The topic of mnemonics and its use in the ESL/EFL classroom is rarely discussed in professional journals or even casually among teachers. There are basically two reasons for this avoidance. First, is the widespread belief that memory enhancing methods have been rendered obsolete or inconsequential by current ESL/EFL theories. The concept of memorization has been discouraged (in part in reaction to what many now consider to have been an excessive and inappropriate stress placed upon it, and "overlearning," by the audio-lingual method) and approaches emphasizing learning through relevancy, understanding, meaningfulness, and creativity have, in effect, taken its place.
The second, and probably biggest, reservation about mnemonics involves general perceptions about its nature. The subject conjures up a strong sense of something intellectually unrespectable, a feeling of cheap "mental tricks." It is usually regarded as a source of entertainment for others (like "Mr. Memory" in Alfred Hitchcock's The Thirty-Nine Steps), or less prosaically, as grist for the ubiquitous "self-improvement" book mill. Whatever the association, few (particularly teachers) consider it useful for the classroom or serious learning.
These perceptions are both unfair and inaccurate. The purpose of this paper is to dispel these notions, and to argue that certain mnemonic devices are highly relevant to ESL/EFL teaching and quite beneficial for students.
History
Mnemonics are formal techniques used for organizing information in a way that makes it more likely to be remembered. Most people are unaware that memory strategies have had a long and rich history going back to antiquity, and that a large number of distinguished writers and philosophers have touted their use. During Classical times, orators (using principles developed by, among others, Cicero and Quintilian) needed to rely upon them to help remember the details of their speeches. It should be noted, however, that mnemonics was not considered to be just the skill of simple memorization, but rather a true, rigorous art which required imagination, effort, and a good mind.
In the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas and Albert Magnus argued for its employment for religious and ethical reasons. During the Renaissance, mnemonics took on mystical implications, and it was because of this association that the topic still carries a disruptive or suspicious connotation. By the 17th century, it's purpose changed yet again, and it was used by such philosophers as Bacon, Leibnitz, and even Shakespeare as a tool for organizing knowledge. However the rising literacy of populations, the wide availability of printed material, and strong philosophical objections to the concept of visual images (which form the basis of most mnemonic systems) quickly contributed to its virtual disappearance by the beginning of the 18th Century. (For an excellent history, see Yates, 1969).
Support from Cognitive Psychology
Within the last 25 years, mnemonics has received a great deal of attention and support in the field of cognitive psychology. Pick up any recent, standard textbook in the field and there are usually a few pages devoted to a discussion of memory strategies. The general scientific consensus is that mnemonics, under certain conditions, are quite effective ways by which information can be stored and retrieved.
To greatly simplify a complex issue, numerous empirical studies have been conducted with subjects (usually college students) involving free and serial recall, association learning, and visualization testing. The data (see Morris & Hampson, 1983; Phye & Andre, 1986; Ormond, 1995; and Searleman & Herrman, 1994) show that when an individual learns new material, he or she is not just a passive recorder of associations, but an active participant who manipulates information according to various "control processes" (memory strategies, or systems). These processes are contingent upon what is being studied, the personal experience of the learner, and the kind of work at hand.
Studies indicate that if material is presented in a way which fits in or relates meaningfully to what is already known, then it will be retained for relatively long periods of time. Proper organization is very much a major component to effective recall. If material is well-organized at the "encoding" stage of memory processing, then retrieval becomes quite easy.
All mnemonic systems attempt to impose a plan of meaningful organization. The best of them "work as a memory aid precisely as they mimic natural organizational schemata associated with meaningful material" (Wingfield, 1979, p. 333.). This is why mnemonics can be so effective.
Types of Mnemonics
How does all of this concern ESL/EFL teaching? Curiously enough, while historically mnemonics was applied to many diverse areas of study, language learning was generally omitted. When mnemonics has been addressed by language teachers, it has been rather superficially used for the learning of vocabulary only (most of us have had the experience of using some type of acronym when we were students). Recently a relatively new method, the "keyword," has received attention (Morris & Hampson, 1983). But again, its use is quite limited in scope, and it is only applied to the learning of vocabulary. With the exception of a few cursory remarks by some writers such as Stevick (1996), that generally is the extent of current ESL/EFL work on mnemonics.1
The point is that there are a large number of mnemonic devices. At least 13 distinct kinds exist, depending on how they are classified, and their possible range extends beyond the learning of vocabulary (for an explanation of these types, see Searleman & Herrman, 1994). Obviously not all are usable for our purposes but a few bear closer examination. I will discuss one technique which I have found to be particularly useful in the teaching of certain grammatical points.
The Loci Approach
The mnemonic called the method of "loci" (place) is supposed to have been invented by the Greek poet Simonides, who lived about 400 B.C. Variations of it have been around since then. Essentially it involves intensive use of the human visual memorization faculties and the idea of a "memory palace." The technique consists of three steps.
First, a series of locations, usually of an architectural type is memorized: a public building, a well-known location (hence the term "memory palace"), one's own house, or in some later theories, a general area, like a street with various landmarks. Next, an image is thought of, standing for the topic to be recalled (the purpose of this method was to help recall the details of a speech). For example, a coin could represent the topic of money. Third, the topic image is combined with the image of its corresponding location. The coin might be imagined as laying on the floor of a particular room in a house. Putting this all together, a person can recall a series of items or topics by simply "strolling" through the house mentally, neatly retrieving the object images from the locations, in the order in which they were originally placed.
This particular method was extremely popular in ancient times. One reason for this popularity was that it was so easy to use. After a speech was given, the images would soon fade, but the well-learned loci could be used again to memorize other speeches. Abstract subjects could also be recalled easily when appropriate images were constructed.
Studies (see especially Crovitz, 1969; Bower, 1970; Groninger, 1971; Roediger, 1980; and Phye & Andre, 1986) have strongly attested to the effectiveness of this technique. Loci users score better than nonusers on immediate and delayed recall tests, recency judgments, and higher than individuals using standard memory methods.
Classroom Application
I have used a version of this mnemonic, with good results, teaching Korean, Japanese, and Saudi Arabian students. Specifically, I have used it to teach prepositions and basic English sentence structure. How does it work? Let's say we are going to teach prepositions of place (on, at, in, under, near). Initially we would proceed on standard lines: perhaps writing the preposition under question on the board, using classroom objects, situations, or simple drawings to explicate meaning, and then by examining sentences using the term, and so forth. All primary stuff.
The memory palace procedure is used when the teacher is satisfied that the students have understood the core analytical meaning of the words and are ready to discuss the translation of this meaning into images. In regard to the form these images should take, psychologists have discovered that images which are concrete, sensory, practical, interactive, and interesting have a much greater rate of recall than those which are not (Ormond, 1995). This should be kept in mind when creating images.
Traditionally, the teacher was responsible for presenting the method of making images, and for giving a few examples, while the students were then required to form their own. I have found this to be a good rule for low-middle (i.e., first year university) and upper-level students (second and third year), provided that basic instruction in the particulars of the loci approach is thorough. When teaching low-level (beginning) students, the teacher should provide some of the images.2
To familiarize students with the basics of the memory palace method, the teacher begins by writing four to five simple words on the board (e.g., car, TV, cup, and pen). The students are then told to close their eyes, imagine their own room at home, and to place these objects somewhere in the room. When this is finished, the teacher then asks the students where they placed each object, in the order in which they were presented. Certain students can also be told to recite the objects in reverse order (for reinforcement value). After all of this is done, the teacher can have the students mentally move to another room, and place additional objects. So, by the end of the first class, the students should understand the essence of the loci technique and have filled at least three rooms with a total of 12 objects.
On the second day, I have the students write down what they remember about the 12 objects and question them again on where the items were placed. Then I proceed to a discussion of prepositions: their meaning and types. On the third day, starting out with prepositions of location, for example on, I write on the board a sentence containing an image which clearly illustrates the meaning of the term ("A fat green cat is on the floor"). The students are again told to place this image in a room. At this stage, the teacher has several options. While asking the students to use their own domicile as a memory palace has the advantage of using surroundings which are intimately familiar and of a vested interest, a simple and general floor plan constructed by the teacher is also effective and helps to facilitate the precise location of images.
I use a basic generic architectural floor plan of a house, complete with several rooms (living, dining, bedroom, and kitchen). I make copies of the plan and give it to the students. I then ask them to place images both mentally and physically into the plan. With high-level classes, some furniture, windows, and so forth are added for orientating purposes. (Plans of commonly known buildings -- stores, temples -- can also be used). The memory palace selected will serve as a template for storing images and as a framework for relating differing concepts in a meaningful way. The size of the plan is dependent upon the material being covered and the level of the class.
Recent language textbooks commonly present students with a simple diagram of a room or have students imagine their own rooms in order to illustrate prepositions of place. The floor plan approach, besides having more depth, also has, as we shall see, greater flexibility in that it can be used to incorporate much more data and provides a richer context in which this data can be retained.
After the first image is shown, the students are given auxiliary location preposition images ("A tall, western woman is by the door"). After the initial introduction of images, teachers also have the option of either continuing to generate images or giving the term under discussion to the students and having them make their own images. The teacher in the latter case would oversee the placement and quality of the imagery. Students need to be told that their images should be clear and concrete; however, it should also be stressed that images which employ unusual colors or objects, odd or idiosyncratic behavior or situations, can help to increase recall.
In order to avoid standard memory interference effects, all images need to be linked into a coherent chain. Moreover, their placement must be logical and consistent. As images are situated, memory palace rooms should not become too crowded (about four images per room is adequate). As the number of images and rooms expand, reinforcement and light repetition activities become necessary in order to ensure recall. Activities can take the form of oral reviews, short and simple written tests, or the students drawing or filling in a picture.
After location prepositions are finished, prepositions of motion work well. Movement can easily be explained by plotting activity within rooms or through them. One can particularize movement by assigning names to individuals moving in relation to objects ("Old Mrs. Lee is slowly moving through the kitchen").
Time prepositions, unlike motion and location, are somewhat difficult to convert into concrete images. One way is to incorporate them with previous images. For example, returning to our first image of the cat, we can add the tag that it has been there for four hours (or since last Monday or any other time location). By this recurrence to antecedent images, prior images will be reinforced.
Benefits to Students
The most attractive aspect of this methodology is its flexibility. A great deal of information (not just prepositions, but also other grammatical points) can be encompassed by these mnemonic tools of imagery and spatial organization. The methodology can also be used in a narrow specialized sense, or simply to augment more traditional approaches. The alternations are easy to make. For instance, in order to introduce additional location prepositions, we can construct parks, streets or even more buildings. For motion and time, movement occurs in these structures under various time constraints.
The direct advantage of this technique is that it presents an excellent grid or even a small world by which important information can be organized, defined, and retrieved. Like all good mnemonics, it imposes order, associations, context, meaning, and retrieval cues into material that is essentially lacking in these characteristics. Furthermore, because the loci techniques rely heavily upon imagery, depth of processing is greatly increased, as are important connections which facilitate retrievability.
My classroom experiences using this method strongly support these conclusions. I have observed (based on test results from clozure and information gap exercises, and data from listening and comprehension activities) that students who employ the loci method retain information (particularly grammatical information) more effectively and for longer periods of time than those who do not.
There is also an air of naturalness to the device. Bellezza and Reddy (1978) have argued persuasively that it organizes data in a way similar to the way people organize information in their daily lives. During an average day we simultaneously discern familiar and easily remembered background information (teaching our classes), and new experiences (meeting new people). These new experiences can be recalled later when cued by the more easily remembered background setting. In like manner, the loci technique replaces the organized setting, and visual images succeed visual observation. The loci is first recalled and followed by the data associated with it. Both ways of remembering generally utilize the same processes of retrieval and storage.
It may at first appear that the loci method involves too much work for the teacher and is much too complex and impractical for students. I have discovered, however, that given patience, a careful explanation of the principles involved, and a little creativity, the results clearly warrant the effort. While the strong pairing of images and location has been shown to produce much greater recall by students than traditional means, it also has the added advantage of maintaining student interest (particularly if the memory plan is tailored to the students' own culture).
The method moreover provides a psychological boost to the students. Generally students see memory as a passive sponge which rapidly becomes saturated with too much learning. Mnemonics shows that students have direct control over the way they learn and remember, and that there are interesting and viable alternatives to simple rote memorization. It helps contribute to the feeling that students are active participants in the learning process, forces them to think about the meaning and nature of the material to be learned, and teaches them how to organize data efficiently.
I have also found that this strong visual approach is especially advantageous for North-East Asia students. Their sensory learning style appears to be quite visually orientated (Lee, 1976; Brown, 1994; Reid, 1995) mainly because of the pictorial nature of their written language.
Conclusion
Clearly a great deal of work is still required on the place of mnemonics in ESL/EFL teaching. Other mnemonic techniques need to be analyzed and tested in the classroom. Research is also required on the combined use of different mnemonic methods, while data from pertinent cognitive psychological studies should be incorporated into ESL/EFL discussions. General suspicions and misinformation about mnemonics need to be overcome.
While we as teachers are constantly telling students that this or that material is important and that they should remember it, we generally do not tell them how to accomplish this. Through the active (or even supplemental) use of mnemonics, we can now effectively do this.
Notes
1 The subject of learning styles and strategies in ESL/EFL does touch peripherally upon the topic of mnemonics. The link could be developed quite usefully. For recent discussions see Brown (1994) and Reid (1995).
2 A recent study by Wang and Thomas (1992) seems to indicate that ultimately subject-generated images have longer lasting power than teacher-generated ones. However a great deal of further research is required in this area.
References
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- Bower, G. H. (1970). Analysis of a mnemonic device. American Scientist, 58, 496-510.
- Brown, H. D. (1994). Principles of language learning and teaching (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.
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