How to Teach English Vocabulary in Middle School

郭榮

【Abstract】Vocabulary learning which can be counted as the foundation of English learning has been the students Achilles heel. Along with the empirical exploration on English vocabulary， the author draws on basic principles and the weak points in current vocabulary teaching to analyze three new teaching vocabulary approaches for the sake of improving teaching efficiency.

【Key words】New English Curriculum Standard； vocabulary teaching； efficiency

1. Introduction

Under the New English Curriculum Criteria， vocabulary teaching still does not match the new criteria that are held responsible for the consequences：the teacher does not give students much opportunity to practice vocabulary in a pleasurable language atmosphere， but imparts knowledge in a traditional mechanic approach. And vocabulary teaching nowadays is also paucity of system and can hardly cultivate students cultural perception. Vocabulary which is hailed as one of the three major elements in language leaning is supposed to put forward unprecedented urgent demand to keep abreast of the trend.

2. Literature Review

Professor Allen， in the light of his teaching experiences， gives us suggested model for teaching vocabulary：expanding vocabulary by mapping within conceptual domains etc. According to the domestic research， from the perspective of the vocabulary classification， it is based on the term “taxonomy” as an independent sense relationship in lexicon， which can be classified into four parts：basic concepts concerning taxonomy， characteristics of taxonomy， classification of taxonomy and grounds for taxonomy.

3. The Contents and Principles of Vocabulary Teaching

3.1 The Contents of the Vocabulary Teaching

The paramount importance of vocabulary pronunciation， vocabulary spelling and vocabulary meaning cannot be ignored. It is easy to have spelling mistakes for beginners. The sound reasons attributed to the spelling errors are that mispronounced words， the form of knowledge representation and mistakes relevant to the grammar can be counted as the culprits.

3.2 The Principle of Vocabulary Teaching

Teaching of the vocabulary also has its own property valued for its principles that encompass various facets which can be basically intended to restore minors confidence for English learning.

3.2.1 Systematic principle.

Learning is the reconstruction of the cognition map. Therefore， it is necessary for teachers to build the relation between new words and prior knowledge. The purpose of the design is to make the cognition structure become more systematic， which can activate beginners passion for learning， have them immunized to the native language and can be hailed as a ready-made panacea.endprint

3.2.2 Communicative principle.

Language is the tool of communication. The ultimate goal of English learning is to communicate with others. Therefore， teachers should create an atmosphere where students can communicate with others and get a glimpse of the diversity of language structures and the various possibilities of language expressions， tapping into the preserve of students latent capacity， which is a fixed- solution to improve learning efficiency and can exert tremendous influence on the fledgling birds.

4. Vocabulary Teaching Methods

4.1 Lexical Chunks Teaching

It simply refers to lexical phrases. Teachers should prepare the frequently used lexical phrases with regard to the word， which has its peculiar structures， basic meanings and can be adjusted subtly as the prototype. It is a special language unit that has been endowed with the characteristics of the vocabulary and grammar.

4.2 Context Teaching

Context teaching can be specified as the relation in words， phrases， sentences. The best internalization comes from encounters with words within the context surrounding discourse rather than separating words or focusing on dictionary definitions. And most words have more than one interpretation. Without the context surrounding discourse， the word meaning can hardly be defined.

4.3 Classification Teaching

It delineates that teachers put some similar words together according to their special characters. Classification teaching can be categorized into three main parts：topic classification， meaning classification and grammar property classification.

5. Conclusion

In this dissertation， the author mainly demonstrates the feasible countermeasures to crack the nuts ahead of us. Teachers can explore and innovate the vocabulary teaching approaches to meet the ever-changing standards， avoiding the plain interpretation， which will be the biggest splash.endprint