Application Of The Context Theory To Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Vocabulary is an essential part of English learning in senior high schools.It is difficult for students to deal with problems in vocabulary study,such as the difficulty in memorizing vocabulary,weak memory and a great quantity of vocabulary.Teachers pay much attention to the language usage,but they ignore students’ understanding of words,which cause unsatisfactory teaching effects.In order to solve the problem,the thesis applies Context theory to the English vocabulary teaching in senior high schools,and probes into its effects.According to Context theory and extensive reading of relevant research,based on Word Power in Advance with English,taking senior two English teachers and students in XX School in Changsha,Hunan as the research objects,the thesis adopts the methods of questionnaire,interview and test to solve two questions.One is how teachers design vocabulary teaching in combination of Context theory and Word Power in Advance with English and the other is how Context theory affects student’s vocabulary learning strategies.Firstly,the thesis introduces systematic principles,relevant principles and cultural principles.In order to expound some ideas and matters when designing vocabulary teaching,some vocabulary teaching cases are designed based on Word Power and Context theory.Then taking Word Power of Model 5 unit2 as teaching content,combining Context theory and principles stated above,a vocabulary teaching class is carried out.Finally,sorting out and analyzing the data of vocabulary dictation,questionnaire and interview,its effects is analyzed from vocabulary teaching effect and vocabulary learning strategy.It shows that when designing vocabulary teaching,teachers should pay more attention to Word Power,using Context theory to deal with teaching materials,strengthening the usage of vocabulary in context when designing the homework.In terms of vocabulary teaching effects based on Context theory,vocabulary memory effects and the scores of dictations have been improved,and vocabulary learning strategies become diverse.Students can use context to speculate the meaning of new words;they can establish the system of vocabulary with the help of situation context;they can learn the cultural knowledge of vocabulary in cultural context so that they can develop the interest in English vocabulary learning.