Research On The Application Of Multi-modal Teaching Mode To English Vocabulary Teaching In Junior High School

Vocabulary is an essential component of every language.The English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2022)demand that teachers create a rich context with the help of images,multimedia,expressions,gestures,and actions to help students’ vocabulary acquisition.With the development of multimedia technology,the use of multi-modal teaching mode in classroom is increasing.However,due to the stress of high school examinations and the ageing of rural teachers,the majority of English teachers in rural schools still use traditional methods,which refer to a cramming teaching method that ignores students’ interest in learning and leads to students learning passively in class and memorizing by rote after class.Under such a teaching mode,most students get bored and lose interest in learning English.Therefore,the researcher tries to integrate multi-modal theory into English vocabulary teaching in an effort to improve the current situation.The multimedia-based multi-modal vocabulary teaching method involves combining words,pictures,videos,music,etc.to engage students in the process of vocabulary teaching and activate their multiple senses so that they can learn vocabulary more effectively.In this study,the researcher adopts both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.The experimentation instruments are tests,questionnaires,and interviews.There are two research questions in this study:(1)To what extent does multi-modal teaching mode affect students’ vocabulary learning?(2)To what extent does multi-modal teaching mode affect students’ vocabulary learning strategies?A 3-month multi-modal vocabulary teaching experiment was conducted.The participants were 92 seventh grade students from a rural school in Feng Shun,Guangdong Province.Students who were divided into two classes based on their English scores on the county general examination at the end of the previous semester had similar English proficiency.A class of 46 students was designated as the experimental class(EC),and a class of 46 students was designated as the control class(CC).The EC adopted multi-modal teaching methods,while the CC adopted traditional methods.Before the experiment,questionnaires were handed out in EC to assess the present situation of vocabulary learning strategies.Three elements of vocabulary learning strategies were compared following the experiment: meta-cognitive strategy,cognitive strategy,and social strategy.To ensure consistency in difficulty,the vocabulary in the tests was selected from the key words in the PEP textbook for Grade 7.After the experiment,the data were gathered and examined by SPSS 26.0 through independent-samples t tests,paired-samples t tests,reliability,and validity analyses.The major findings are:(1)Multi-modal teaching mode has a positive effect on vocabulary learning.It not only increases students’ interest in learning vocabulary but also improves their motives and negative attitudes towards English vocabulary learning and gives them good result in the test.(2)Multi-modal teaching mode has a significant impact on students’ vocabulary learning strategies in EC,especially the cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies.At the same time,pedagogical implications are presented in this thesis.First,teachers should organize more activities in class to develop students’ learning interests.Second,it is highly recommended that teachers make frequent use of multi-modal teaching modes and cultivate effective vocabulary learning strategies among students.Third,teachers should give consideration to both adaptability and efficacy when choosing a mode of instruction.This research is an empirical study of multi-modal teaching mode in English vocabulary teaching and also provides a case study for rural junior high school English vocabulary teaching.