An Experimental Study On Association-Based Vocabulary Teaching And Learning In Senior English Class

Words learning is at the centre of English study, and vocabulary learning draws more and more academic concerns both at home and abroad for a long time, especially the research of vocabulary learning strategies.On the basis of a review on the related literature available and comparative study among different strategies, special attention is paid to association strategy in the present study, and association-based words teaching and learning model is proposed, as well as procedure of words learning in class and activities on vocabulary learning. Among them emphasis is put on semantic association, lexical association.The present study seeks to test the following two hypotheses:(1) Association-based model of words teaching and learning can facilitate SEFC students' competence of words learning;(2) Association -based model of words teaching and learning can help SEFC students' to develop self-access and exploring learning style.In order to verify the hypotheses from theories, we have done an experiment with 100 students from Senior Two, who were divided into the experimental class and the control class. During the experiment, the model of association-based words teaching and learning was employed for words learning in the experimental class, whereas the traditional method was applied for words learning in the control class. Meanwhile, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the study, and the data was processed by SPSS (11.0) with values of means, standard deviations, t-tests and two-tail significances as comparative reference.The analysis of the data shows the students in the experimental class did better in words learning and the result of the questionnaire investigation and the observation from the teacher prove that the students in the experimental class changed more in their learning styles from simple and passive reception to self-access, and exploration.Therefore, the experiment has proved that the hypotheses are valid, which indicates that the model of association-based words teaching and learning is efficient in SEFC words learning.There are six sections in this thesis. Section One gives a general statement of the problems in words learning and presents the purposes and significance of the study; Section Two deals with the literature review, from words learning strategies to association repetition strategies, majoring semantic association, and lexical phrases. It also covers the procedure of words learning. Section Three is the rationale of the present study, the semantic net and the internal words; Section Four is a presentation of the design of the experiment, and the procedure and models of words teaching and learning based on association and the activities in classrooms; which is the key part of the study; and the thesis ends with the conclusion, Section Five, in which some limitations and implications are put forward.From this study, we can draw such conclusions: Association-based words teaching and learning in SEFC class is feasible and valid in that it significantly promotes the students' vocabulary learning. Association-based words teaching and learning can also make English study active, because the learning has become more stimulating through the students' participation and the discussion of the words association. The association-based words teaching and learning has to some extent changed the style of learning English. They may have variable and active thinking in learning and problem-solving.