Problems And Solutions In The Teaching Of English Vocabulary In The Senior High School

Considerable progress has been made in recent years in the theories of English teaching,which,however,cannot cover well over the teaching of English vocabulary.Problems of various kinds still exist in current English vocabulary teaching in the senior high school.This thesis tries to find out the teaching methods and strategies of English vocabulary learning based on the analysis of current situation of senior high school English vocabulary teaching in Fuzhou Pingtong Middle School,and Langacker’s theory of cognitive grammar.It combines the theoretical analysis and empirical study and provides the data analysis for the conclusion,hoping that its findings can be convincing and may help senior high school teachers in their English vocabulary teaching.This thesis mainly adopts the documentary method,questionnaire survey method,and experimental method.A questionnaire investigation is used for analyzing the present situation of English vocabulary teaching in the senior high school,its subjects being senior high school students and their teachers in Fuzhou Pingtong Middle School.And the problems concerned that are found are as follows:(1)Teaching only literal meaning of vocabulary without paying attention to context;(2)Providing excessive vocabulary extensions but instructing less on words’ uses;(3)emphasizing on memorizing but neglecting learning strategies;(4)Paying attention to the learning of new words but neglecting the consolidation and review of the old ones.In addition,this thesis adopts the method of teaching experiment attempting to show whether the theories(prototype theory;theory of iconicity;theory of grammaticalization and semantic theory)in cognitive grammar could promote the vocabulary teaching.Through the data analysis of the experiment it is found that the revealing idea in the cognitive grammar could promote English vocabulary teaching.But due to the limited time and the restrictions of the teaching experiment the study cannot exclude all interfering factors.So,further researches are suggested to draw perhaps more accurate conclusions.