An Experimental Study On English Vocabulary Instruction Effects Based On Comparison Between English And Chinese Semantic Frames In Junior High Schools

Based on the significance of vocabulary in language acquisition,junior high school students' insufficient vocabulary size as well as their failure to good memories of vocabularies,the thesis,regarding the Frame theory of Cognitive Linguistics as the basis of the theoretical framework,probes into a new way of vocabulary instruction as well as its effects.The thesis aims to answer the following two questions:(1)Will the vocabulary instruction based on the comparison between English and Chinese semantic frames contribute to the vocabulary enlargement of junior high school students?(2)What effects will the vocabulary instruction based on the comparison between English and Chinese semantic frames have on the memory of vocabulary of junior high school students?Experimental study was adopted in the research.80 students from Grade 8 Class2 and Class 3 of a school in Guangzhou participated in the experiment.They were divided into two groups: Class 2(the control class,CC for short)and Class 3(the experimental class,EC for short),40 participants each.The EC adopted the vocabulary instruction model based on the comparison between English and Chinese semantic frames while the CC instructed vocabularies in a traditional way.Both of the classes were instructed by the same teacher.The research instruments consist of vocabulary level test,vocabulary size test as well as short-term memory tests and long-term memory tests.The vocabulary level test taken before the experiment was to make sure that there is no statistically significant difference between the two classes,which can make the results more reliable.The short-term memory test was taken an hour later right after the vocabulary instruction class while the long-term memory test was taken a week later after the vocabulary instruction class.And the participants would not be informed of the test before testing.The data were collected by the researcher and the independent sample t test was used to the analysis of the probable differences between the two classes.The vocabulary size test was taken after the experiment to see if the vocabulary instruction based on the comparison betweenEnglish and Chinese semantic frames contributes to the vocabulary enlargement of junior high school students.The results can be shown as the following:(1)In the vocabulary size test,the means of CC are lower than those of EC(10.98 < 12.05;5.20 < 7.13)and their difference is considered to be statistically significant.(2)In short-term memory tests,the means of CC are higher than those of EC(6.18 > 5.38;5.98 > 5.73;6.10 > 5.13;6.38 > 5.43;6.30 > 5.88;6.46 > 5.10;6.33 > 5.13)and their difference is considered to be statistically significant;in long-term memory test,the means of CC are lower than those of EC(5.35 < 6.55;5.65 < 6.63;7.30 > 7.08;6.25 < 7.40;6.38 < 7.40;7.18< 7.90;6.45 < 7.35)and their difference is considered to be statistically significant.On the basis of the data analysis of the experiment,conclusions can be drawn as the following:(1)The vocabulary instruction based on the comparison between English and Chinese semantic frames,to some extent,contributes to the vocabulary enlargement of junior high school students.(2)The traditional way of vocabulary instruction does better in short-term memory of vocabulary of junior high school students;the vocabulary instruction based on the comparison between English and Chinese semantic frames contributes to the long-term memory of vocabulary of junior high school students.The study provides a new theoretical perspective as well as good reference for the vocabulary instruction in junior high school.The implications of the research can be summarized as the following: to begin with,such new perspective of vocabulary instruction does not mean the feasibility of the traditional way;and then,the awareness of making use of Frame Semantics should be raised;besides,teachers can instruct frame-relevant knowledge in class and construct semantic frames for students;finally,it's beneficial for students to enrich their encyclopedic knowledge to construct as many frames knowledge as possible.