A Case Study Of English Vocabulary Teaching In High School Based On Diverse Context Theory

Vocabulary is the foundation of verbal communication. No matter how well one canmaster grammar, if he/she lacks vocabulary to express inner feelings or to understand themessage from other people, the communication can not go smoothly. Therefore,vocabulary is the basis of English teaching.In the traditional English classrooms, students often follow their teacher to learnwords from the teaching materials, and rarely associate words with concrete social context.The method of learning is rather monotonous. With English teaching reform in recentyears, new theories emphasize dynamic meaning in different contexts, i.e., contextsaccount for and limit the meaning. Context theory has been widely regarded as theoreticalguidance in teaching vocabulary in English classrooms. However, whether this ideal hasbeen well implemented in vocabulary teaching remains a question.The current survey study is made to reveal such fact. It firstly introduces theconcepts of ‘context’ and the ‘diverse context theory’. In order to record the vocabularyteaching process, the researcher makes observation of three teachers’ vocabulary teachingin five classes of a senior high school. The observation focuses on the contextualembodiment of vocabulary teaching and students’ response to different teachingtechniques when teachers are teaching vocabulary. The observation reveals that thetraditional method is still frequently used by the teachers, the features of context designare not obvious. However, when teacher creates diverse context and takes the arrangementof teaching material and the students’ interest into consideration, the students becomemore positive and active. The created diverse context can improve students’ initiative oflearning vocabulary.Based on the observation, suggestions for vocabulary teaching in the classroom are put forward: diverse context should be more actively created in teaching vocabulary inthat it can stimulate learners’ interest and make vocabulary learning more effective.