Application Of Cultural Background Knowledge To Junior Middle School English Vocabulary Teaching

Language is a part of culture and also the carrier of cultural transmission, both are interdependent and inseparable. Vocabulary is one of the most lively and vital factors that can reflect the change of times and society. So it is not only restricted by culture, but also vividly reflects the unique charm and connotation of national culture. But the cultural connotation of vocabulary is often neglected, and it will directly affect the accuracy of choosing and using the words in expression, and lead to communication barriers. This paper analyses the problems of English vocabulary teaching and cultural background knowledge teaching in the junior middle school. Through the statistical analysis of the results of the questionnaires,tests and interview, the necessity and feasibility of the integration of vocabulary teaching and cultural background knowledge are discussed. In the research, the author emphasized that vocabulary should be put into the actual cultural contexts to undergo teaching activities by ways of comparison of the two languages. In this way, students can understand the vocabulary difference of the two cultures as well as their different forms of expressions so as to know their connotation. The purpose of the research is to make students fully and accurately grasp vocabulary and know how to communicate in real life with the vocabulary.Meta-cognitive strategies in vocabulary learning permit students to plan, control and evaluate their vocabulary learning and these strategies involve planning for learning vocabulary; monitoring of the vocabulary learning process and evaluating their own vocabulary learning and so on. Meta-cognition in general includes the major elements of Planning, Integrating, Monitoring, and Evaluating for various levels of knowledge. The use of meta-cognitive strategies ignites one’s thinking and can lead to higher learning and better performance. Furthermore, understanding and controlling cognitive process may be one of the most essential skills that teachers can help second language learners develop their culture knowledge.This study adopts the methods based on the experiment, and it will be carried on among30students in Tianjin Hedong District Pan Shan Dao Middle School. This study intends to explore the following questions through the three-month experiment:1. Is cultural background knowledge applied to junior middle school English vocabulary teaching helpful to improve students’consciousness of learning the cultural connotation of English vocabulary?2. Is cultural background knowledge applied to junior middle school English vocabulary teaching able to improve students’ ability to use vocabulary appropriately?The experimental results show that difference was found in comparison between pre-test and post-test, questionnaires and interview. It indicates that students can realize the importance of learning vocabulary cultural connotation and search for ways to understand vocabulary cultural connotation under the guidance of teacher. Therefore, the students’ understanding of vocabulary cultural connotation is improved, and their ability of using words correctly and learning English is improved as well.