An Empirical Study Of Game Activities For English Vocabulary Teaching In Junior High School

Vocabulary,pronunciation and grammar are the three elements of a language.As the basic element of a language,vocabulary acquisition has become a key element to learning a language.With the implementation of the new curriculum reform,the new curriculum standard puts forward higher requirements for students’ English vocabulary,and clearly points out that one of the tasks of English curriculum in the basic education stage is to stimulate and cultivate students’ interest in learning English(English curriculum standard 2017).Therefore,how can junior high school English teachers fully mobilize students’ enthusiasm and interest in English learning and effectively carry out vocabulary teaching is an important practical and theoretical issue at present.Based on the new requirements of the English curriculum standards,this study observes and compares the vocabulary teaching methods of teachers in real class and exemplary lessons,and interviews 6 students in internship school to understand their attitudes and preferences for vocabulary learning.The research questions in this study are listed as follows:(1)Is there any infiltration of game activities in real classroom’s vocabulary teaching?(2)What is the effect of vocabulary teaching through game activities in exemplary lessons?(3)Can vocabulary teaching through game activities stimulate junior high school students’ interest in learning English vocabulary?In this study,video lesson examples of five teachers in the 11 th National JuniorHigh School English Classroom Teaching as well as five observation classes of Mrs.Li and six students of the class in the internship school are selected as research subjects.Classroom transcription of the observation data,together with the quantification of the observation data,indicated that there is infiltration of game activities when teachers teach vocabulary in real classroom.In exemplary lessons,after using the game activity,the teacher’ s teaching effect is better than the simple combination of sound,form and meaning or use of word formation,also the participation of students is higher than before.Thematic analysis of the interview data,combined with quantifying the interview data,revealed that most of the participants think that through game activities to learn vocabulary can stimulate their interest in learning English.More than half of the students think that in the process of game teaching,this kind of English class is interesting and effective.These results would provide theoretical reference value for English teachers to design vocabulary teaching activities.In practice,it also fulfills the requirements of the new English curriculum standard.According to the above observation conclusions and interview result,this thesis suggests that junior high school English teachers: firstly,according to different students and actual situations,some vocabulary teaching methods should be combined with game vocabulary teaching methods;secondly,teachers should integrate teaching philosophy into game teaching so as to achieve the purpose of education through entertainment.