A Study of Types of Memory in Learning Mandarin

Memory is the ability to retrieve what has been learnt and retained. In order to acquire memory, learners need to process incoming information and store it in the brain. Miller (1956) reports that when learners gain new knowledge, the new knowledge first enters the sensory memory, then the short-term memory and finally the long-term memory. Aben et al. (2012) further adds that learners need to process the knowledge in the working memory before the knowledge can stay in the long-term memory. This quantitative study was conducted to explore the information processing of undergraduate students studying Mandarin in Malaysia. A purposive sample of 30 participants responded to the survey. The instrument used is a 5 Likert-scale survey and is rooted from Miller (1956) and Aben et al. (2012). The survey has 4 sections. Section A has items on demographic profile. Section B has 6 items on sensory memory. Section C has 6 items on short-term memory. Section D has 6 items on long-term memory and section E has 7 items on working memory. Overall, respondents gave positive feedback on their perceptions of various types of memory when learning Mandarin. In order to improve students’ learning, memory enhancement plays an important role. Therefore, the teacher may begin by identifying the students’ existing memory strategies and helping them to assess their level of success. In addition, the teacher may need to suggest various models or strategies. After all, students should be encouraged to perform memory tasks and assess which model or strategy could lead to better results for them.