Towards English Vocabulary Teaching Methods In Middle School

Vocabulary teaching and learning is an important part of English teaching and learning. From the perspectives of linguistics, cognitive science, pedagogy, and psychology, this thesis makes an attempt to explore effective and practical methods or techniques that are appropriate for teaching and learning English vocabulary at middle schools in China.First, the thesis provides a short survey of the known research fruits concerning English lexicon and English vocabulary teaching & learning (EVTL) published at home and abroad before it expounds the importance of EVTL by quoting many famous scholars. Next, the thesis presents the present reality and the inefficiency problem with EVTL in Chinese middle schools before it discusses the main reasons: lack of knowledge of English lexicology; lack of cultural knowledge relevant to words and idioms; employment of impractical traditional approaches. Then, from the angle of various disciplines the writer introduces and illustrates over a dozen of effectual and feasible methods or techniques suitable for EVTL in Chinese middle schools. They are: teaching & learning English words and expressions by tracing their etymology; teaching & learning English words by making good use of morphology; teaching & learning English words and phrases by stressing their collocations; teaching and learning English idioms by associating them with their origins; teaching & learning English words and expressions by clarifying their ambiguous meanings; teaching & learning English words by expounding cultural elements involved; teaching & learning English words by explaining their figurative meanings; teaching & learning English words by adopting the method of comparison; teaching & learning words by using classification; teaching & learning words by using them in sentence patterns; teaching & learning words and expressions by analyzing the context; teaching & learning English words and phrases by creating and utilizing communicative situations; teaching & learning English words and phrases by making effective use of available multi-media; teaching & learning English words by drawing upon pictures, slides, etc. Finally, the...