Effects Of Multimodal Input On Junior High School Students' Acquisition Of English Synonyms:An Empirical Study

Vocabulary is generally believed to be the essential basis of English learning,and vocabulary teaching also plays an important role in English teaching.Chinese English learners have been plagued by English synonyms for a long time,especially synonym pairs with the same Chinese translation as well as pairs with different Chinese translations,which are more difficult for middle school students to learn.However,nowadays,most middle school students in China learn English synonyms only through teachers' explanations in English classes.The single and traditional teaching method and the rigid rote memorization of English synonyms make students gradually lose interest in learning and also it is hard for them to establish a long-term memory of English synonyms.The current situation proves that the traditional way of vocabulary teaching is inefficient and ineffective,which might not well meet students' needs.With the development of modern educational technology,Multimodal Discourse Analysis theory which is based on Systemic Functional Linguistics has emerged.In 1996,a new concept multimodal teaching was firstly advanced by New London Group.They advocated applying multimodal theory into language teaching,which means teachers managedto make full use of multimedia,images,music,role-play and other channels in the teaching process to mobilize students' various sensory responses and to enhance their interests in learning so as to let them actively participate in the dynamic process of language learning.Multimodal input introduces a variety of semiotics such as language,images,sound and movements into the practical teaching process,to fully mobilize students' different senses into their learning,which greatly enriches the means of inputting information and strengthens learners' memory of teaching contents.It helps to improve the students' efficiency and effectiveness of learning English synonyms with the same Chinese translation and different translations.Based on the theory of Multimodal Discourse Analysis Theory and the previous studies,this paper tried to explore the following questions:1)What are the effects of multimodal input on junior high school students' acquisition of same translation pairs?2)What are the effects of multimodal input on junior high school students' acquisition of different translation pairs?3)What are the different effects of multimodal input on acquisition of same translation pairs and different translation pairs?In this study,a multimodal input mode and traditional vocabulary teaching were employed respectively in two intact classes of Junior Three from Jinhua Foreign Language School in Zhejiang.Ten pairs of Englishsynonyms with same Chinese translation and ten pairs with different Chinese translations were chosen as the teaching contents to explain the teaching procedure in details by multimodal input.The results show that those students taught by the multimodal input got higher scores of same translation pairs and different translation pairs than students who were taught by traditional teaching methods.And compared with different translation pairs,the multimodal input is more beneficial to students' long-term memory of same translation pairs.What's more,the multimodal input is far more superior to traditional ways of teaching English synonyms and it can significantly improve students' interests in learning English synonyms as well as their ability to master and use synonyms.The results revealed that the multimodal input has positive effects on junior high school students' acquisition of same translation pairs and different translation pairs,effectively promoting their learning of English synonyms.