Factors Affecting Memory Efficiency in EFL

【Abstract】Many factors can affect memory efficiency in EFL. In this article the author divides them into subjective factors and objective factors.

【Key words】subjective factors； objective factors

【作者簡介】賈敏，山東工藝美術學院公共課教學部。

Many factors can affect memory efficiency in EFL. In this article the author divides them into subjective factors and objective factors.

I. subjective factors

Subjectively， ones interest， perseverance， attention， experience and awareness of the objectives greatly influence ones memory.

Interest is the psychological tendency of peoples exerting their effort to get to know and to explore one thing. People always take an active part in exploring the things which attracts them. Therefore， interest is the great inner drive for one to understand things and perform ones activities. Those things that meet ones needs and satisfy ones interest easily enhance ones enthusiasm and will make one undertake the tasks cheerfully and smoothly. If one shows no interest in one thing and even regards it as a burden， its very possible that he cant do it well. Interest is not inborn and can be fostered.

Memory is a rather complicated process. For us the process of memorizing English words in EFL is very difficult to deal with. Its this inextricable process that can trial whether one is perseverant or not. Those who have not the amazing willpower will never taste the delicious fruit of victory and the mere thing they can do is just giving up halfway.

The awareness of the objectives of memory is also very important. If one hasnt a clear and definite aim， he cant memorize things more effectively. Generally speaking， the clearer to the objectives， the deeper one understands the significance of the task， and the firmer ones memory is.

Attention means that psychological activity points to and focuses on some objects. It also means the selective concentration on some objects. Instead of being an independent psychological process， attention is only a psychological state， accompanying the other psychological process such as memory. It cant reflect things. It only maintains the pointing state of the psychological activities and guarantees the effective conduct of the psychological activities. So no psychological activities can be carried out without attention， of course including memory. So if one wants to memorize something effectively and quickly， one must be attentive. Some English learners complain that they cant memorize something even after reading it for ten times. The cause is their absentmindedness. Reading ten times without attention is not so effective as reading only once but attentively. “Do one thing at a time “emphasizes the importance of attention.

Ones knowledge and experience can also affect ones memory. If one has profound knowledge and abundant experience， the chance for him to understand the materials correctly and promptly is large. The better he understands， the firmer his memory is.

II. objective factors

The quality and the quantity of the materials are among the objective factors. We all know that to the same kind of materials， e.g. the words at the same cognitive level， the larger the quantity is the longer the time of memorizing process will be taken. Considering the quality of the materials， it will bring better effects if the material is tangible and easily understood. In addition， its easy to memorize the well-acquainted materials rather than strange ones. When we learn the new words in EFL， if the words are very abstract， its hard for us to memorize it.

The times of the repetition are another objective factor！ Generally speaking， it seems that the more we repeat， the better the process of the memorizing. We need repetition， but we should control its amount appropriately. The excessive repetition is a waste of time and energy.

To choose better approaches when we memorize something is also very important. We can benefit from all the approaches that make the advantage of the voluntary memory and sense memory.

Different effects will appear by using different sense organs. According to the chart theory of memory， the acquisition by visual sense performs an active role in the whole process of memory. Some experiments show that if we use respectively the English words and the picture representing the same concept as the material， e.g. the word “planting” and the picture of this activity， the memorizing efficiency of the latter is evidently higher than that of the former only because pictures stimulate our eyes more than the spellings of the words. The effect of the visual sense is better than the sense of hearing. While in turn， the effect of the sense of hearing is better than the other senses. However， the cooperation of all the different senses can help one to gain even better effect than by using only one of them. So we should try to stimulate all the sense organs to work.