A Schematically Semantic Network-Based Empirical Study On College English Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary is one of the three core elements of a language as well as the basis of one's linguisticcompetence, so vocabulary teaching and learning play a very important role in language learning and teaching. However, many researches show that theoretical bases and the research of second language vocabulary acquisition are still weak in China; in addition, empirical investigations indicate that the effect of vocabulary learning and teaching in the classroom is also not so satisfactory. Therefore, the study was conducted. Based on schema theory and with 119 Non-English majors in Grade One as subjects, the present study, through a term's, teaching experiment, aims to examine the process and the result of Non-English major students' vocabulary acquisition by establishing schematically semantic network of vocabulary. The research questions include: the role of students' schema knowledge in their vocabulary learning through constructing schematically semantic network of vocabulary; the relations between students' vocabulary learning through constructing schematically semantic network and students' consolidating acquired vocabulary knowledge; in addition, from the two dimensions of receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge, the thesis attempts to explore whether the effect of vocabulary learning through constructing vocabulary semantic network is more effective than that of the traditional teaching method. The experiment reveals that:1) The schema knowledge students acquired played a very important role in vocabulary learning through constructing the schematically semantic network of vocabulary in a text;2) Learning vocabulary through semantic network of vocabulary in a text was much more beneficial to students' previously-learned vocabulary consolidation and text comprehension;3) The mean scores of the experiment class in the tests were higher than that of the controlled class;4) The result revealed that the experiment class in the production test performed much better than the controlled class.After analyzing the above results, the following tentative conclusions are drawn:1) When learning vocabulary through establishing schematically semantic network of vocabulary ina certain context, students' acquired schema knowledge can activate the relevant knowledge whichfacilitates to-be-learned vocabulary learning and text comprehension, including the vocabulary, thegrammars and some event schemata relating to the text;2) It is based on the text learning to learn vocabulary through schematically semantic network ofvocabulary about a certain text. Because a certain text is composed of many words in their semantic series of certain order, the process of constructing schematically semantic network of words can consolidate students' acquired vocabulary and strengthen to-be-learned vocabulary acquisition, thus, the experiment class performed much better than the controlled class;3) The establishment of vocabulary network makes the learned and to-be-learned words be organized in the form of certain semantic relations schematically; therefore, vocabulary learning will proceed in a meaningful way. Thus, students master not only the forms and meanings of vocabulary but their different usages in various contexts. Thereby, the experiment class got much higher score in the productive vocabulary test;4) To learn vocabulary through semantic network of vocabulary during text learning will make students' text learning more structural and systematic, so vocabulary acquisition and text learning will go on in a compatible manner, which rendered students much more help in the mastery of vocabulary as well as text comprehension.This thesis consists of six parts. Part one is an introduction focusing on the purpose and significance of the present study. Part Two deals with literature review on theoretical and empirical researches on vocabulary acquisition and schema-based vocabulary researches at home and abroad. Part Three introduces some relevant theoretical bases, and discusses the relationship between the proposed theories and the present study, which construct the theoretical framework for the study. Part Four elaborates the experiment itself, mainly including the hypothesis of the present study, the procedures of the experiments, and data collection. Part Five is data analysis and a relevant discussion, which show the experimental class with the help of the schematic semantic network of vocabulary perform much better in vocabulary competence than that of the controlled class. So it is safe to say the teaching method proposed in this thesis is more effective in vocabulary learning and consolidation, thus it indicates the theoretical and pedagogical significance of the study. And the thesis ends with the conclusion, the implications and the limitations of the present study.