文章初中英语词汇教学存在的问题和解决策略分析.docx

文章初中英语词汇教学存在的问题和解决策略分析.docx

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文章初中英语词汇教学存在的问题和解决策略分析

初中英语词汇教学存在的问题及其解决策略

TheProblemsonVocabularyTeachinginJuniorMiddleSchoolandtheSolutions

  Ⅰ.Introduction 

Vocabularyisoneofthefundamentalelementsoflanguage,themostbasicelementusedtoexpressone’swords.Itisfrustratingforintermediatelearnerssuchasmiddleschoolstudentswhentheydiscovertheycannotcommunicateeffectivelybecausetheydonotknowmanyofthewordstheyneed.Unfortunately,vocabularyisneglectedinsomeEnglishlanguagecourses.Bothteachersandstudentsdonotpayenoughattentiontothevocabularylearning.Theydonotrealizetheimportanceofteachingvocabularyinmiddleschools.WhataretheproblemspreventingstudentsgraspingvocabularyinEnglishClassofJuniorMiddleSchool.Maybesometeachersteachwordsisolatedfromcontext,whataboutothers?

Thendoyouknowhowtosolvetheseproblems?

Theauthorconductsasurveyandfindsoutsomeeffectivemethods.Thesolutionsherearetoseekscientifictechniquesofteachingvocabulary.Byadoptingscientificteachingvocabularytechniques,teacherscanhelpstudentsimprovetheirlanguageacquisitionabilityandlanguagecompetence.

   Ⅱ.TheImportanceofTeachingVocabulary

   2.1TheDefinitionofVocabulary

Vocabularyisallthewordsandphrasesusedinparticularlanguage.Vocabularyisthebasicunitofthesentence,usuallywhattheone’ssayisallformedbyvocabularies.Therefore,onlearninglanguage,especiallyEnglish,thevocabularyisjustmadeofthelettersonebyone,onlybasedonitwecanlearnphrasessentencesandpassages.ThefamouslinguistRiversalsothinks,“ControllingtheenoughvocabularyisthekeytosucceedinginusingEnglish,theideawhichhasnovocabularyandtheycannottakeuseofstructureandfunctionlearnedreadsaloud.”Because“wecan’tneglectagiantofexistence”,andinfact,thelearner’svocabularysizeindicateshisEnglishlevel,asaninternationallanguage,itsimportantstatusgetseverybody’scommonunderstandingmoreandmore.

2.2TheImportanceofTeachingVocabulary

Vocabularylearningisquitechallenging.Whilegrammaratleastseemstobefinite,vocabularyisvirtuallyinfinite.Wordsarealsomorecomplexthantheyappeartobeonthesurface.Asallknow,peoplewhohavestudiedEnglishbuthaven’tgraspedsomevocabularycanhardlycommunicatewitheachotherinEnglish,especiallyformiddleschoolstudents.Studentswhoareimmersedintoanewlinguisticsettlingtendtopickupvocabularyfirst,andthengraduallydevelopamoreaccurate,structuralframework.Andtheymustcontinuallybelearningwordsastheylearnstructuresandastheypracticethesoundsystem.Therefore,teachingvocabularyisanindispensablepartofEnglishlessoninmiddleschool,andanimportanttaskfortheteachers.WhetheramiddleschoolEnglishteachercanfollowscientificmethodstoteachvocabularyornotdirectlybringgoodorbadinfluencetowardthestudent.Ifhismethodsaresuitableforthestudentandbeneficialfortheminthelongrun,hecouldarousetheirinterestonEnglishandhelpthemtodevelopasolidfoundationoflanguageacquisitionability,whereasifhefailstodoso,itmightresultinthestudents’diffidencetowardthemselvesandmightcausethemtodisgustEnglish.

   Ⅲ.TheProblemsonTeachingVocabularyinEnglishClassofJuniorMiddleSchool

Atpresent,crammingisstillpopularintheteacher-centeredteachingvocabulary.Traditionalteachersalwaysspendalotofclasstimeaskingstudentstoreadandwritenewwordsagainandagain.ThemeaningofnewwordsarepresentedandexplaineddirectlyinChinese.Asabovereasons,moreandmoreproblemsappear.ThepaperwillmentionfourproblemsonVocabularyTeaching:

1.Teachingwordsinisolation;2.Exposingwordsincompletely;3.Neglectingtheprocessofmemory;4.Disconnectingculturebackground.

   3.1TeachingWordsinIsolation

MiddleschoolEnglishteachersinChinausuallyaskstudentstolearnvocabularylistsinwhichwordsareisolatedfromthecontext.Inonecase,theyletthestudentspickoutallthenewwordsinthetext,listthemonapaper,andconsultthedictionaryfortheChineseorEnglishmeanings.Forexample,“display”means“show”,“arrive”means“reach”.Inanothercase,theytrytogetthestudentstoassociateeachwordwithanimageoranobject.Forexample,theyholdupapictureofacarandsay“Thisisacar.”Boththeseteachingtechniquesimplythatlearningvocabularymeanslearningindividualwordoneatatime.Thesetwomethodsmaysavetimeandbefast-effective.However,therelationshipsbetweenwordsareasimportantasthemeaningofthewordinisolation:

how“car”contrastswith“bus”and“truck”,andhowitisrelatedto“driver”and“engine”areasimportantastheworditself.

NeglectingthestudyoftherelationshipsinEnglishvocabularysystemmightresultinstudents’slownessincomprehensionandinappropriatenessinexploitingtheEnglishwords.Beingtaughtinthesewayswithoutachange,studentsmighthavedifficultyinworkingoutthemeaningsofsomewords,suchas“time”inthefollowingthreesentences:

1.Sheisnearhertime.（means“Shewoulddiesoon.”）

2.Theumpirecalledtime.（means“Theumpirecalledforastop.”）

3.Heisinthetimeofhislife.（means“Thedaysheisexperiencingareveryenjoyable.”）

Studentswhomakesuchsentencesonlyknowthemeaningofeachindividualword,buttheyarepoorintheproperuseof“beneficial”（whichshould“bebeneficialfor”people）and“bad”（whichshouldbechangedinto“poor”）.Thus,itisadvisabletopresentnewwordsinanEnglishsentenceorashorttext,andthenconductthecontextualguesswork.

   3.2ExposingWordsIncompletely

ManyEnglishteacherstendtoteachEnglishwordsinone-to-onecorrespondencetoChinesewords;forexample,English“glass”is“玻璃”inChinese,English“cup”is“茶杯”inChinese,andsoon.ThistraditionaltranslationteachingmethodwhichhasbeenadoptedinChinaforalongtimeisconsideredtobehelpful.Butinthelongruntheoveruseofthismethodisharmfultothedevelopmentofstudents’languagecompetence.Especiallyintheelementarystage,thismethodshouldbeavoidedaspossibleasitcanbe.

NowthattheEnglishlanguageislivingandproductiveinparticularcontext,studentsshouldacquirevocabularyincontext.Theteacherhadbetteraskstudentstotrytheirbesttoguessthemeaningfromthegivencontextaspossibleastheycan.Furthermore,thesameEnglishwordindifferentcontextscanhavevariousmeanings.RememberingtheChinesemeaninginthewordlistdoesnotmeanstudentshavealreadygraspedthetargetwordfully.SoitisadvisabletopresentnewwordsinanEnglishsentenceorashorttext,andthenconductthecontextualguesswork.Thereisanexample:

Teachingtheword“cover”inUnit-6oftheOxfordJuniorEnglishBook8A:

Whilepresentingthemeaningsofthepolysemousword“cover”,theteacherhadbettergivestudentsthefollowingsentencesatfirst:

1.Themagazinehasapictureofahorseonitscover.

thefronttitlepageofabook

2.Couldyouopenthecoverofthebottleforme?

athingthatisusedtoshelterotherthings

3.Hetoldalietocoverthemistake.

conceal;hide

4.Chinacoversanareaof96,000,000squarekilometers.

takeup;occupy

5.Hisresearchcoversawidefield.

include;involve

6.Theycovered500milesonedayintheirjourney.

travel

Afterwardsstudentsarerequestedtoguessandinfertheaccuratemeaningsofthetargetword“cover”indifferentsentencecontexts.AsforsomeadvancedstudentsinGrade8or9,theteachermaygivethemenoughscopefortheirownparaphrasesofthetargetword.Suchastudent-orientedactivityactivatesstudents’thinkingatthebasisoftheirknownEnglishknowledge.OtherwisetheChinesemeaningsofthetargetwordsgivenoutofcontextmaybealittleambiguousforstudentstounderstand.Althoughthiscontextualguessworkcostsmuchclasstime,itisworthtrainingstudents’autonomytolearnEnglishandtodealwithnewwordssuccessfully.Students’satisfactoryfeelingsofsuccessmaycontributetotheirinterestandconfidenceinstudyingEnglish,whichwillbeabenigncirculation.

   3.3NeglectingtheProcessofMemory

Manystudentsfindthattheycouldnoteffectivelymemorizevocabulary,someevenfeelfrustrated.Why?

Asallknow,memorizationisimportantforvocabularylearning.Ifwordscannotberemembered,fewarelikelytobeproducedproperly.Therearetwotypesofmemoryprocesses–short-termmemoryandlong-termmemory.Short-termmemorymeansthatthestorationofinputonlystayinyourmemorytemporarilywhilethelong-termmemorymeansthestorationofinputcanstayinyourmemoryformorethan10days,everforthewholelife.Infact,ourmemoryprocessisarecyclingprocess.Accordingtothesurveyoflinguists,themoretimesthewordisused,thebetteryourememberit.However,manyteacherspartiallyemphasizethefunctionofshort-termmemory.Theyseemtocaremoreabouttheamountofvocabularyinputthanthoseactuallystayinstudents’memory.

Beingforcedtorememberalargeamountofvocabularyinthisway,studentsaretreatedasiftheywereafunned.Inappearance,theytakeinthousandsofnewwords,butineffectonlyafewwordsthatarefrequentlyusedreallycanstayintheirstorationandbeexploited.Itisnotamazingthataseniormiddleschoolstudentwhoisrequiredtomaster3000wordshasmisusedormademistakesin60wordswhenaskedtowritedownapassageof100wordsbecauseofhispoorvocabularystoration.Manyofteachersputalltheblametothestudents’laziness.Theyexplainforthemselvesthatthosestudentsaretoolazy