A Study On English Vocabulary Teaching Based On Context Theory

Vocabulary matters to students in English learning.If students feel like increasing their English skills in listening,speaking,reading and writing,their first step is to master vocabulary language.In 2022,the Ministry of Education formulates National Curriculum Standards(2022version).That means the document puts forward higher vocabulary learning requirements for students.Therefore the importance of vocabulary is self-evident.Due to its simple operation,grammar translation method is widely welcomed by English teachers in junior high school.However,some scholars point out that the grammar translation method possesses disadvantages,thus they advocate vocabulary teaching based on the context theory.Nowadays,most researchers focus on the influence of the context theory on English vocabulary teaching,and pay little attention to the design and implementation of English vocabulary teaching based on the context theory.The purpose of this study is to explore the principles of design and implementation of English vocabulary teaching based on the context theory and to test its influence on the acquisition and retention of vocabulary with the experimental method.This study takes grade three students of X junior high school as experimental subjects.The teacher carries out vocabulary teaching based on the context theory in the experimental class.In the control class,the teacher uses the grammar translation method to teach vocabulary.The paper is devoted to examining the following three questions :(1)How do teachers design English vocabulary teaching based on the context theory?(2)Can the vocabulary teaching design based on the context theory promote the acquisition and retention of vocabulary?(3)How do teachers effectively implement vocabulary teaching based on the context theory?The results are as follows:(1)The design of English vocabulary teaching based on the context theory should follow the following principles: the relevance principle means vocabulary activities should be related to the teaching theme,students’ actual life and language level;the autonomy principle means vocabulary activities should give students full autonomy to release their subjective initiative;the sensibility principle means vocabulary activities should arouse students’ emotional participation and enhance their emotional experience;the balance principle means vocabulary activities should give equal consideration to vocabulary knowledge learning and vocabulary ability application.(2)The experimental data show that the mean score of the experimental class in receptive vocabulary acquisition test and productive vocabulary acquisition test are higher than those of the control class in the immediate post-test,and there are statistically significant differences between the two classes both in receptive vocabulary acquisition test(P=.012<.05)and productive vocabulary acquisition test(P=.016<.05).The mean score of the experimental class in receptive vocabulary retention test and productive vocabulary retention test are higher than those of the control class in the delayed post-test,and there are statistically significant differences between the two classes both in receptive vocabulary retention test(P=.039<.05)and productive vocabulary retention test(P=.019<.05).It can be seen that the teaching design of English vocabulary under the guidance of context theory has a positive impact on vocabulary learning and can promote the acquisition and retention of receptive and productive vocabulary.(3)The basic steps of English vocabulary teaching under the guidance of context theory are as follows: 1)create the context for leading in target words;2)read the text for guessing the meanings of target words;3)create the context for consolidating the target words;4)sublimate the context for internalizing vocabulary.The above findings show that vocabulary teaching in junior high school under the guidance of context theory has a positive impact on vocabulary learning and can effectively promote the acquisition and memory of students’ receptive and productive vocabulary.Therefore,teachers can use the context theory to effectively carry out English vocabulary teaching.However,it should be noted that the context teaching is demanding for teachers,and teachers need to constantly improve their own language competence in order to better implement contextual vocabulary teaching.