An Empirical Research On The "Anti-dictionary" Micro-Techniques Of Teaching/Learning English Vocabulary

As it is known to all, vocabulary is the core in language and plays an essential and important role in language study. Study on vocabulary teaching and learning strategy and techniques began from 1970s. The earliest study concentrated on the methods, strategies and behaviors of successful learners. In recent years, foreign language teaching has changed a lot, and teaching and learning strategies are paid attention by teachers and researchers. At the same time, vocabulary has drawn more attention in language system than before. The study of vocabulary has transformed to the study of vocabulary acquisition strategies. Many scholars abroad have made great progress in this category; at home, researchers and teachers also have made a lot of achievements.On the basis of former studies, the author first of all raised the concepts of"dictionary"techniques and"anti-dictionary"techniques of teaching and learning English vocabulary according to her years of English teaching and learning. The former refers to the techniques that are systematic, well-planed, in large quantities and with an overall understanding of a vocabulary, but lack a consideration of specific situation and need more acts according to the changing situation. Instructions of roots, affix, word formation, sense relations, word lists and so on are considered as"dictionary"techniques of teaching and learning vocabulary; the latter are techniques that break the systematization and completeness of dictionary-like techniques, change large quantity into bits and pieces, make a concrete analysis of specific situation, do more acts according to the changing situation. Learning and teaching vocabulary in situations and context is one of the"anti-dictionary"techniques.In the empirical research, the author supposed that the two kinds of techniques have an effect on vocabulary acquisition. Questionnaire, test and interview were adopted as the instruments, and qualitative study and quantitative study complemented each other. Several crossing experiments have been carried out through 60 middle school students and 109 English major students for three months to compare and analyze the difference of their vocabulary learning strategies. The data of experiments are put into the computer and analyzed by SPSS. The conclusion is summarized as the following: 1, the phenomena of"dictionary"and"anti-dictionary"techniques of teaching and learning English vocabulary which the author raised do exist; 2, in traditional teaching and learning vocabulary,"dictionary"techniques are usually applied in English beginners and"anti-dictionary"techniques, advanced English learners; 3, it is supported by the data that the application of"anti-dictionary"techniques can effectively influence the vocabulary acquisition of English beginners and"dictionary"techniques have an effect on the vocabulary acquisition of advanced learners; 4, consequently, the combination of"dictionary"and"anti-dictionary"techniques can be a new method of vocabulary teaching and learning; 5, it is important to follow a principle of different stresses in different stages and different ages, i.e. for beginners,"anti-dictionary"techniques play the leading role and"dictionary"techniques, mainly for advanced learners. Along with the accumulation of learners'strategy and their age,"dictionary"techniques will gradually become the leading strategy of acquiring vocabulary.According to the result of the study, the author proposed some suggestions on the future study of vocabulary teaching and learning: the range of the study should be broadened in the future so that the functions of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies towards different learners can be studied in a more scientific and systematic way. In addition, factors that can influence vocabulary learning should be taken into account, such as personality, motivation, learning style, aptitude, and so on. What's more, the time of study should be longer (one year or longer) in order to observe different subjects more correctly.The author also exemplified several items of"dictionary"techniques and"anti-dictionary"techniques on the basis of the result of the study, and wished it helpful and useful to teachers and foreign language learners.There are still some limitations in this research, such as: with the limitation of concrete conditions, it is difficult to guarantee all the data are objective; the design and structure of the questionnaire, the tests and the interview need improving; the range of study is not large enough. Not all learners differences are taken into consideration. The mentioned above will have a negative effect on the result of study. But the author will always believe the result can shed some lights on English vocabulary teaching and learning.