The Application Of Context Theories To The Teaching Of Vocabulary In College English

Vocabulary teaching has long held the attentions of teachers and scholars abroad as well as in China. With the development of College English reform, more researches are done and more new teaching methodologies are used by College English teachers. Teachers have come to realize the importance of context in language teaching. And context theories are being employed by more and more College English teachers. But with regard to the application of context theories to the teaching of words in College English, few have been found to have done field research. The reason may be that contextual theories are not systematic. Based on his teaching practice, the author makes an attempt in this paper to carry out research on the application of contextual theories to the teaching of words in College English classroom.The author points out that, when teaching vocabulary, middle school English teachers usually centre around grammatical rules, with vocabulary selected as a supplement. They teach grammar and words separately, with grammar as their main concern. As a result, students find it difficult to fully understand the meaning of words in specific contexts, let alone choose appropriate words to express themselves. To repair this deficiency and to improve students' word power, the author advocates to apply context theories to the teaching of words. This has proved to be an effective way.The author first classifies and illustrates the two important concepts which are closely related to word teaching梬ord meaning and context. The author holds that the meaning of a word is determined by the context in which it occurs. Without the help of a context, a word will not appear to have a definite meaning.Based on the discussion concerning the relationship between word meaning and context, the author illustrates the application of linguistic context clues to the teaching of words. With the help of lexical context clues, teachers can teach students the collocative meaning of words. A word may be interpreted differently in different collocations. Words have their habitual collocations. Grammatical context can help students to understand that some words can occur only hi some specific grammatical structures and that in different grammatical structures a word may be interpreted differently. In addition, verbal context clues can help students not only to understand words in a bigger stretch of discourse but also to guess the meaning of unfamiliar words in a larger context.Then, the author discusses the three types of context of situation, which, according to the author's experiences, are closely related to the teaching of words in College English classes. Background knowledge can help students understand words better. The actual speech setting can help students understand the referents of deictic words, and it can give hints to the reader to interpret words. Different types of discourse can help students to understand how they should choose appropriate words to serve then" communicative purposes and how discourse can affect the interpretation of words.Words are affected in meaning by the culture of which they are a part. Guided by this theory, the author identifies some common cultural failures in the interpretation of words among College English students. With these in mind, the author makes a comparison on the similarities and differences in sociocultural meaning of words between English and Chinese, and a comparison on the cultural connotations in similes and metaphors. Based on the comparison, the author illustrates how College English teachers should take opportunities to teach studentsthe sociocultural meaning of words.The author points out that, when applying context theories to the teaching of words, teachers should keep in mind that their teaching methodologies should suit students. Different from English major students, College English students have only four periods of English lesson per week, which cover intensive reading and listening courses plus CET-4 remedial courses. With such a time schedule,...