On,the,Application,of,Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School

1、On,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School1On the Application of Communicative Approach toVocabulary Teaching in Middle SchoolContentsAbstract.2.Introduction.2.I. The Communicative Approach.4.A. The Definition of Communicative Approach.3B. The Features of Co

2、mmunicative Approach.4C. The Principles of Communicative Approach.4II. The Current Situation of Vocabulary Teaching in Middle School.5A. The Main Problems of Vocabulary Teaching.6B. The Reasons of Causing These Problems.6III. Adopting the Communicative Approach to Improve VocabularyTeaching in Middl

3、e School.7.A. Transforming the Roles Between Teachers and Students.7B. Creating Real Teaching Atmosphere in Classroom.8Conclusion.9.Notes.9.Bibliography.9.Acknowledgements.1.0On,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School2Abstract：For many years, vocabulary teac

4、h ing has bee n un dervalued. Moreover,a lot of problems appear i n the process of vocabulary teach in g. It is harmful to theefficiency of teaching and learning. Accordingly, this paper tries to get an overview of thevocabulary teaching and learning situation in Middle School of China, and introduc

5、e auseful teaching approach Communicative Approach to improve the efficie ncy of thevocabulary teachi ng and lear ning based on previous researchers findings and realteachi ng practice.Key Words：Communi cative Approach; vocabulary teach ing; applicati on摘要：很多年来，词汇教学没能得到很好的重视，而且在教学方法上也存在不 少问题，这严重影响了学

6、生学习和教师教学的效果。因此，本文写作的目的在于统观中国中学词汇教学的现状，在前人研究的基础上，提出运用交际法来提高词 汇教学。关键词：交际法；词汇教学；运用IntroductionAs all we known, the ultimate goal of learning Ianguage is to communicate. Andvocabulary is the very foundation of learning a foreign Ianguage. The number ofvocabulary one mastered will certainly affects his I

7、anguage level and it stone of other Ianguage skills developme nt. But the En glish vocabulary teachi ng situation in middleschool of china is far from satisfaction, even some teachers and researchers haveimproved the vocabulary teach ing way. For in sta nee, Shen Jia nyuan (1996) proposesto teach vo

8、cabulary by placing lexical items into semantic fields. Wang Yang (1999)dwells upon vocabulary comprehe nsion in con texts. Liu Qiaolin (2001) aims at providing in sight and suggesti ons for vocabulary. It can situation that teachers and studentsstill concentrate on the meaning and form of vocabular

9、y rather than practical application.Therefore, based on the facts and observati on, this paper will in troduce a usefulapproach Communi cative Approach. The Communi cative Approach occurred in1970scateringtothedevelopmentofglobaleconomy.AccordingtotheCommunicative Approach, the roles between teaches

10、 and students will be altered, andstudents interests will be improved to motive the classroom atmosphere.The n, stude ntscan lear n words faster and better,s the cct changeOn,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School3and teachers will reach their goals. Mean w

11、hile, the efficie ncy of En glish vocabulary teach ing will beimproved.Chapter one makes details about the Communi cative Approach, emphasiz ing the definition,features and its principles. Chapter two make a brief introduction about curre nt vocabulary teach ing inmiddle school of China, emphasiz in

12、g main problems and reas ons. Chapter three expo unds theapplicati on of the Communi cative Approach to vocabulary teach ing in middle school, emphasiz ingrole of teachers and stude nts, and the real classroom atmosphere.In the conclusion, the significant meaning of the Communicative Approach in voc

13、abulary teach ingis emphasized aga in. Higher requireme nt in vocabulary teach ing for a teacher in the long run areraised.I. The Communicative ApproachThe Communi cative Approach has developed for about 50 years since proposed firstly. During theprocess of perfection, there are many linguists who p

14、roposed new ideas about Communi cativeApproach, which paved the way for the Communi cative Approach.A. The Definition of Communicative ApproachThe Communi cative Approach refers to the theory of teachi ng to the prin ciples that the stude ntsand teachers should genuin ely com muni cate with each oth

15、er using the target Ianguage. It was broughtup in 1970s European, and it is one of the most popular and in flue ntial teach ing approaches in theworld. The lin guists have bee n en rich ing it by their opinions from their practice and research.The Communi cative Approach is also called Functional Ap

16、proach, which regards the fun cti on ofIan guage as the basis and pays much more atte nti on to com muni cative compete nee. Some lin guiststhought that the Communi cative Approach is much better than Fun cti onal Approach as it reflects themaster of the com muni cative compete nee. Fun cti onal App

17、roach believes that Ian guage is the tool ofcom muni cati on and that learning a Ian guage well is based on the applicati on repeatedly.Communicative Approach reflects the transformation from emphasizing on Ian guage forms to communi cative compete nee, meaning the importa nee is not grammar or voca

18、bulary any more, but theability to apply Ianguage properly. Linguists prospect the major function of Ian guage is to express oneself, while socioli nguists believe the main purpose of Ianguage is to keep the interpersonal relations.B. The Features of Communicative ApproachFive points to characterize

19、 the Communi cative Approach: emphasis on lear ning to com muni catein the target Ian guage; the in troductio n of authe ntic texts into learning situations; focus not only onOn,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School4Ianguage but also on the learning proces

20、s itself; making use of learners own pers onal experie nces;creat ing real com muni cati on situations in the classroom, linking classroom Ianguage learning withIanguage activation outside the classroom, the most obvious characteristics of the CommunicativeApproach is that almost everything that is

21、done with a com muni cative intent. The teacher is concernedwith the lear ners themselves, their feeli ngs and ideas. The classroom activities are lear ner-ce ntered,because lear ning is more effective whe n the lear ners are actively invo Ived in the lear ning process.The role of the teacher: a fac

22、ilitator of students arning; a manager of classroom activities; anadvisor of students questions; a co-communicator in the com muni cative activity.In a com muni cative classroom, the teacher is a facilitator of her stude nts learning. What smore,she has many roles to fulfill. She is a man ger of cla

23、ssroom activities. During the activities, she acts asan advisor, an sweri ng stude nts qand monitoring their performanee. At other times, she might be a“ ccommun icator ” etngag ing in the com muni cative activity along with the stude nts.The role of the lear ner: a n egotiator; a com muni cator; a

24、con tributor; anin depe ndent lear ner. Stude nts are see n as more resp on sible con tributors or man gers of their ownlear ning.Features of com muni cative activities: in formati on gap; choice of form and content; feedback ofany com muni cative in formatio n.Classroom en vir onment: cooperati on

25、and empathy; lear ner-ce ntered; tolera nee of errors; working in small groups.C. The Principles of Communicative ApproachAs far as learning theory is concerned, nether Brumfit and Johnson nor Littlewood, for example,offers any discussion. However, several principles can begen eralized as fowllows:T

26、he Communi cative Prin ciple: activities that invo Ive real com muni cati on promote lear ning.The Task Prin ciple:“activities in which Ian guage is used for carry ing out1meaningful tasks promote learning. (W. Littlewood 1982)The Meaningfulness Principle: Ianguage that is meaningful to the learner

27、supports the lear ningprocess.On,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School5II. The Current Situation of Vocabulary Teaching in Middle SchoolVocabulary is the building material of a Ianguage. Just as a building cannot be constructed withoutthe building material

28、s, no Ianguage is imaginable without vocabulary .In rece nt years, En glishvocabulary teach ing has bee n an in creas in gly interesting topic of discussion for researchers,theorists and curriculum designers. All sees vocabulary as being a very importa nt eleme nt in Ian guage.But there are many pro

29、blems in vocabulary teach ing.A. The Main Problems of Vocabulary TeachingIn China, English is a compulsory subject to Middle School students, andEn glish vocabulary kno wledge is one of the funtaa igoals of teach ing.Although teachers and stude nts have paid great atte nti on to it, the result is fa

30、rfrom satisfaction. Due to various reasons, lacking of vocabulary has been a problem faced by manystude nts.First, English teachers usually teach vocabulary in isolation. Teachers spend too much time inexpla ining, as if the vocabulary teachi ng is copy ing the dicti on ary, and the n make stude nts

31、memorize lots of Chin ese meanings and senten ces in cludi ng the new words after class, but the resultstill is tlat the students can t take in or put out the words.Second, the teaching method is too dull for the students. Many teachers list the new words on theblackboard, and then lead them to read

32、 and explain the Chinese meaning. The process of introducingthe new words will be like this: (a) write the words on the blackboard f (b) correct the studentspronunciationf (c) explain themeaningf(d) give one or two examples. In the whole process of vocabulary teach ing, the teacher isregarded as the

33、 cen ter of the class and as the giver of theteach ing activities. Then, stude nts are regardeals the taker. Teacher use -fillingduckmethods to “ impose ” knowledge onto students, and students have few opportunities to practice whatis given to them.Third, the ways of consolidation are limited. After

34、 presenting and explaining the vocabulary,teachers usually ask students to recite the words after class, and let stude nts do some dictatio ns aboutvocabulary n ext class.The situatio ns above cause stude nts lost in terests in vocabulary lear ning, and stude nts mayhave greater trouble in later lea

35、r ning because of in adequate of vocabulary.B. The Reasons of Causing These ProblemsNow that En glish teachi ng problems have bee n caused because of weak vocabulary teach ing atexpa nding stude ntsOn,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School6school, things mu

36、st be done to cha nge the con diti ons.Success in vocabulary acquisition is partly governed by intelligenee. At the same time, reality, interest, motivati on and emotio n also in flue nce it. Negative attitudes (including a lack of reality, interestand motivation) are said to prevent successin Ian g

37、uage lear ning. Moreover, tee nagers atte nti onspa n is short, and they are n aturallycurious. They will not concen trate in classroom if the class is bori ng or un real. That is to say, reality isan essential factor in English vocabulary teaching in Middle School. So it teachers task to try their

38、bestto make class real, lively and interesting. Teachers should be able to attract stude nts in real teachi ngways, and must be humorous and encouraging. Teachers should pay more attention to raise students in terest rather tha n grades. In short, vocabulary teachi ng is more effective if Communi ca

39、tiveApproach is applied.III. Adopting the Communicative Approach to Improve Vocabulary Teaching inMiddle SchoolA. Transforming the Roles Between Teachers and StudentsAs the most basic relati on ship at school, Teacher-Stude nt Relati on ship (TSR) is a very important non-i ntellige nce factor, goes

40、with the whole process of teach ing and learning: “ has been widelyaccepted that cultivating an equal, affective and harm onious relati on ship betwee n teachersa nd students will have positive effects in the study of English for many students. ” (Lu Jiamei 2002) Teachersshould do their best to help

41、 stude nts to get rid of psychological barriers and build comfortable andstress-free atmosphere to help stude nts explore their pote ntials. Effective in teractio n betwee n teaching and lear ning, tacit and happy cooperati on betwee n teachers and stude nts can bring about goodteach ing results.In

42、buildi ng harm onious TSR, a large part of the resp on sibility falls on teachers.First, teachersshould respect students. The senseof self-esteem is quite strong in Middle School students. They long for respect from others. If teachers respect them, they will show respect for teachers aswell. And th

43、en, English teachers should have a good comma nd of En glish, becauseteachers with awide scope of kno wledge are popular among students. Sukhomlinski (1984) said, “Ateacher shouldknow ten or even twenty times more than those he or she teaches in classes. At the same time, thequalification of fairnes

44、s is also significant. Teachers who are prejudiced are the most unpopular amongthe students. It is quite harmful to the relationship between teachers and stude nts if teachers favorOn,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School7those stude nts who always get goo

45、d marks and indifferent to the other students. Every student has hisown strong points. So teachers should feel proud of every stude nt.To sum up, teachers shouldn rteat students as lifeless bottles thirsting for kno wledge in stead theyshould look stude nts as good frie nds. Whe n stude nts and stud

46、e nts meet, they should cultivate a harmonious in stead of a stressful relatio nship. Harmonious TSR plays a key role in motivating students sand eiirttesisfem instudy ing En glish.B. Creating Real Teaching Atmosphere in ClassroomIn the theory of Communicative Approach, teachers would make good use

47、of com muni cativeactivities. Accordi ng to these activities, stude nts would have more opport un ities to speak and they canput what have lear ned into use so that they can remember these grammar or vocabulary.Communicative activities refer to those activities which are advancing between students a

48、nd theteachers or among the stude nts. In these activities, the stude nts play the major role regarded as theimporta nt participa nts while the teacher is the orga ni zer or prompter. The activities break thedepressed situati on of traditi onal teach ing, man euver the activity, so that the stude nt

49、s can well lear nand apply the Ian guage. Some foreig n teachi ng experts divided the activity accord ing tocharacteristics of teach ing and the n eed of com muni cative activities into three kin ds: discuss anddecisi on; questi on and an swers; stories and scenes. A linguist defined on activity as

50、one carried out bycooperating and competing decision makers, seeking to achieve, within a set of rules.Accord ing to Communi cative Approach, the stude nts are the major participa nts, so the arrangeme ntof the class must be based on the stude nts. I n other words, the stude nts are com muni cators,

51、they are actively invo Ived in trying to make themselves un derstood, eve n whe n their kno wledge oftheir target la nguage is in complete. They learn to com muni cate by com muni cat ing. Stude nts aresee n as more resp on sible contributors or managers of their own leanning. Meanwhile, thestudents

52、role is that of a negotiator between the self, the role of joint-negotiator with the group and withinthe classroom procedures and activities which group un dertakes. The stude nts are the main players ina class so that they should make sufficient preparations before class and have strong desire to c

53、ommuni cate with others. During the class, the stude nts should coord in ate with the teacher and keep thepace with the teachersteps seriously. Only by doing like this will a class be a successful class.ConclusionThis paper attempts to discover the in efficie ncy of vocabulary teach ing in Middle Sc

54、hool of Chi na.On,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School8To bring out the con clusi on of the thesis, it is reas on able to have a brief review on what has bee ndiscussed so far. The in troducti on of Communi cative Approach is prese nted in the first part.

55、 Further,itcurre nt situasi(bhieof vocabularyteaching in Middle School. It about the main problems and reasons of vocabulary teaching. And thenit asgued that the application of Communicative Approach in En glish vocabulary teachi ng.As my research reveals, most Chinese Middle School students motivat

56、ion towards vocabulary learning is not eno ugh. And most stude nts prefer flexible teach ing methods to mere definitions andsentence examples. Obviously, all the problems lie on the teachi ng methods.Before winding up, I would like to give my suggesti on to all the En glish teachers of Middle School

57、.It is time for us to thi nk over these factors of vocabulary teachi ng and their in flue nee. Teachers shouldapply more real and in terest ing methods to suitOn,the.Application,of.Communicative,Approach,to,Vocabulary,Teaching,in,Middle,School9for most students in class. In addition, I would also emphasize the limitations of this research. SecondIanguage vocabulary teaching is such a complex systemtican t be stated completely within such kind ofpaper. In spite of the limitation, I will still hope that this tentative work may open a roo