Application Of Markedness Theory To English Vocabulary Teaching

Within a language, some words are more marked than others. The less marked ones are relatively easier while the more marked ones are more difficult. According to the Natural Order Hypothesis and Input Hypothesis, the vocabulary input order should maximally correspond with the acquisition order so as to promote students'performance to the greatest extent. Thus the suggestion is that less marked words should be presented ahead of more marked ones.What's more, in comparison between English and Chinese, we find that markedness is not identical in different languages. Some words are more marked in Chinese, while others are more marked in English. This thesis intends to identify the area of difficulty and predict the degree of difficulty on the basis of the comparison between English and Chinese from the perspective of markedness. The correlation between markedness and vocabulary acquisition difficulty is obtained through the analysis of the test papers.Based on the vocabulary acquisition difficulties caused by markedness discrepancy in different languages, the thesis explores the effective teaching methods in tackling those difficulties. Altogether four teaching skills are proposed and exemplified. These methods prove efficient after a comparison of the test results between the experimental class and the controlled class. However, there are other methods that are effective in addition to the four suggested in this thesis. And the four methods suggested are not guaranteed to be efficient on all occasions. Therefore, teachers need to consider the practical circumstances carefully before deciding the most suitable technique.Markedness Theory is of great significance in second language teaching, especially in vocabulary teaching. The proper and efficient use of this theory can largely reduce the teaching burden for teachers while improving students'learning efficiency.