On The Application Of Chunking To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

it is beyond doubt that without vocabulary, nothing can be achieved in the course of language learning. Vocabulary learning is always the basis of language acquisition. And what word teaching method is adopted has a direct profound effect upon the result of word study. The vocabulary of Junior English is relatively small and the meaning and usage of words are simple to master while English for senior high schools has much larger vocabulary and the senses and usage of words are far more complex to grasp. As a consequence, English learning is quite demanding in terms of comprehension and memorization so students have to receive and process large amounts of information at the required rate and accurately enough. As a result, too many learners are lost in the sea of words which seem to be in a mess. What compass will be offered to the students determines whether they can sail out of the bitter sea successfully and happily. All the previous teaching methods do not lay enough emphasis on systematic teaching of vocabulary. For word learning, there are two major approaches. One approach is to acquire words naturally by reading and reciting sufficient English materials. The other is to teach words systematically. The former can not ensure systematization, and the learner comes across new words scatteredly and randomly. Besides, it can not guarantee the frequency of the reappearance of the new words. Furthermore, the course lasts too long and results in low efficiency. The latter, however, seems rather dull and the systematic level is quite low at present. The level at which words are processed remains primitive, such as words arranged or grouped according to the alphabet, subject or meaning, or just according to the stress shared by the words. The situation of students mastering words is rather worrying and far from satisfactory. For example, students’vocabulary is small, and of poor quality, isolated and scattered. They are not able to use words flexibly and appropriately. The study of word teaching is urgent and indispensible.This thesis aims at the application of the theory of chunk to word teaching in senior high schools of China to solve the time consumption and low efficiency. In1956, American psychologist Miller presented the theory chunk, proving that by chunking men can improve the amount of their short-term memory (Miller,1956(63):81-97). Later, linguist Becker brought up the concept lexical chunk (Becker,1975:). Since then, the research on lexical chunks in language teaching has been attached more and more importance to. Now, teaching lexical chunks has become a tendency of foreign language teaching. Chunks include lexical chunks but are more than lexical chunks. In order to distinguish the different contributions and operations in language teaching, the author divides chunks into psychological chunks and lexical chunks (fixed or semi-fixed). The former can be processed freely while the latter are institutionalized thus they can not be processed at will. Although lexical chunks is called differently by scholars abroad, its basic meaning is set phrase and fixed collocation. This thesis introduces its definitions, characteristics and classifications. The chunking method is helpful to solve the problem of low efficiency because it has the following advantages:reducing the burden of memory, increasing the amount of information processed in a short time and raising the speed and accuracy of storing and retrieving information and so forth. Nevertheless, it is obvious that lexical chunk can not solve the matters of the teaching pronunciation, spelling, meaning, usage and collocation of single words, and all these aspects of words must be mastered. Some scholars at home have been doing fruitful exploration in foreign language teaching with the chunking method. Some research in psychological chunks and others in lexical chunks, but none combines the two sorts of chunks, not to mention distinguishing the two concepts explicitly. The author not only discusses the differences between psychological chunks and lexical chunks plainly but also analyzes their respective contributions to teaching English words. And on this basis, the author expounds in detail how to apply the chunking method to word teaching in senior high schools in China, for example, how to teach pronunciation, spelling, how to teach meaning, usage and collocation and how to teach lexical chunks. This thesis comes up with chunks at different levels, even the term of super chunks. Of course, relative vocabulary theory and the feature of high school English words are also introduced to prove the feasibility and reality of carrying out the chunking method in teaching English words in high schools. At the end of the thesis, some problems with the chunking method are put forward and more efforts from other colleagues in educational circle are expected.