Studies On Mental Lexicon And Their Implications For L2/FL Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary takes a dominant position in a language and plays a critical part in language teaching and learning. Without vocabulary,none of the five skills of a language (listening,speaking,reading,writing,and translating) will be made possible. Based on a survey of vocabulary research and study both at home in China and abroad,this thesis puts forward the idea that vocabulary could be approached from a perspective of the L2/FL learner's mental lexicon.Starting from the analyses on language learner's Ll/MT mental lexicon,the thesis concludes that a L2/FL learner's mental lexicon works in quite a similar way as when he/she acquires/learns Ll/MT vocabulary with some particularities of its own. Form and meaning both play important roles in the word's memory or retention. Representation of a lexical entry in a learner's mental lexicon is carried out through three not-clearly-cut stages. The L2/FL mental lexicon either integrates with or separate from his Ll/MT mental lexicon,depending on different individuals and situations.These understandings on L2/FL mental lexicon have a number of implications for how to deal with a L2/FL,particularly with the vocabulary of that L2/FL. The most outstanding might be that vocabulary should be dealt with independently in teaching and learning a language. An English vocabulary course design is thus put forward in the hope that,by teaching English vocabulary as an independent course,teachers could teach English more effectively and students could improve more rapidly.