Vocabulary Teaching In The Senior Middle School: A Perspective Of Seven Types Of Word Meaning

Vocabulary is one of the three essential elements of a language. The famous linguist Wilkins said, "Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." (qtd. in余德敏2002:12)Vocabulary learning, a very important part of English learning, has attracted more and more attention in English teaching. However, there exist some problems in vocabulary teaching and learning in senior middle schools. On the basis of the results of an experimental study, the writer finds out the following problems in vocabulary learning.First, students are confused with using synonyms. Second, there are a lot of inappropriate collocational errors. Third, students have difficulty in enlarging vocabulary, so they show a poverty about vocabulary. Fourth, students are in lack of understanding the polysemy of basic vocabulary. In addition, the writer also finds out that teachers have not paid enough attention to the teaching of word formation knowledge, cultural background, collocation and so on in the teaching practice.We must find some theoretical bases in order to solve these problems. So the writer discusses how to solve these problems theoretically. Leech categorizes word meaning into seven types: conceptual meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, affective meaning, reflected meaning, collocative meaning and thematic meaning. This kind of categorization enlightens our vocabulary teaching and has a guiding significance in teaching practice. However, generally teachers tend to pay attention to its conceptual meaning while neglecting its other meanings such as connotative meaning and collocative meaning, so we cannot fully understand a word.With the theoretic basis, the writer discusses systematically how to solve these problems. It is suggested that in senior middle schools a teacher apply Leech's theory of "seven types of word meaning" to vocabulary teaching practice so as to help students understand a word better and use a word more accurately.In order to support the application put forward in this thesis, the writer does an experimental study by means of contrast between a control group and an experimental group. It proves that the application of Leech's theory of "seven types of word meaning" to vocabulary teaching is of great use and can help students enlarge vocabulary, have a good command of the depth of vocabulary knowledge: synonymy, polysemy and collocation, and improve English proficiency.