On the situational teaching of vocabulary

【Abstract】The paper mainly uses the situational theory combined with vocabulary teaching to analyze the effect of teaching in order to make students have an ability to master more vocabulary knowledge and express themselves well.

【Key words】Situational Teaching; Vocabulary Teaching

1. Introduction

Teaching vocabulary plays a very important role in the foreign language teaching. However， there is a phenomenon which we called “Dumb English” in China. According to the observation， the problem is caused by the ways Chinese teachers teach. In addition， a lot of schools do not have enough facilities such as English laboratory， LCD， and other multimedia. So based on the phenomenon the researchers try to teach English vocabulary by using Situational Language Teaching（SLT）.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Theory of language

Structuralism is the theoretical basis of the Situational Language Teaching. It was proposed by Jean Piaget and Lev.S Vygotsky. It believed that the learners are the subjects of the information processing and the initiative constructors of the knowledge. Here are five slogans of structural linguists： Language is speech， not writing; A language is a set of habits; Teach the language， not about the language; A language is what its native speakers say， no what someone thinks they ought to say; Languages are different.

2.2 Theory of learning

The Situational Language Teaching is based on the behaviorist psychology theory. It was proposed by J.B Watson the B.F.Skinner. This theory stresses that human and animals should be studied from physical process. According to Palmer， there are three processes in learning a language. The first one is receiving the knowledge or materials， the second one is remembering the language by repetition， and the last one is using the language in actual practice in the real situation. The learners are supposed to deduce the meaning from the situations and explanation.

3. Application in English vocabulary teaching

Specifically， here are some concrete situational teaching methods to improve vocabulary teaching.

The first one is telling stories. It means that the teacher makes the students create stories through imagination by the learned words. This method does not need complex procedures but clear directions given by the teacher.

（1） Show certain words to students.

（2） Give clear directions.

（3） Ask students to create their stories within the set time.endprint

（4） Ask students to tell their stories and stress the given words.

（5） Select some better stories to share with others.

The second one is using social context. Teachers should try to create certain social context to help students consolidate their vocabulary. For example， teachers can help students review the words through showing relative programmers. These programmers can make students recall the meaning of the words better because they add some relative mew materials into exiting cognitive units.

The third one is introducing cultural backgrounds. When the teachers teach some new words， they should try to dig its cultural backgrounds， especially the difference between China and America. For example， the word “red” represents auspicious things and joyous atmosphere in China. However， it represents a kind of dangerous signal like “red-tapism”， “red cock” in America.

4. Conclusion

Situational language Teaching method is an efficient way for the students to help them remember the new words quickly and also a good method for the teachers to teach vocabulary. Situational Language Teaching approach mainly focuses on situation-based learning， as opposed to the traditional approaches that rely more on methodological explications. It is designed to help students gain confidence by understanding the practical use of the words.

Every approach has its own characteristics， so we need to evaluate them and choose a suitable method for our own teaching. Here for our vocabulary teaching， the teachers the and students all should try their best to find more efficient methods， especially the Situational Teaching method， to improve and enlarge students' vocabulary.

References：

[1]Richards，Jack C.And Theodore S.Rodgers.Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，2005.

[2]李紅.詞匯教學法與研究生英語教學[M].山東外語教學，2005 （02）.

作者簡介：徐圓（1989.7-），女，吉林省吉林市人，英語專業研究生，初級職稱，研究方向：英語教學法。endprint