The Prototype Theory-based English Lexical Teaching In Chinese Senior Middle School

As we enter the 21^st century, acquisition of vocabulary has assumed a more important role in learning a second language. However, with the influence of the Traditional Teaching Methodology, vocabulary teaching hasn't gained enough observation in Senior High School English teaching, leading to a low vocabulary size in students. Low vocabulary is hard to develop a certain level of language ability. So New Curriculum Criteria increases the demand of the vocabulary size for senior middle-school students: they should grasp at least 3000 words, which is nearly about the twice of the demanded vocabulary size in the Compulsory Education Syllable. It is, no doubt, a huge challenge to rural Senior High School students. So the teacher is faced with how to teach vocabulary efficiently in a short time.According to the prototype theory, prototype, the cognitive reference-point of all things, is the central member of a category, while other members are extended around it. They are all constructed by family resemblances. So the prototype theory emphasizes the relationship between central members and peripheral members. Therefore, we can use the theory to guide our vocabulary teaching. Students should first acquire basic words and their basic meaning, upon which they further pick up other non-basic words and their extended meanings. This can efficiently activate students' vocabulary hierarchical structure and vocabulary semantic net map, getting them to learn vocabulary through association in a most economic way.So, first the writer makes a questionnaire investigation for 100 students and 26 teachers in Nanyue High School in Shishou, Hubei Province, aiming at having a full knowledge of how English vocabulary is taught and learned in this school. Then we make a vocabulary experiment under the prototype theory for the first year students in Class (8) and Class (9), in order to test its credibility and efficiency. The experiment shows: the prototype theory can not only change the dull classroom atmosphere and activate students' interest in learning English, but also increase their vocabulary size in a quick way and thus improve their language ability. This method can lower the level of cognitive difficulty about vocabulary, enable students to realize that it is not difficult to remember words and intensify their confidence and motivation. The thesis includes five chapters. Chapter One is introduction. Chapter Two is literature review, reviewing four main vocabulary teaching methods (the Grammar-Translation method, the Direct method, the Audio-Lingual method and the Communicative approach) and giving a brief introduction to vocabulary learning strategies and the prototype theory. Chapter Three is an investigation about the current situation in senior middle-school vocabulary teaching. Chapter Four is an experiment of vocabulary teaching under the prototype theory. And ends the conclusion.