Press release - Cambridge and Memrise launch a world first in English language learning
A unique approach that promises the easiest route ever to learning English words has been launched by Cambridge University Press and online language platform Memrise.
The project is the brainchild of Cambridge lexicographers from Cambridge Dictionaries Online (CDO) working with experts in neuroscience and one of the world's 122 Grand Masters of Memory. Together they have created a Memrise course with 1,000 words and phrases for English learners at upper intermediate level, based on the Common European Framework levels for English vocabulary.
The Cambridge Upper Intermediate English course is the world's first English vocabulary course to pair the ground-breaking learning techniques developed by Memrise co-founders, neuroscientist Greg Detre and Grand Master of Memory Ed Cooke, with the extensive research on vocabulary levels carried out by Cambridge lexicographers.
With the new course, learners of English will be able to cultivate their own 'garden of learning' in which they "plant" English words and phrases in their short term memory, before 'harvesting' them to long term memory and "watering" (reviewing) them there. As the learner 'plants' a word in their Memrise garden, they are encouraged to create a 'mem' - an image, rhyme, or other vivid association - that helps the brain to recall the word when needed. The vivid imagery, adaptive testing and scientifically scheduled reminders combine to make learning speedy, long-lasting and highly engaging.
Ed Cooke explains: "We're very excited to have the chance to unite our ground breaking learning tech with the extraordinary content the Cambridge lexicographers have developed. We think it's a killer combo, and we look forward to learners devoting untold hours to the expansion of their English vocabularies!
The words are in groups of 10-15 and organised into 72 categories. The course is available for a limited time for free to anyone who registers for it, after which new visitors will pay approximately £10/$16 for access (the course is available globally). It is hosted on memrise.com, and is also linked to the Cambridge Dictionaries Online entries for each of the 1000 words featured in the course.
Cambridge Dictionaries Online Publishing Manager, Paul Heacock, said: "This is a real step forward for online dictionaries. For the first time a proven vocabulary learning tool (Memrise) can help English learners to learn words, instead of just looking them up, in a way that is fun, meaningful and optimises everything neuroscience knows about the way our brains learn best.
"There is really nothing like this out there. No other ELT publisher has researched the Common European Framework levels for English vocabulary or built that information into its dictionary content at the level of individual meanings of words."
Heacock also believes the CDO-Memrise collaboration marks a watershed in the evolution of the dictionary:
"The digital dictionary of the future will provide much, much more than print dictionaries ever could, and we are proud that Cambridge Dictionaries Online is leading the way to that future."
Try out the Memrise English Vocabulary course at
http://www.memrise.com/course/48407/upper-intermediate-english/
ENDS
Notes for Editors
About Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is one of the world's leading English language teaching publishers, and its products are used by people in nearly every country in the world to learn and teach the English language.
Cambridge works in partnership with Cambridge ESOL, the experts in language assessment, to provide courses that are tailored to exams relied on by thousands of universities, employers and government ministries around the world as proof of English language ability.
Many Cambridge English texts and courses are developed using the Cambridge English Corpus - a multi-billion word collection of written and spoken English, plus a unique bank of exam candidate papers. This helps students avoid mistakes, and means that the language taught from Cambridge English materials is useful, natural and fully up-to-date.
Cambridge English texts and courses are fully accessible to the modern learner in a range of different formats - from printed books, to apps and online dictionaries.
A team of experienced consultants and advisers, many of them with teaching experience themselves, provides support, training and guidance to teachers and schools all over the world.
For further information, go to www.cambridge.org/elt
About Cambridge Dictionaries Online
Cambridge Dictionaries Online is part of Cambridge University Press's English language teaching (ELT) publishing. Cambridge University Press has been publishing dictionaries for learners of English since 1995, and Cambridge Dictionaries Online has been offering the online versions of these dictionaries completely free of charge since 1999.
For more information about CDO, go to http://dictionary.cambridge.org
About Memrise
Memrise's mission is to turn learning into a recreational activity. You learn by creating and sharing images, and scientifically determined reminders and tests ensure your brain retains as much of what you learn as possible.
Founded in 2010, this innovative learning community now numbers several hundred thousand members.
For further information, go to: www.memrise.com
The Course's 72 Categories
A hike in the woods
A little bit
A lot
Accidents
Advertising and promotion
Art and paintings
Bad qualities
Big buildings
Body actions
Body parts
Clothing
Conversational phrases
Creatures
Criminal activity
Describing amounts
Describing food
Elections and government
Family relationships
Farming and gardening
Fields of study
Film and TV
food verbs
Foods
Formalities
Give and take
Good qualities
Grammar words
Health and medicine phrases
I do believe...
In fact/In my opinion
In the news
Informal phrases
Jewellery and metals
Money and the economy
Motion
Music and the music business
Negative adverbs
Nouns with and without plurals
Pain and suffering
Parts of things
people in crime
People in the arts
Phrasal verbs with "come"
Phrasal verbs with "go"
Phrasal verbs with two particles
Positive adverbs
Prefixes meaning 'not'
Professions with -ist
Punctuation marks and symbols
Push, pull, or hold?
Reproduction
Science and nature
Sea and sky
Sensations
Shapes
Silent letters
Similar sounds
someone you wouldn't like to date
someone you'd like to date
The way you look
Topic
Transport
Treatment
War and peace
Weaponry
Which preposition?
Words in the arts
Zs and Xs
-ance or -ence?
/i:/ sounds
-ible or -able?
/u:/ sounds