On How To Teach Confusing Expressions To English Majors At Intermediate Level

Since the 1980s, it is more and more widely accepted thatvocabulary is a fundamental component of a language, since"...withoutvocabulary, nothing can be conveyed." (Wilkins, 1972) and "languageconsists of grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar."(Lewis,1993)In modern society, with the times advancing and the internationalcooperation increasing, English becomes a more and more widely usedlanguage in the world and naturally makes a higher and higher demand onthe teaching and learning of English, especially that of Englishvocabulary.Taking into consideration the increasing importance of Englishvocabulary in international communication, the higher and higherposition of English vocabulary teaching in TEFL and TESL and theproblem of confusing expressions in intermediate-level English majors'vocabulary acquisition together with its main causes as shown in a surveyconducted by the author, a new vocabulary teaching method named theassociating-and-syntagmatically-contrasting method is put forward in thisthesis on the basis of Input Hypothesis, the Theory of InformationProcessing and the Theory of Context and testified through a teachingexperiment to be a vocabulary teaching method more practical to Chineseteachers of English, applicable to more confusing expressions and moreefficient in differentiating confusing expressions.