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Subject:A Twist on the Rule of 7 From:Barbara Yanez <BarbaraYanez -at- cogentsystems -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 19 Dec 2000 09:56:57 -0800
I read the articles on the Rule of 7 that someone on the list was kind
enough to provide a link to.
I too was trained that a series of steps should not be more than 7 items.
For those of you who did not go to the site, these articles debunk that
idea, saying that this is a 'myth'-from an article now out of date. The
articles go on to state that many extrapolations from that article have been
made over the years for other applications, and that, since the original
article is out of date and probably a bit of a myth, the extrapolations are
also untrue.
Reading the articles reminded me remember of something from way back when I
taught vocabulary to ESL students. It was said in the literature
(education-related articles) that on the average a person cannot retain in
his ACTIVE vocabulary more than 7 words a lesson. (Note that active
vocabulary is the set of words that you actually USE, and passive is the set
of words that you recognize when you see or hear them, but that you do not
ordinarily use.) So, it was said, that if you teach vocabulary to ESL
students, do not bombard them with huge lists of words because they will
probably not remember more than 7 per lesson anyway. They can remember more
for their passive vocabulary, but not their active vocabulary (not to be
confused with the currently raging 'active and passive voice' thread!)
I wonder if this vocab rule also had its origins in the Miller's article?
Does anyone know?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbara Yanez - Sr. Technical Writer
Cogent Systems, Inc., World Leader
in Biometric Identification
(fingerprint, palm print)
and Other Law Enforcement Technology
209 Fair Oaks Avenue
South Pasadena, CA 91030
(626) 799-8090 x 419 http://www.cogentsystems.com
byanez -at- cogentsystems -dot- com
--------------------------------------------------
Editor - Inkspot Technical Writer's Resource http://www.inkspot.com/genres/tech/
barbara -at- inkspot -dot- com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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