An Enploratory Study On Teaching Vocabulary In Context

Vocabulary is a fundamental component of a language and of critical importance to the EFL learners. " Without grammar little can be conveyed and without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" (Wilkins, 1972). Nevertheless, the teaching and learning of vocabulary were undervalued in the field of second language acquisition for quite a long time. Fortunately, in recent decades, more and more linguists, scholars have become increasingly interested in the research of vocabulary instruction. A multitude of books and articles have been written on the basis of researches of effective vocabulary teaching methods. Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus, and taught on a well-planned and regular basis. Both teachers and students have laid more and more emphasis on the teaching and leaning of vocabulary of second language. Some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because 'language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar'.Although "the need for vocabulary is one point on which teachers and students agree on" (Allen, 1983) today, vocabulary and vocabulary instruction were neglected for decades in Chinese SLT (second language teaching). Much more attention was paid to grammatical rules, but vocabulary was seldom mentioned. Students were taught grammatical rules and were required to memorize grammatical points or even be able to analyse grammatical structures in detail in a meaningful context. In this grammar-oriented teaching model, students were incompetent to use the language, which strays from the purpose of SLT. But the situation is quite different now. Much more studies focus on vocabulary instruction. Lots of relevant exploratory, research and empirical articles have been appeared on authoritative and influential issues. Different schools have different attitudes and approaches toward vocabularyteaching, after all, teaching is a complex and subtle process. Some experts ,such as Krashen(1989), Nagy & Herman(1985), James Coady(1997) are in agreement on the method of vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading; but some experts hold opposite opinion. Paribakht and Wesche (1997) concludes that direct instruction led to acquisition of even greater numbers of words as well as more depth of knowledge; Zimmerman(1994) finds that that 3 hours a week of explicit vocabulary instruction plus some self-selected reading were more effective than reading alone; and Jan H. Hulstijin(1997) introduces the keyword method and how to practice it in L2 instruction.And then comes the question " what on earth is an effective and practical method of vocabulary teaching in view of our own practice?". Considering the complexity and subtlety of vocabulary teaching as well as the main problems of students' word acquisition, the thesis aims to explore a more effective and practical method of vocabulary instruction-Teaching Vocabulary in Context, in an attempt to assist students in memorizing words, mastering word meaning and using words correctly. We conduct the study on the basis of cognitive, psycholinguistic and pedagogical theories, combining the theories with years of teaching practice. This study is especially for the students at the intermediate and advanced stages.