A Study of English Vocabulary Teaching in Middle School1

1、中学英语词汇教学研究a study of english vocabulary teaching in middle schoolabstract: vocabulary is the basic unit of a language, and is the building materials of a language. the function of the english vocabulary, with diversified meanings and even polysemy, should be attached great importance in foreign lang

2、uage teaching. the words exist in a certain context, which in dealing with the word meanings should be taken into consideration, where by developing the students linguistic knowledge and ability. the thesis gives an interpretation on the context, expounding and proving the importance of the context

3、to the vocabulary teaching. this paper describes a brief analysis of the problems concerning vocabulary teaching in middle school and concerns the idea of forming a set of elastic system in teaching vocabulary, and reveals the methods of making vocabulary teaching interesting, diverse, orderly and s

4、ystematic. context is useful for teachers to present vocabulary, and it provides an effective way for learners to memorize the meaning of words. a combination of context with lexical patterns and groupings performs an essential function in vocabulary teaching.key words: vocabulary; context; lexical

5、patterns; discourse摘 要：词汇是语言的基本单位，是语言的建筑材料。英语词汇在外语学习中的作用不容忽视，英语词义灵活多变，且一词多义。任何词语和句子都是在一定的语境中存在的，离开语境谈词义，不利于提高学生的语言知识和能力。本文对“语境”做以解释说明，陈述并证明语境在词汇教学中的重要性。文章从对中学英语词汇教学存在的问题做个简明分析入手，通过将英语词汇教学形成一套灵活体系的观点，展示了使英语词汇教学趣味化、多样化、条理化、系统化的方法。总结出语境对教师呈现词汇是有帮助的，并且语境法给学习者提供有效的方式去记忆单词的含义。可见，语境与词汇模式相结合的教学法在词汇教学中执行着一个必

6、不可少的作用。关 键 词：词汇；语境；词汇模式； 语篇contentsi. introduction.1a. background.1b. research purpose.2ii. issues concerning vocabulary teaching and learning.3 a. approach to presenting words.3b. approach to memorizing words.4iii. techniques for vocabulary instruction.5a. skills of presenting vocabulary.51. visual

7、 aids.5 2. word relations.53. stems and affixes.54. using the text as context.65. translation6 b. skills of consolidating vocabulary.6 1. blank filling.6 2. matching.6 3. using word family.74. answering text-related questions75. writing a story or a dialogue.7iv. strategies for teaching vocabulary.7

8、a. context and english vocabulary teaching.71. a brief review of the study of context72. types of context.8b. the roles that the context plays in english vocabulary teaching91. context help to fix define the word meanings102. context can remove the barrier of polysemy or “one meaning of many words”

9、.11c. methodological approaches to vocabulary teaching in terms of context.121. lexical phrases.122. blank filling.123. semantic mapping.12v. conclusion.13works cited.14i. introductionvocabulary is the basic unit of a language, and is the building materials of a language. to know the words well is a

10、 key to learn a language. there will be no sentence without words, and eventually no communication will take place. the function of the english vocabulary, with diversified meanings and even polysemy, should be attached great importance in foreign language teaching. the words exist in a certain cont

11、ext, which in dealing with the word meanings should be taken into consideration, where by developing the students linguistic knowledge and ability, the thesis gives an interpretation on the context, expounding and proving the importance of the context to the vocabulary teaching.according to the prob

12、lems of english vocabulary teaching in middle school, this essay concerns the idea of forming a set of elastic methods in teaching vocabulary, and reveals the vocabulary teaching by means of lexical phrases, blank filling and semantic mapping which are all based on contexts. my discussion focuses on

13、 the different types of vocabulary activities, which clarify the meaning and the usage of the words, develop strategies for vocabulary teaching, motivate students, and sustain their interest in vocabulary learning with the combination of the use of contexts.a. backgroundthe putting forward of the te

14、rm “context” may go backward as early as last century. polish human linguist malinowski put it forward in 1923, and divided it into two categoriescultural context and situational context. the founder of “london school” john. rubert firth accepted his idea and advanced a more complete theory of conte

15、xt basing on it. the theory was attached importance field extensively as soon as it was born, and we have been perfecting it ever sine. especially it provided a theoretical base for the correct processing of natural languages.just as the british linguist put it “without grammar very little can be co

16、nveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (wilkins 128), so we can say vocabulary plays a decisive role in foreign language learnings. vocabulary consists of “a series of interrelating systematized manner which will both illustrate the organized nature of vocabulary and at the same time en

17、able him to internalize the items in a coherent way” (gairns and redman 89). gairns and redman also provide a number of ways of grouping words, including different types of semantic fields, as well as phonological and grammatical sets. in vocabulary teaching, we commonly find that the meanings of th

18、e english words are elastic, polysemy appears frequently. english is considered as a language that has great adaptability and plasticity meanings of words rely on context a great deal, so in teaching we should combine word meanings with conversations and situations, pay attention to the relation bet

19、ween context and word meanings, so as to improve both the students linguistic knowledge and competence.b. research purposeby expounding context we find that the key of english vocabulary teaching is to grasp the context. we must rely on the information of all aspects supplied by context to define th

20、e word meaning. the role that context plays in the understanding of word meaning cant be taken place by any dictionary. teaching vocabulary combined with context helps to create linguistic atmosphere, develops the ability of using english and linguistic sense. english vocabulary teaching is an impor

21、tant link in english teaching for this reason. more attention should be paid to the part that context plays in vocabulary teaching.context is crucial for the learner to infer the meaning of a new word that she/he encounters. by context, it is understood that it “involves the learner in seeking clues

22、 to meaning by following a number of defined steps which lead from the form of the word itself, to its immediate context, and then to its operation in the surrounding context”(carter 74). nunan argues “language reflects the contexts in which it is used and the purpose to which it is put” (nunan 98).

23、 the problem confronting both teachers and learners is that no course can provide learners with anything like the vocabulary they will need to comprehend authentic texts. it is therefore important to provide learners with strategies for inferring the meaning of unknown vocabulary from the context in

24、 which it occurs or the different meanings of known vocabulary from their particular contexts.in all, the use of context can develop a deep level of explicit vocabulary teaching and learning. meanwhile, contextual vocabulary teaching helps learners with higher proficiency in combination with a focus

25、 on lexical patterns and groupings. ii. issues concerning vocabulary teaching and learningvocabulary learning is a difficult aspect for many chinese students. they have difficulty memorizing words and selecting the right words in expressing their ideas and feelings. what has caused the problems? let

26、 us examine the method of presenting words and the method of memorizing words.a. approach to presenting wordsthere are many methods for presenting words, but what approach to take is an issue we need to consider first. generally, there are two approaches to word presentation: presenting isolated wor

27、ds in a word-list and presenting the meaning of a word in context.the traditional practice of teaching vocabulary is to teach a list of isolated lexical items (words, phrases, idioms and fixed expressions) before teaching the text. sometimes the teacher explains its usage and compares it with other

28、synonyms. all the words are dealt with this way. after vocabulary explanation is finished, it is the students task to memorize all those words. usually the students apply the method of rote memorization. this kind of teaching is still in wide use. “this practice of preteaching vocabulary makes intui

29、tive sense, but may in fact be unsound” (seal, 296-311). schouten-van parreren (1989, quoted from hedge, 2002:120) presents a three-point argument as follows:1. if the words are presented as isolated elements, there is no point of support, no “cognitive hold” for them in the learners memory, so desp

30、ite sometimes considerable learning effort, they are quickly forgotten again.2. isolated words do not present a linguistic reality, as the meaning of a word is in most cases partly defined by the context (beheydt 1987:55-67).3. isolated words or words in isolated sentence do not present a psychologi

31、cal reality, because they do not carry a message. for this reason they cannot evoke emotions or involvement in the learner, a factor which plays an often underestimated, but yet important part in long-term acquisition (leontjew 1979:89-102).these arguments can explain why many students cannot rememb

32、er words explained by the teacher on the word-list base and cannot find the right words to express themselves. considering this we may find an alternative in presenting words, that is, contextualization.presenting words in context can avoid the negative effects caused by presenting words in a list.

33、first, words in context carry messages, the understanding of which involves the students cognitive activities, and the meaning of the words will remain in his mind in a natural way. another reason is that context presents a linguistic reality where the meaning of a word in this situation can be exac

34、tly identified. also, the context supplies a pragmatic condition that shows how the word is used. finally, when new words are taught throughout the teaching of the text, the students attention will frequently switch from one activity to another, and as a result, their memory burden can be reduced.al

35、though contextualized presentation has its advantages, presentation through word-list is not totally negative. if words are handled in proper quantities, the concentrated explanation can draw students attention. therefore, in dealing with the new words in a text, the teacher can divide the words int

36、o two categories. one category contains words whose meanings can be figured out in the text context. the other category includes words whose meanings are difficult to infer in the text. for the latter the teacher can present their meanings before teaching the text, and the methods of presentation sh

37、ould be flexible, from translating into chinese to creating context in which a new word may appear.b. approach to memorizing wordslike presenting words, there are also many methods for memorizing words. here we have to determine which approach to take in memorizing words: rote memorization or memori

38、zation through reading.memorizing a word includes memorizing its meaning, spelling and usage. although “there may be learners who enjoy and succeed in learning material through memorization” (richards 79), rote memorization takes more time and effort than memorizing words in context. when memorizing

39、 a word in isolation, the learners attention is focused only on its spelling and one of its meanings. but how to use the word becomes another question. the consequence of this approach is the inability to use words appropriately on the part of the student.to avoid the negative effect of rote memoriz

40、ation, we can turn to another alternativememorizing words through reading. after learning a text, the students are encouraged to review the passage as soon as possible to have further comprehension of the text and better understanding of the new words. they need to read the text several times. while

41、 reading, the student should pause at the places where target words occur, examine how they are used to express the ideas, observe their collocations, and then read and memorize the chunks or the sentences that contain those words. this kind of reading should be followed by oral and written activiti

42、es for using those words. different from reading or writing a word repeatedly in isolation, using it in different contexts is meaningful repetition and involves cognitive activities. this kind of memorization is related to meaning, spelling and usage simultaneously.iii. techniques for vocabulary ins

43、tructionlexical items refer to words, phrases, idioms and fixed expressions. in vocabulary teaching and learning, we regard each of these items as one unit. for the sake of convenience, we just use word to represent all of them. the first step of teaching vocabulary is to present word meaning. as di

44、scussed above, presenting a word in context is an effective way. however, not every word can be presented in context. therefore, we need to look at different techniques for presenting word meaning. in conveying the meaning of a word, we should integrate several techniques to achieve he best effect.a

45、. skills of presenting vocabulary1. visual aidsvisual aids can be everyday objects, pictures, models, blackboard drawings and mimes. these are used to convey the meaning of words for an object, an action and a concept. it is not enough to show a toy of panda and say “panda” or “this is a panda”. the

46、 teacher can repeat the word several times by putting it in sentences, such as “look at this panda”, “the panda has black eyes”, or “the panda is a cute animal”.2. word relationsanother technique of conveying the meaning of a word is to relate it to other words. synonyms and antonyms are two common

47、types of word relation. the synonym of a word should not only have similar meaning but also have the same grammatical function. an antonym is opposite in meaning, but it should have the same grammatical function as the target word.3. stems and affixesa knowledge of latin affixes can help students gu

48、ess unfamiliar words by relating these words to the known words. by teaching the meaning of prefixes and suffixes, the teacher is building in students an ability to figure out the meaning of many words. if power is a familiar word, when the student knows that super- means “larger”, “greater”, then h

49、e may guess superpower might have something to do with “very powerful” or “extremely strong”.4. using the text as contextas discussed before, contextualization is an effective way of presenting a word. apart from the context created by the teacher, the most effective context is in the text. words ha

50、ve a habit of changing their meaning from one context to another (labov, 1973, quoted from nagy, 2002:64-83). nagy argues that there are two types of contextual variation in meaning: sense selection and reference specification. in the case of sense selection, a word is assumed to have two or more se

51、nses, and the effect of context is to select one of these. in the case of reference specification, where one word, for example, boy, might refer to two different individuals and call up quite different images and associations, the interpretation of a word is any given context is necessarily more spe

52、cific than the meaning stored in the mental lexicon. therefore, the text context can help the reader understand the exact meaning of this word and arrive at the total meaning of a sentence. in deciding the meaning of a word from context, the reader has to use his knowledge of grammar and context clu

53、es. 5. translationtranslation has an important role in conveying word meaning although we do not encourage overusing this technique. there are numerous situations where the meaning of a word cannot be made clear by whatever means except translation. abstract words belong to this group, and so do a l

54、arge number of culture-loaded words or words for concepts that are new to students. for such words, translation is the only effective way to convey meaning.b. skills of consolidating vocabulary1. blank fillingthe students are provided with a certain number of sentences with a blank in each. they are required to fill in each blank with an appropriate word taken from the text. this type of exercises is commonly used in textbooks.2. matchingexample 1 match column a with column b. a b foe effort endeavor enemy shield ancestor convert again forbear change