On Adopting Different Approaches To The Teaching Of Vocabulary In The Senior Middle School

The present situation calls for more emphasis on vocabulary teaching. Textbooks for students are more frequently changed than before------Senior English for China Students' Books have been changed three times in just seven years. It's an obvious fact that English as a subject is more demanding than ever before, the most evident sign of which is that vocabulary in the new series of text books is much richer than in the past, because many new words which appeared in CET 4 are now included in the latest series of textbooks. It used to be enough for students to master about 2000 words but now it is necessary for students to be familiar with more than 4000 words. At present, more emphasis is put on vocabulary teaching and communication, which is specially shown in the latest textbooks that come much closer to real life with the focus being shifted to vocabulary expansion. Shanghai's MET has an extra vocabulary test part and many other provinces and districts' individual MET have the tendency to do the same. Filling in the blanks with words reappears, taking up 10% of the paper. In addition, filling in the blanks has also become a part of listening taking up 20% of the listening part. Even NMET has adopted this form. Moreover, more emphasis is placed on comparison and analysis of words in contextual situation in Cloze Test which takes up 20% of the paper. Besides, in the reading comprehension part, at least two examination questions are concerned with word meaning guessing occupying at least 10% of this part. In fact, the principle of setting the total paper is Highlighting Discourse Contexts, Laying Stress on Use, Attaching Importance to Communication. No one will object to the view that one of the most important criteria to a person's foreign language proficiency is his amount of vocabulary. Just imagine how we can write what we're required to, comprehend a passage written or spoken without the base of vocabulary. Only after we have mastered a certain amount of vocabulary, can we deal well with listening, speaking, reading and writing. Only in this way, can students improve their English.In the course of my teaching, I aim my teaching at enlarging students' vocabulary economically and efficiently. I pay much attention to vocabulary teaching in class. I ask students to pay particular attention to vocabulary learning and emphasize the importance of vocabulary and make the best of every minute and every chance to teach vocabulary, with the focus being laid on vocabulary expansion. I advise these students to measure whether they progress or have a sense of achievement just by asking themselves how many words...