| Vocabulary is a very important part of language learning which is getting more and more attention nowadays.Lots of students learn vocabulary passively in English classes in the middle school,which is ineffective and time-wasting.It could neither inspire students' interest in learning vocabulary,nor could it train their corresponding ability at all.How to help students remember,understand,search for and use English vocabulary is an important issue requiring more research efforts.Applying cognitive linguistics to the acquisition and teaching practice is a helpful attempt.So far,Scholars have introduced many theories of cognitive linguistics into second language acquisition studies.Yet,how to apply the theory of frame semantics to second-language vocabulary acquisition has got little attention,not to mention the action research in this field.Frame semantics provides a different way to understand and describe the meaning of words.To understand the meaning of a word,one has to know the semantic frame,the word's relationship with key words and its application scene according to the frame semantics theory.The core question is thus to know words' meaning,their usage and their linguistic relation with other words for second-language study.This is the context why the author attempts to study second-language vocabulary acquisition on the basis of the frame semantics theory.The action research in the study aims to find out whether the frame semantic could improve the students' ability of vocabulary learning and have a positive influence on the teaching as well.The subjects of the research is a class of students in Grade Eight from Jingzhou Chengfeng School.The study has three research questions:1)Can this action research promote the students' interest in learning English vocabulary?2)Can this action research improve the students' ability to memorize vocabulary?3)Can this action research improve the students' ability to use vocabulary more flexibly?Based on the students' cognitive regularity,vocabulary learning strategies and the theory of vocabulary teaching,the author has designed a series of activities to guide students to identify,summarize,store and use vocabulary frame with the purpose of improving students' ability to learn vocabulary so as to promote their academic performance.The thesis explains the background of this research,illuminates the theoretical basis of the research and demonstrates the current situation of vocabulary teaching both at home and abroad.The author gets the following conclusions after careful analysis of students' test scores: 1)Vocabulary teaching under the guidance of Framework linguistics is workable and effective;2)The students has made progress with the help of strategies for vocabulary learning;3)Framework vocabulary training can also improve students' ability to use words;4)The students are doing better on the comprehensive utilization of vocabulary and English learning achievements.Main purposes of this research are to inspire students' interest in vocabulary leaning,to expand their vocabulary and to enhance their ability to use English words properly.Students who has adopted vocabulary frame approach has made greater progress than before.The most important result is that the students has mastered some effective study strategies and developed a good habit of reviewing.Meanwhile,students' are interested in English learning and become more skillful in communication and cooperation.These gains are conducive to learning not only English but also other subjects,which could even lay a strong foundation for lifelong learning.There are a number of limitations for the study: the scope of the participants is limited and they are chosen randomly;the teaching plan based on the Frame Semantics theory in this study still has some flaws;this teaching method demands teachers of high theoretical preparation.It is argued that there is a lot to be done to make this method more plausible and effective through further studies. |
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