A Study On Strategies Of English Vocabulary Teaching And Learning In New Oriental School

Pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary are considered to be what a language is constituted. Of the three, vocabulary tops the list. Apart from its greater importance, compared with the other two, in the constituting a language, it also plays a central part when communication competence is concerned, because it is the solid rock upon which listening, speaking, reading and writing skills are based. The importance of vocabulary can never be underestimated. Therefore, great emphasis should be put on vocabulary teaching.The importance of vocabulary teaching should not be ignored, as it is the main way for students to master English words. This paper aims to discover the merits of NOS-styled vocabulary teaching on the basis of the author’s empirical research.This study on vocabulary teaching and learning strategies in New Oriental School is motivated by the following two considerations:on the one hand, despite the importance of vocabulary as the building blocks of a language, and despite the progress that has been made in the research on vocabulary teaching, vocabulary still is the relatively weak link in the chain of language teaching and leaning. The high investment on vocabulary teaching and learning is not in proportion to the low output. Therefore, further work needs to be done in the field. On the other hand, the methods of vocabulary teaching at New Oriental School are widely acknowledged to be special and effective, contributing greatly to the high reputation it enjoys. The writer had taken one of the courses it offered previously and became a member of the group afterwards, the experience of which enabled her to have a direct and deep understanding of its vocabulary teaching mechanism. This passion and persistence made the author mustered her courage to make an empirical research on NOS vocabulary teaching.The empirical research carried out in this study contains two classes, all together39students. The research lasted for ten days, and questionnaires, vocabulary test and classroom observation were initiated during these periods. The purpose of the research is to find, by comparing the experiment group and the control group, that the NOS-styled vocabulary teaching is indeed superior than those ordinary ones. The importance of vocabulary to a language requires that proportionate importance be attached to vocabulary teaching. Teachers should be encouraged to explore new arena of vocabulary teaching, instead of being trapped in the existing ones. In this respect, what has been done in New Oriental School is highly recommended for its ongoing attempts in overcoming the defects of traditional pedagogical strategies and in exploring new ones that not only bring great fame to itself but more importantly are proved to be more effective.