Vocabulary Teaching Based On Culture Introduction

In the New English Curriculum Standards for compulsory education(2011),cultural awareness was required as one of the five learning goals,and it was categorized into Level 2 and Level 5.As language is enriched with cultural connotations,learning the cultural knowledge and raising cultural awareness will no doubt advance the development of language competence.Meanwhile,as one of the bases of language,vocabulary is one of the key components for a learner.Culture and vocabulary teaching are supposed to be closely related.Thus how to introduce culture in vocabulary teaching has been under discussion for decades.Based on the theories of the depth of vocabulary knowledge and culture introduction in the field of English as Second Language,this thesis is dedicated to explore the practicality and effectiveness of culture introduction in vocabulary teaching,as well as its influence on students’ vocabulary learning interest and the acquisition of the depth of vocabulary knowledge.Thus three research questions were put forward,namely,1)What do junior high school teachers think of introducing culture in vocabulary teaching?2)Whether and how can this teaching method affect students’ vocabulary learning interest?3)Can this teaching method promote students’acquisition of the depth of vocabulary knowledge?In order to investigate into these questions,a teaching experiment,interviews,questionnaire investigations,classroom observations and a vocabulary test were carried out to find out the truth.Specifically,five junior high school English teachers were interviewed to obtain their opinions on the current issue.Based on their opinions and theoretical instruction,an eight-week teaching experiment was designed to explore the influences of the experimental instruction method.Students from three regular classes were involved.Among them,one was the experimental class,while the other two were control classes.In the experimental class,the experimental vocabulary teaching method was oriented from lesson design to teaching practice,while students from the control classes took their regular vocabulary learning.Classroom observations were taken to spot differences and teaching influences.And in the end,the depth of students’ vocabulary knowledge was examined in all three classes by a vocabulary test.Besides,the questionnaire investigations into students’ vocabulary learning interest were carried out in the three classes before the experiment,but after the experiment only the experimental class took the questionnaire again.The results analysis and discussion of all statistics led to three major findings:1)Classroom vocabulary teaching practice is usually at variance with teachers’ ideal beliefs.2)Introducing culture in vocabulary teaching can have effects on some aspects of student’s vocabulary learning interest.3)It can contribute to students’ acquisition of the depth of vocabulaiy knowledge,especially their ability to apply it.Such findings may lead to some implications for language teachers and students at schools.For one thing,it is worthwhile to take time to teach vocabulary and vary the learning activities.For another thing,introducing culture in vocabulary teaching is workable and effective in teaching practices.Teachers can employ such a method,enriching their vocabulary teaching.In this way not only students,vocabulary learning interest can be raised,but also their cultural awareness and vocabulary knowledge ean be enhanced.