Enhancing Journior Middle School Students’ Attention In English Vocabulary Learning

Attention is the key factor for students to participate actively in class learning as well as an important aspect for teachers to improve their teaching efficiency and effect.Good attention can help students understand the textbook well and improve their English learning interest and efficiency.Vocabulary is considered to be one of the major and difficult areas for junior middle school teachers and students.This thesis focuses on helping teachers develop their skills in designing teaching materials,and drawing students’ attention to fulfilling their learning tasks efficiently.Based on Schmidt’s Noticing Hypothesis,the experimental research took students of Grade Seven from Xie-Gou Central School in Datong County,Qinghai Province as subjects,analyzing the causes of middle school students’ lack of attention.An experimental class and a control class were set up during the research.On the one hand,according to the English curriculum standard,Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives,the 3 aspects(frequency,salience,task demands)of the Noticing Hypothesis and the questionnaire results,some new methods and teaching activities were employed in the experimental class to enhance the students’ attention to English teaching.On the other hand,the normal vocabulary teaching method was applied in the control class,which was generalized from the result of a questionnaire survey on some teachers.The 2 classes used the same teaching materials and class hours.Firstly,an experiment was about the frequency and perceptual salience.The teaching material was Unit 2 “This is my sister” of Grade 7.In the experimental class the teacher adopted a variety of activities to highlight and increase the frequencies of the new words,while in the control class,the teacher taught the new words with the normal method such as self-studying the words,explaining their meaning and usage in the context,reading them with the recorder.After finishing the unit,the students were tested using the teacher’s exam paper.It was found that the average score ofexperimental class was 59.45,and that of the control class was 53.38,with no significant difference between the 2 classes.However,the experimental class performed slightly better than the control one.Secondly,on the basis of the task demands,another teaching experiment was employed to check whether clear task demands can enhance students’ attention and improve their output.The teaching content was Unit 3 “Is this your pencil” of Grade 7.In the experimental class,the teacher told the students clearly about the learning task and gave them classroom instruction.The students followed the instruction and finished tasks well.In the control class,the students finished their learning,following the order of the materials in the textbook,not the teacher’s task requirement.When finishing the unit,the students were tested with the teacher’s exam paper.It was found that the average score of the experimental class was 64,while that of the control class was 58.The difference was not statistically significant between the 2 classes.However,the experimental class slightly outperformed the control class.To sum up,it is necessary for teachers to pay enough attention to junior middle school students who are transforming from unintentional attention to intentional attention.Before class,teachers should have student-centered teaching philosophy.They need to design teaching goals and tasks suitable for the students according to the English curriculum standards and Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives.In class,teachers need to pay attention to the learning process,giving clear learning tasks and instruction,taking active activities of various forms to increase the frequencies and perceptual salience of learning materials,so that the students can experience the language and optimize their evaluation of the class at the same time.After class,the students can finish their exercises well and build up their confidence in learning English well.