An Experimental Study Of The Effect Of Context-based Theory On English Vocabulary Teaching At Senior High Schools

Vocabulary, as the footstone of language, is one of the three elements of language. We can't communicate with each other well in English without mastering a certain number of words. Therefore, it is significant to take effective measures to help students to master a certain number of words and use those words correctly. The New Curriculum Standard in Senior Middle School English(revised in 2013) puts forward clear requirements for senior high school students' English vocabulary learning. In the standard range, we can see there are several requirements about vocabulary in Level Seven as follows. Firstly, students should understand function, intention and attitude in the expression of words. Secondly, students should use words correctly to name things, describe behaviors and characteristics, and illustrate concepts. Thirdly, students should learn to use 2400-2500 words and 300-400 idiomatic expressions and fixed collocation. Finally, students should know changes in meaning and new words in daily life. Due to the influence of traditional English teaching methods, there are still many problems in English teaching in senior high school in China. One of the specific performances is that the teachers tend to ignore the specific environment of English words in the teaching process, with making student memorize unknown words through reading and writing again and again. Because of the lack of corresponding context, the efficiency of English vocabulary learning is very low. When using English to communicate, due to the lack of the associative meaning, students' thinking is restricted; as a result, students are not able to communicate in English effectively. Therefore, it is urgent to explore a scientific and effective vocabulary teaching approaches.In order to improve the effect of English vocabulary learning, strength students' ability of vocabulary usage and meet high requirements for the Standard, this research is aimed at adopting empirical analysis method to explore the way to apply context theory in English vocabulary teaching in senior high school. This research has two questions: The first one is can the context-based teaching approach increase students' English vocabulary? The second is can the context-based teaching approach improve students' application of English vocabulary?In order to answer these two questions, the author selected two parallel classes, 90 students as the object of this research for three months of empirical research. The experimental group used the context-based teaching method to teach English vocabulary while the control group adopted traditional teaching method. In three months of experiment, there were two vocabulary tests in research, by comparing pretest scores and post test scores in control class and experimental class, the total score, the width score and the application score were analyzed. Results show that by using context theory in the experimental class, three kinds of scores are all higher than that in control class. Results show that the two hypotheses are established, in the same time,students in the experimental class get a great impro vement in the interest and strategy of vocabulary learning.Therefore, it is feasible and effective to apply context theory to English vocabulary teaching in senior high school. It is imperative for teachers to change traditional ways of English vocabulary teaching to make an effective combination between the context theory and teaching process.