Application Of The Semantic Field Theory To Vocational English Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary teaching plays an important role in English teaching and learning. More and more researchers and teachers begin concentrating on it. However, vocabulary teaching is still considered to be inefficient and time-consuming, and some misunderstandings still exist in vocabulary teaching and learning. Semantic field theory was first proposed by German scholar J. Tries. According to this theory, words are related, which forms a complete vocabulary system. Therefore, in the semantic field presentation mode, words are presented in a certain concept to form a certain semantic field so that we can acquire vocabulary more easily and precisely by analyzing and comparing the semantic relationship between words.In the thesis, the author studies vocabulary teaching and learning by using semantic field theory, and mainly discusses three questions:1) Which is more effective in vocabulary teaching and learning, the semantic field approach or the traditional approach?2) What is the effect of semantic field approach on vocabulary teaching and learning in vocational colleges?3) What do learners think of the effect of semantic field approach to their vocabulary learning?Based on some basic notions and relevant theories, the theoretic framework of the research is constructed. And according to this, the author designs two vocabulary tests. In the research, the author chose two classes of second-year students from Nanjing Yingtian College as subjects of the study. One class is taken as the Control Group with40students and the other as the Experimental Group with41students. The first test has two purposes:1) to check students’ English vocabulary level;2) to compare experimental group and control group to see whether the two groups are comparable. In the first test, the two groups shared similar mean score. With the help of the software SPSS, the author got the result that the two groups were comparable. Then throughout the experiment, the experimental group received the semantic field approach, and the control group received the traditional teaching method. After two semesters, both groups were tested again. The mean score of the experiment group is33.1613, while the mean score of the control group is26.9333. The results showed the students in the experimental group obviously performed better in vocabulary learning. In order to supplement the experiment and make the results more reliable, a conversational interview was conducted in the experimental group after the experiment, and the major findings are:1) The semantic field approach is more effective than the traditional approach in vocabulary teaching and learning.2) The semantic field approach can help cultivate students’ interest in learning English vocabulary, and it can improve the vocational college students’ efficiency in vocabulary learning.3) Students are favor of this new approach and hope that the teacher can continue this mode of vocabulary teaching and learning. All these prove that the application of semantic field to vocabulary teaching and learning in the vocational college is feasible and effective.