spaced and that students
are not being overloaded with too much new lexis a t any one time.
This will be a function of the course designer as much as the teacher,
but only the teacher can accurately measure the extent of recycling o r
the pacing of new input that will be appropriate for their students on
a daily o r weekly basis. With regard t o the theory of cue-dependent
forgetting, it will also be a function of recycling that students are being
Principles in learning and teaching vocabulary

asked to locate items in their long term memory. Developing effective

retrieval systems may not require lengthy practice and can easily be incor-
porated into the lesson by way of 'warmer' activities at the beginning.
The teacher could, for example, give the students an appropriate retrieval
cue for vocabulary presented in the previous lesson and see how many
items the students can recall. Alternatively he could present the students
with disparate items presented over several lessons and ask the students
to organise them into different categories. Both activities are helping
to assist the process of subjective organisation so essential to effective
retention and recall.
As mentioned earlier the rate of forgetting also has implications for
the recycling of lexical input. If eighty per cent of what we forget is
lost within twenty-four hours, there is a strong argument for revising
new language items one day after initial input. In The Brain Book (1979),
Peter Russell actually sets out a revision schedule to ensure that new
material is permanently recorded. His timetable is as follows:
1 A five-minute review five to ten minutes after the end of a study period.
2 A quick review twenty-four hours later.
3 A further review one week later.
4 Final reviews one month later and then six months later.
Such a detailed plan of campaign is unrealistic for most lexical items,
unless teachers are fortunate enough in having course designers who
have integrated systematic lexical recycling into the prescribed syllabus.
However, it should still be possible for teachers to incorporate some
of this organised recycling into their lessons. We have already advocated
the regular use of warmer activities at the beginning of a lesson to aid
recall and develop retrieval systems; in addition we would recommend
that teachers try to include a quick review of important lexis one to
two days after initial input. This should help to compensate for any
decline in the memory trace, and combat the effects of interference which
crowd the memory with new information, making it difficult to locate
previously learned lexis. With regard to further recycling, weekly or
monthly progress tests (the choice depending on course duration and
intensiveness) are probably the easiest and most practical way of ensuring
some check on previously learned lexis.
One final point about recycling is that it is not just a matter of quantity
but also of quality. Although teachers provide example sentences for
new lexical items they are not in the habit of illustrating the item with
three or four different examples. They might argue that it would be
too time-consuming to present so many examples, and in any case why
give four examples when one will do? The problem of time is inescapable
and there is a danger that varied examples can be overwhelming for
the students and lead to more confusion than understanding. In the long
term, though, students will find it easier to retain and retrieve an item
 Memory and written storage

from long term memory if they have been exposed to it through a number
of different contexts. And this will be just as true for your own under-
standing of vocabulary teaching. Imagine reading this book four times.
You may learn something on the second reading that you missed on
the first, but you are unlikely t o gain very much on the third o r fourth
readings. Compare that with reading four different books on the same
subject where you have the opportunity to meet similar subject matter
but each time seen from a slightly different point of view. Initially this
may be confusing but eventually you will gain far more insight and
depth of understanding, and this in turn will fix the ideas more perma-
nently in your long term memory. Following the restricted contextualisa-
tion of new lexis for initial teaching purposes, it will therefore become
a function of recycling to expand the context range of an item and so
facilitate retention and recall.

6.8 Written storage systems for learners

Traditionally, most learners were encouraged to list vocabulary items
as they were learnt in a chronological order. The most common way
of indicating meaning was to assign a mother-tongue equivalent to each
item - our French vocabulary notebooks looked something like this:

Although this system gives us a very basic form of information about

the most common meaning of an item as well as its part of speech and
gender, the organisation represents a very one-dimensional view of lan-
guage. It does not reflect the types o f associations we have just discussed,
and an arrangement like this is likely to present hurdles t o the learner

will encourage the learner to assume that lkger could be used in the
rather than facilitating the learning process. Lack of contextualisation

context of 'a light room' (i.e. the opposite of dark) and this would be
quite wrong. Moreover, this system of storage is not flexible; it does
not allow for later additions or refinements as one's knowledge of the
uses and derivatives of an item increases, and gives us no indication
here of the pronunciation of the items. A more comprehensive framework
is given below and it is important to encourage students to store items
Principles in learning and teacbing vocabulary

with the relevant information. They should also leave space so that they
can add to the entry where need be:

*or a translation

PERSONAL CATEGORY SHEETS

Learners can store new vocabulary as it arises on appropriate category

sheets which they can keep in a ring binder or on separate pages of
a notebook. The sheets could have headings such as topic areas or situa-
tions, these headings being selected by the student himself. As he acquires
new vocabulary, he can add to the sheets and cross-reference them where
necessary. He will have to decide where to categorise and when to open
a new category sheet. The information given on these sheets (i.e. meaning,
perhaps translation, part of speech and an example) should be compre-
hensive as suggested above.
It is also possible for learners to use index cards; each card would
contain information about lexical items and their derivatives, and the
cards could be filed thematically. This is perhaps a rather cumbersome
practice in the classroom, but may well suit individual learners for home
use.

USING VISUALS

We mentioned the uses of diagrams and word trees in chapter 2 when

discussing the teaching implications of sense relations. Visuals. are an
extremely useful framework for storage of lexis, and they can be used
to highlight the relationships between items. Word field diagrams are
of interest here and the example below (from Use Your Dictionary,
Underhill, 1980) could be used as a testing activity by omitting some
of the items. Learners could also be asked to organise their own diagrams
of this type.
Trees c:~nbe used too:

Subiects

languagey/
Arts Sciences Social sciences
1
etc. biology
I
sociology

literature

chemistry

\
psychology
history etc. etc.

I
physics

psychiatry
maths

97
Principles in learning and teaching vocabulary

Students can also be asked t o categorise items; for example, putting

Fruit Vegetables
the hyponyms in a list under the appropriate superordinate term:
e.g. strawberry carrot
onion cauliflower
potato peach
cherry Pea
pineapple celery
pear

Dictionaries often give useful visuals which enable students to do this

type of exercise.
The grid which follows could be done on the blackboard by the students
themselves, after which they can copy down their own personal record
of it. Alternatively, it can be done as a group or homework activity
by giving the students only one column of information (perhaps the

Profession Place of work Duties

first) and asking them t o supply the rest.

surgeon hospital/clinic to operate on people

to treat medical problems

mechanic garage to repair cars, lorries, etc.

plumber buildings/houses to put in and repair:

-water pipes e.g. in bath-
rooms, kitchens,
- central heating

foreman factory/worksite t o supervise other workers

photographer studio or anywhere to take photos, commercially

or artistically and to develop
and print them

lawyer office/ law courts to advise people about the law

to represent them in court

(Based on a similar type of grid in Vocabulary Learning: the use of grids, P.

D. Harvey, ELTJournal, July 1983.)
 Memory and written storage

Giving students pictures with objects to label is clearly an effective form

of storage; most course books contain useful visuals of this type and
labelling can be a class or homework activity. Many students (not only
children) enjoy drawing and it is worth exploiting this where possible
as a storage device. It has the advantage both of the 'personal investment'
of having drawn and labelled an item as well as being a simple and
effective indication of meaning. (Whether the drawings are good or not
is irrelevant; what matters is that they should be recognisable to the
learner.)

ALPHABETICAL INDEX

Another way in which a learner may wish to organise items is alphabeti-

cally; the advantage of this is that it constitutes a 'personal dictionary'

situations in which a learner recognises an item he has met before and

or record of items learnt up to that moment. This can be helpful for

or how it is used. However, if he has the meaning in his head but cannot
entered in his storage system, but perhaps cannot remember its meaning

remember how to express it, this system will not be at all helpful. An
alphabetical card index could be compiled as a group effort by the class
and teacher, and the index box kept in the classroom for the students
to refer to when necessary. This could then provide useful backup for
the personal category sheets (see above). Having a joint class index file
will enable both teacher and learners to keep track on lexical items
covered and provide simple materials for quick revision activities.

LABELLING

An amusing form of written storage which will also provide a great

deal of inbuilt revision is labelling objects. Encourage your students to
invest in a large packet o f small adhesive labels, and as they learn new
items of vocabulary, they can write them in phonemic script and roman
script on to labels which they then stick to the appropriate objects in
their homes. Every time a student opens his wardrobe door, for instance,
he will see a label giving him the English version. Clearly, objects in
the classroom can be labelled in the same way.

R A N D O M ITEMS

A useful vocabulary revision activity is to write on the blackboard a

number of vocabulary items which your students have learnt during
the last few lessons. Jumble the words so that they d o not appear on
the blackboard in listed categories. Ask students to work alone to categor-
ise the items into three or four groups. It is best if this type of organisation
Principles in learning a n d teaching vocabulary

is subjective a t least in the initial stages; it is important t o allow the

learners t o make their own decisions about how they wish to arrange
the items. Their groupings may be grammatical o r semantic; they may
wish t o group items by colour, shape, function, pleasantness o r unplea-
santness, activity, etc. Once the students have organised the vocabulary
in their own way, ask them to explain their grouping to the class o r
t o discuss this in small groups. This can be a useful way of checking
that the students have understood the items as well as providing an
opportunity for them t o store and organise subjectively.

SUMMARY

One aspect of storage which we have not mentioned so far is the way
in which most learners note down lexical items as they occur i.e. chrono-
logically. We are all familiar with the situation where a learner is trying
t o recall a lexical item and can probably remember approximately where
on the page he wrote it, who his teacher was (if he has more than one)
and, if a recently taught item, which day he first focussed consciously
on it. In fact, we have almost certainly all experienced this first-hand.
This reflects one aspect of memory which we should not neglect; our
ability to recall items is often sparked off by trying t o cast our minds
back and visualise the time and place where we learnt something.
This chronological organisation is not incompatible with other forms
of storage, such as categorical organisation, so we are not suggesting
that this should be discouraged. The more systems a learner makes use
of and the greater the exposure t o target items, the easier it will be
t o retrieve from a variety of sources. Noting items chronologically in
lessons and transferring this information to category sheets or card
indexes at home seems a very worthwhile activity, and may suit certain
types of learners. However, t o be realistic, some learners may not be
prepared t o organise items in different ways, so the most helpful guidance
teachers can give here, is t o show learners how to be systematic whatever
system they adopt. Being thorough about the information they record
(as suggested a t the beginning of this section) is one way. In addition,
learners who wish to record items chronologically should be encouraged
to keep one section of their notebook o r file for vocabulary; to begin
a new page for each separate lesson, to date each page and where possible
t o give it a heading. As organisation is the key to memory, this is an
important part of teaching your students how to be efficient learners.