本文是一篇初中英语教学论文,本研究以中国三所高中的60名初中英语教师为研究对象,以相关的外语教学理论和方法为基础,采用问卷调查、访谈和课堂观察相结合的方法,在这样一个教学实践和研究的背景下,从不同方法的使用频率、不同方法的选择与教师教学年限的关系以及不同方法对词汇学习任务的影响等方面探讨初中英语教师使用词汇教学方法的情况。
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Setting of the Study
English becomes one of the important languages for international communicationwith the development of economic globalization. English also plays a great role inspreading the cultures of different countries. English courses have been started from thestage of compulsory education in China to adopt the development trend of times. Inrecent years, the Chinese experts and scholars usually focus on studying Englishpragmatics, discourse, communication and learning strategies, while the status of themajor element of language---word seems to be declining. However, word learning isthe basis of English learning. Just like world famous linguist Wilkins (1972) said“Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without words nothing can beconveyed.” So enough words are the precondition of grammar, pragmatics, discourseand communication. What’ more, the quantity and difficulty of words increases a lot injunior high school compared with primary school. Therefore, at the critical period,students need teachers to provide certain teaching methods for them to learn Englishwords. In this case, the author does a survey on the use of word teaching methods andmeta-methods by junior high school EFL teachers. Its purpose is to find out theeffective methods to improve the current situation of students' words learning andteachers' words teaching.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
Mastering effective word teaching methods is very important for English teachersin junior high school. However, the majority of junior high school EFL teachers lack agood command of word teaching methods. They do not have a comprehensiveunderstanding of word teaching methods and cannot systematically andcomprehensively use word teaching methods. Therefore, this thesis aims to provideeffective English teaching methods and meta-methods for junior high school EFLteachers to improve the present situation.
Word is the foundation of English learning. In the teaching process, the wordteaching methods used by teachers will directly affect the learning results of students.The English words are systematically organized in the textbook in junior high school,so the teaching methods designed by teachers should also be comprehensive andsystematic. In the process of word teaching, the traditional teaching methods are notsuitable for students' learning characteristics, teachers should carry out word teachingmethod innovatively. The thesis provide some word teaching methods and meta-methods on word teaching, it provides great help to EFL teachers in junior high school.
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Definition of Word and Definition of Word Teaching
Lu Guoqiang (1983) point out that a word is the unity of sound and meaning,sound is the material shell of a word, and meaning is the material content of a word.Some think that words have fixed phonetic forms, represent certain meanings, belongto certain grammatical categories, and embody certain syntactic functions. To sum up,word is a unity of pronunciation, meaning and grammatical features. A word is also thebasic structure unit of a sentence, because a sentence is usually made up of one wordafter another.
Heidi Harley (2006) gives four definitions about the word. Definition one: asequence of letters that we write consecutively, with no spaces; Definition two: asequence of sounds that we pronounce consecutively, with no pauses; Definition three:a sequence of sounds which can be pronounced on its own, with pauses on either side;Definition four: a combination of vocal sounds, or one such sound, used in a languageto express an idea (e.g. to denote a thing, attribute, or relation), and constituting anultimate minimal element of speech having a meaning as such; a vocable.
In terms of the definition of a word, many experts and scholar have given differentviews on