English Vocabulary Acquisition Of Senior Middle School Students From The Perspective Of Iconicity

Vocabulary is the basic material of a language.The famous linguist Wilkins(1972: 111) once said:"Without grammar,very little can be conveyed;without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed." With the deepening of globalization,English plays a vital role in international communication.And the foundation of human communication is vocabulary.For many years,researchers in the west have devoted much to the study of grammar.It was not until 1980s that they turned to the study of vocabulary and achieved some useful conclusions.In China,researchers and teachers are paying more and more attention to English vocabulary acquisition of college students,both English majors and Non-English majors,and little attention has been paid to middle school students.This thesis aims to find out the effect and efficiency of vocabulary acquisition by applying iconicity theory in Senior One.An experiment is conducted in two natural classes.The experiment integrates iconicity theory into English teaching.Four instruments are adopted:an interview,one questionnaire,lectures and tests.The subjects are two Senior One classes at the same level in the same high school.For the experimental class,both linguistic knowledge and iconicity theory are emphasized.The teacher tries as many ways as possible to integrate iconicity theory into English teaching and encourages students to try their best to acquire vocabulary by utilizing iconicity theory.The result is that the score of the experimental class becomes much higher than that of the control class,and there is significant difference between the two classes.The study proves the importance and effectiveness of iconicity theory in English vocabulary acquisition.It is advisable that iconicity theory be applied in English vocabulary teaching and learning in senior middle schools.