Combining Culture With Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High School English Classes

It is well accepted that vocabulary is an important carrier of culture. When introducingculture to language classroom, vocabulary is an important layer to combine language withculture. Reinforcement in the cultural connotation of a certain word plays an important role inthe development of learners’ linguistic competence. Therefore, EFL teaching should step intothe cultural background knowledge to identify the cultural function of vocabulary.American linguist Krashen’s Input Hypothesis is one of the most important theories insecond language acquisition. The theory provides a good theoretical framework for China’sforeign language teaching. The author believes teachers should provide appropriatecomprehensible input in vocabulary teaching. Comprehensible input can facilitate the students’understanding of the culture meaning of vocabulary. Therefore, they can understand and usevocabulary more correctly.This research investigates the current situation of combining culture with vocabularylearning in Chinese senior high schools, aiming to combine culture with vocabulary learningaccording to comprehensible input theory in Chinese senior high schools and find out itspractical effect through quantitative and qualitative research. In order to identify theeffectiveness of this approach, an empirical research has been carried out.The research attempts to find answers to the following questions:1. What attitudes do the subjects have towards combining culture with vocabulary learning?2. Whether combining culture with vocabulary teaching is an effective way to improve theirlinguistic competence and English learning ability?According to the results of the experiment, the students of EC outperformed CC after theexperiment. After the treatment, students in the experiment group are aware of the importanceof learning culture-loaded words. They subsequently begin to pay attention to these words andfind a way to understand the background meaning of the words with the guidance of theresearcher. As a consequence, their interpretation of culture-loaded words has been improvedgreatly. Thus their linguistic competence and English learning ability are facilitatedsignificantly.