An Empirical Study On Narrative Approach In Junior High School English Vocabulary Instruction

Based on the narrative and cognitive theories, the narrative approach is an approach by which the teaching contents are devised and presented in a narrative way. By applying the narrative approach, the teacher can construct an authentic learning situation for students to learn vocabulary. The interesting activities of narrative approach can fully mobilize students’ enthusiasm of learning and tap their imagination and creativity to the maximum so as to improve their vocabulary ability and interest in learning. In 2009, for the first time, the narrative approach is put forward, and applied to English instruction by Professor Xiong Muqing and Professor Deng Da. Up to now, the researches on narrative approach are relatively few and there is very limited empirical research relating to the narrative approach on English vocabulary instruction in junior high school.Vocabulary is the cornerstone of language. So vocabulary instruction is an indispensable part of English teaching. Junior high school students spend most of their time on English vocabulary learning but achieve little. The reason is that the traditional vocabulary teaching method is relatively mechanical and boring. Therefore, the students’ learning interest is not high and the learning efficiency is comparatively low.Based on the problems in the vocabulary instruction, the author applies the narrative approach to the English vocabulary teaching practice of junior high school. This research mainly focuses on three research questions:1. In comparison with the traditional teaching method, what are the advantages of narrative approach in Junior High School vocabulary teaching?2. Can the narrative approach arouse the students’ interest in English learning and encourage students to take an active part in the class activities?3. Is the narrative approach more effective in enhancing students’ vocabulary application ability and comprehensive English ability?In order to verify the effectiveness of the narrative approach, in 2014 the author made a 16-week empirical study from September to December in which the author conducting a teaching experiment by selecting two classes from Grade two of No.80 Middle School in Dalian respectively as the experimental class(EC) and the control class(CC). The experimental class adopts the narrative approach in vocabulary instruction while the control class uses the traditional method to teach vocabulary. Before the experiment a pre-test is given to the two classes so as to confirm that students of the 2 classes are at the same English level. After the experiment, the author conducts the post-test to attest the validity and reliability of narrative approach in English vocabulary instruction. The author also does a questionnaire investigation in the experimental class to test whether the students’ interest in vocabulary learning has been enhanced as well as what their attitudes towards the narrative approach are. The author conducts the T-test for independent sample of the experiment data by using SPSS 17.0 software. The research results show that the narrative approach is more effective in enhancing students’ vocabulary ability and learning interest compared with the traditional vocabulary teaching method.This thesis is aimed at studying the application of narrative approach to English vocabulary instruction in junior high school, which provides an optional effective approach for the vocabulary instruction. Nevertheless, due to some subjective and objective reasons, there are still some limitations in this thesis, and based on this, the thesis proposes some suggestions for the future research.