Research On English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools Based On The Cultivation Of Cultural Awareness

English vocabulary,the essential element of language learning,is usually considered the cornerstone of English learning.As a result,both teachers and students in senior high school attach great importance to English vocabulary.However,the researcher finds that the current English vocabulary teaching is still focusing on the pronunciation,spelling,morphological changes and literal meaning,while the cultural connotation behind the words doesn't draw adequate attention.That is,the cultivation of cultural awareness has not been well combined with vocabulary teaching.The fact leads to the misunderstanding and misuse of semantic and pragmatic meanings of words in certain contexts and situations,and leads to the failure of students'intercultural communication.Therefore,the thesis is intended to explore the English vocabulary teaching oriented to cultivating students'cultural awareness.Based on theories of Acculturation Adaptation and Transfer of Learning,the author introduces culture into English vocabulary teaching,aiming at finding out the effects of the new vocabulary teaching on the cultivation of the students' cultural awareness,particularly in terms of the students' cultural knowledge and the intercultural communicative competence.In this research,when cultural awareness is mentioned,it means cross-cultural awareness.As a result,the thesis attempts to answer the following two questions:(1)How does the English vocabulary teaching based on cultivation of the students' cultural awareness influence the acquisition of the students' cultural knowledge?(2)How does the English vocabulary teaching based on cultivation of the students' cultural awareness influence the development of the students' intercultural communicative competence?The thesis takes two classes from a senior high school as the subjects of research.The experiment lasts three months.The traditional teaching method is adopted in the control class and the method under investigation is adopted in the experimental class.Tests on the students' cultural knowledge are given before and after the teaching experiment,so is the questionnaire.All the results of the tests and questionnaire are statistically analyzed by SPSS.The findings are as follows:(1)The English vocabulary teaching based on cultivation of the students'cultural awareness contributes to enriching the students'cultural knowledge.During the experiment,the author exercises acculturation in vocabulary teaching in the experimental class,enabling the students have a better knowledge and understanding of the culture conveyed by words,such as the customs,festivals,myths and legends,social rules,taboos,euphemism and so on.This helps to enrich the students' cultural knowledge greatly and lays a solid and sound foundation for the improvement of the students' intercultural communicative competence.(2)The English vocabulary teaching based on cultivation of the students' cultural awareness contributes to the promotion of the students' intercultural communicative competence.The research reveals the English vocabulary teaching with acculturation affects the students' intercultural communicative competence.As we can see from the questionnaire,the intercultural communicative competence is based on the cultural knowledge;and with cultural knowledge increasing,the students' intercultural communicative competence will improve accordingly.The research further suggests that it is necessary and significant to combine culture with English vocabulary teaching in Senior High School.For one thing,it helps enrich the students' cultural knowledge which makes the students learn English vocabulary more efficiently;for another,it helps develop the students' intercultural communicative competence.The thesis also provides evidence to the future research in both theory and practice,namely,English vocabulary teaching and learning can't exist without acculturation.