A Study On Associative-mode Based Vocabulary Teaching And Learning In English Classes Of Junior Middle Schools

Vocabulary is the footstone of English learning. As Wilkins (1972) once put it,"Without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed." Vocabulary learning goes through the whole process of foreign language learning, and it plays a crucial role in second language learning. As for listening, speaking, reading, writhing and translation skills, none can work well without vocabulary, the level of which directly determines the overall proficiency of foreign language learning to some extent. At the same time, many learners spend much time in memorizing vocabulary, while the effect is still not evident enough. Thus, how to help students enlarge the amount of vocabulary and improve the efficiency of vocabulary learning becomes the focus of English vocabulary teaching and learning.Based on the above phenomenon, the author makes a large amount of study of previous related researches. After comparative analyses on different learning strategies, based on schema theory, the author puts forward associative-mode based vocabulary teaching and learning, which means learners make use of various characteristics, whether similar or the same, as activating factors to connect one word with another or utilize the existing experience to strengthen words’memory effect. The concrete teaching processes are put forward as well. The teacher adopts associative-mode based vocabulary teaching and learning in the experimental class:the teacher instructs students to learn words and expressions from the glossary; the teacher establishes associations among words and phrases; students review the words and expressions based on the topic of the unit; students read and comprehend the words and expressions in the context; students find out useful expressions in the texts; students retell the texts using the phrases found above; and students do related exercises of words and expressions. Besides, related teaching activities are listed:The teacher selects typical words and expressions to extend associations and encourages students to imitate this method to associate more words and expressions with the help of dictionaries; students review words and expressions according to the topic of the unit; students retell the texts; students finish related exercises; and so on. What’s more, this study testifies the feasibility of associative mode in English vocabulary teaching and learning in second-year students of Junior Middle School, and offers some enlightenments and suggestions for Junior Middle School students to learn English vocabulary.The study is made in Xinjie Central Middle School. One hundred second-grade students taught by the same English teacher in two classes, one being the experimental class and the other being the controlled class, are chosen as the subjects, and the experiment period is a term, about18weeks. The present research employs both the quantitative and the qualitative methods. The statistical description is mainly focused on test papers, including end-of-term examination, Pre-test, Mid-test and Post-test, and it is assisted by the result analysis of the questionnaire. With the aid of the statistical software—SPSS15.0, the author makes comparisons between different groups about the mean, standard deviation, two-tailed significance (p-value) and frequency after the experiment, aiming at testing the following, two hypotheses:(a), associative-mode based vocabulary teaching and learning can facilitate students’English vocabulary learning;(b). associative-mode based vocabulary teaching and learning can help students form autonomous and exploratory learning habits.The result analyses of the research indicate that after the training of associative-mode based vocabulary teaching and learning, students’learning ability improves a lot; meanwhile, their interest in English learning increase a great deal, which in turn increase their confidence in vocabulary learning; and they become more automatic and exploratory in learning.At the end, based on the results of the research, the author lists several implications. For example, English vocabulary learning is a long-term process, which requires learners’constant learning; vocabulary learning cannot exist isolatedly, on the contrary, it must be integrated with listening, speaking, reading and writing; if integrated with context, the effect of vocabulary learning may be even better; besides, multidimensional memory method and classification memory method can be used as well. Afterwards, the author analyzes some limitations of the study, such as the short period of the experiment, and the same teacher teaching EC and CC, resulting in its being hard for the teacher to avoid using associative mode in the control class.In conclusion, both theory and practice show that associative-mode based vocabulary teaching and learning is an effective approach for vocabulary memorization; if used properly, satisfactory results will be obtained.