Research On Primary School English Vocabulary Teaching Based On Topic Context

The importance of context in language learning is widely acknowledged,appearing in policy documents,theoretical discussion and daily practices.On the basis of the concept context,both the English Curriculum Standards for High Schools published in 2017 and the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education published in 2022 put forward the concept thematic context,suggesting that all language learning should take place in relevant thematic contexts.Contexts related to the thematic meaning should be set up to support thematic meaning based explorations,with the purpose to integrate learning content and lead students’ integrated development of language ability,cultural awareness,trait of thinking and learning ability.However,as a newly produced concept,scarce literature can be found about thematic context.There lacks discussion about its meaning,characteristics and guidance of enactment.On the other hand,vocabulary teaching is one of the sticking points that need to be tackled with many issues to be resolved,for example,simplified text interpretation,fragmented context,mechanical practice and stereotyped production.Therefore,to explore thematic context based primary school English vocabulary teaching not only responds to theoretical demand but also addresses practical needs.It is emphasized that thematic context is not equivalent to context.While sharing common characteristics with context,its distinctive features are that contexts should be centred around the thematic meaning and exploration should be based on the thematic context.Thematic context based primary school English vocabulary teaching should have the following characteristics: the integration of curriculum resources,the incorporation of thematic meaning in contexts,the presentation of vocabulary in discourse,the revolving of vocabulary learning,the thematization of language use and the structuring of vocabulary learning.In order for a more scientific and appropriate solution to be found,this study also tried to explore the actual enactment of thematic context based primary school English vocabulary teaching from the perspective of teacher cognition and their practices.Employing a collection of data collection techniques including questionnaire,interview and observation,this study finds out that most teachers have heard of the concept thematic context and express their willingness to adopt this technique.Some teachers have already started their exploration of thematic context based vocabulary teaching.However,a number of factors have also constrained teachers’ cognition and practices.For example,a lack of understanding of thematic context and a deficit of its practice strategies,in addition to the conflict between teachers’ habitus and the notion of meaning-led exploration.By taking theoretical discussion and actual circumstances into account,this study put forward several strategies from the aspect of setting objectives,context creation,enactment,resource utilization and teaching evaluation.It is hoped that findings of this study can not only enrich theoretical exploration of the topic thematic context,but also guide teachers to better put it into practice.Although the focus of this study is primary school vocabulary teaching,findings can also be referred to in teaching other content and other stages of schooling.