A Study On The Effect Of Theme-based Vocabulary Instruction On Senior High School Students’ English Vocabulary Review

English vocabulary is the basic element of English language and an indispensable part of English learning.The National English Curriculum Standard(2017)points out that the thematic context is one of the six elements of the English curriculum content in senior high school,which includes Human and Self,Human and Society,Man and Nature.Theme-based instruction is a popular foreign language teaching method recently,which refers to the teaching method that the language learning is organized around a certain theme.In recent years,most of the studies at home and abroad focus on the effect of theme-based instruction on students’ English reading or writing,few studies fixing on vocabulary.Therefore,how to apply theme-based instruction to senior high school English vocabulary teaching and learning is a problem worthy of our attention.This study,under the framework of theme-based instruction,is conducted from the perspective of the practical teaching and students’ present vocabulary learning situation.Therefore,this thesis,based on the theory of memory,input hypothesis,output hypothesis and information processing theory as the theoretical guidance,aims to explore the effect of theme-based vocabulary instruction on senior high school students’ English vocabulary review so as to offer feasible approaches to English vocabulary teaching and learning of senior high school.The research questions of this study are as follows:1.What is the effect of theme-based vocabulary instruction on vocabulary retention of English vocabulary review for senior high school students?(1)What is the effect of theme-based vocabulary instruction on the short-term memory of English vocabulary review for senior high school students?(2)What is the effect of theme-based vocabulary instruction on the long-term memory of English vocabulary review for senior high school students?2.Which group of the students,the high achievers or the low achievers,is more affected by theme-based vocabulary instruction in vocabulary review?3.What is the effect of theme-based vocabulary instruction on senior high school students’ affective learning(vocabulary learning motivation,vocabulary learning strategy,vocabulary cooperative learning ability)for English vocabulary review?The study consists of two parts:quantitative research and qualitative research.The quantitative research consists of an experiment and a questionnaire.The participants of the study,who have the similar vocabulary level according to the vocabulary test before the experiment,are 90 students of Senior Two from the two classes taught by the same author,each class having 45 students.One class is randomly selected as the experimental class and the other as the control class.In the experimental class,the author employs theme-based vocabulary instruction to help students review vocabulary while in the control class,the traditional vocabulary teaching method is used.At the end of the two-month experiment,the students in both classes take part in the immediate vocabulary test.A week after the end of the experiment,the students in both classes participate in the delayed vocabulary test.Then,the questionnaire is administered to students at the end of the experiment,consisting of 12 statements,which covers three categories concerning students’vocabulary learning motivation,vocabulary learning strategy and vocabulary cooperative learning ability.The data of the vocabulary tests and questionnaires are statistically analyzed by SPSS 19.0.Qualitative research is conducted in the form of the interview at the end of the experiment,of which the interviewees are eight students from the experimental class.Four are from the high achievers and the other four come from the low achievers.The interview process is recorded by equipment,and after the recording,it is converted into texts for further analysis and discussion.The detailed analyses of quantitative research and qualitative research yield the findings as follows.Firstly,theme-based vocabulary instruction can improve vocabulary retention of English vocabulary review for senior high school students on the whole.To be specific,the result of the immediate vocabulary test reveals that the application of theme-based vocabulary instruction does not have much effect on senior high school students’ short-term memory.However,theme-based vocabulary instruction has a greater effect on the long-term memory of senior high school students as p value is lower than.05 after the independent sample t test of the delayed vocabulary test.The qualitative analysis of the interview uncovers that the students in EC are exposed to different meaningful topics and texts,learning these moderately difficult words with efforts and then absorbing them,which help them form long-term memory of the words.Besides,the participants of EC,compared with those of CC,have more opportunities to process the word information deeper through various tasks,which can help them keep more lasting vocabulary retention based on themes.Secondly,theme-based vocabulary instruction has a greater effect on the low achievers than the high achievers as the mean difference of the low achievers between the immediate vocabulary test and the delayed vocabulary test is higher than that of the high achievers.It can be seen in the records of the interviews that the low achievers in EC have access to meaningful and interesting texts.Their learning motivation is more stimulated and thus they are more active than the high achievers.Besides,they have more chances to express their views and cooperate with other students through various tasks.Thirdly,theme-based vocabulary instruction also exerts various effects on senior high school students’ affective learning(vocabulary learning motivation,vocabulary learning strategy,vocabulary cooperative learning ability)for English vocabulary review as the results of the questionnaire reveal that there exist significant differences between EC and CC.Specifically,the analyses of the results of the questionnaire disclose that theme-based vocabulary instruction can more stimulate student’s motivation of vocabulary review as they are attracted by different topics and tasks.Students instructed by theme-based vocabulary instruction are more interested in English vocabulary review lessons than those who are taught by the traditional vocabulary teaching method.Teaching vocabulary based on the theme helps students eliminate tension and they are more active in participating in English vocabulary review lessons.Besides,theme-based vocabulary instruction enhances student’s learning strategy of vocabulary review.They are more able to find connections between different words according to the theme.It is easier for them to infer the meaning of the words by context based on themes.After the vocabulary teaching method,they are more able to classify different words based on themes and put the words and its collocations into themes for better vocabulary retention.In addition,theme-based vocabulary instruction promotes students’ cooperative learning ability of vocabulary review as the students in EC,compared with those in CC,are more likely to communicate with classmates energetically through tasks.They are more able to join in group discussion actively and express their opinions clearly in the tasks.Students’ attention can be fixed and it is more likely for them to listen to others’ opinions carefully.The implications of this study are as follows.1)Teachers can change the way of vocabulary review teaching and put vocabulary review teaching based on the theme.2)Teachers should teach students vocabulary in accordance of their aptitude and a variety of tasks should be assigned for students at different English vocabulary size for better vocabulary retention.3)Teachers should encourage students to express their opinions in English vocabulary teaching and improve students’ cooperative learning ability in group tasks.