| Categorization is the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Categorization implies that objects are grouped into categories, usually for some specific purpose. Ideally, a category illuminates a relationship between the subjects and objects of knowledge. Prototype is typical instance to combine the most representative attributes of a category. Prototype categorization is one of the most important parts of human cognitive ability.Polysemy is a common phenomenon in human language. It is association of two or more related meanings with a single linguistic form. Polysemous phenomenon embodies characteristics of categorization in human language. Lyons points out that it is nearly ascertained that there is never one word with only meaning for all kinds of natural languages in history. Its fundamental goal is to relieve cognitive burden to realize cognitive economization by giving identical word form more meanings to reduce lexical amounts. Without question, this thesis, based on prototype categorization theory, discusses and analyzes English polysemous practice and application to lexis teaching and study, falls in with the cognitive rules of brain, how to recognize and memorize the objects, and organize the chaotic world orderly to make an effective storage.140freshmen are involved in this study are divided into four groups randomly, two are for experimental group (E group), and two are for control group (C group). College English lexis teaching in E group adopts prototype categorization models and C group traditional "vocabulary-Chinese explanation" model. At the end of two semesters (a whole year) of teaching and study practice, students answered "vocabulary-learning strategies" questionnaire, and participated in English lexis limited test. The results show that lexis strategies under the guidance of prototype categorization models and lexis test scores as two variables showed significant difference between E group and C group. According to the scientific software SPSS18.0(Statistic Package for Social Science), the test results of independent sample indicate that the average scores are89and70for E group and C group respectively, and the comparison of the highest and the lowest points for two groups also shows E group’s superiority. At the same time, the results show significantly improved after carrying out prototype categorization teaching models in experimental group. This all confirmed that prototype categorization modes for college English polysemous teaching and study are better than other unordered or chaotic traditional vocabulary teaching methods. Meanwhile, standard deviation (SD) of two groups shows how much variation or "dispersion" exists from the mean. A low standard deviation indicates that the data points tend to be very close to the mean, whereas high standard deviation indicates that data points are spread out over a large range of values. Thus, teaching effect in E group is superior to C group as a whole. Therefore, the thesis proposes the corresponding teaching and learning mode:Family Resemblance Mode. Lexis Connection Mode. Context Creation Mode and Meaning Radialization Mode.Based on framework of prototype categorization and synchronic and diachronic study, this study lies in innovative and dynamic research on polysemy as its theoretical significance. For college English polysemy teaching and study, this study demonstrates different and typical cognitive models under different cognitive characterization. Meanwhile, this empirical study improves systematicness of college English lexis teaching and study and polysemous acquisition efficiency in accord with cognitive models for non-English major. The author hopes the conclusion of this research will be applied to polysemous teaching and study activities to strengthen college English lexis teaching and learning. |
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