A Survey, Analysis And Pedagogical Suggestions On English Vocabulary Teaching And Learning In Senior High Schools In Shanghai

Vocabulary is one of the three major components that constitute English language knowledge (the other two are phonetics and grammar), is the foundation of all English language skills, so vocabulary plays a crucial role in foreign language instruction. Just as linguist M. McCarthy (1990) claims that no matter how good one's grammar is and how beautiful one's pronunciation is, but if one has no adequate vocabulary to express one's own feelings or to understand others' opinions, one still cannot communicate with others in this language. Harmer (1990) also points out that "If we compare language structure as the sketch of language, vocabulary is the thing that provides important organs as well as blood and flesh."While many linguists (such as Carter, 1987; Zimmerman, 1997) hold the idea that vocabulary teaching has not obtained enough or little emphasis it deserves in classroom English instruction, the situations of English education in China are quite different. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of English teachers and learners are attaching great importance to vocabulary teaching and learning. After many reforms of textbooks in Shanghai's high schools, the current new textbook further embodies the emphasis on higher vocabulary requirements for students in senior high schools made by the educational decision-making department and educatorsDue to the above reasons, the thesis aims to investigate the current situations of vocabulary teaching instruction on the basis of the textbook reform in Shanghai's senior high schools, analyze the existing problems and eventually put forward some pedagogic suggestions on vocabulary instruction.The thesis consists of the following six chapters:Chapter One introduces the general description of the study. It discusses the importance of vocabulary in second language learning, the necessity of vocabulary learning strategies research, the intention of research in senior high schools, the research questions, and the overall structure of the thesis as well.Chapter Two reviews the brief development of vocabulary instruction, the relevant literature of vocabulary learning strategies both in the West and in China that is closely associated with the research of the thesis.Chapter Three presents the methodology and procedures of the research including two parts: quantitative and qualitative study.Chapter Four provides the results and discussions of the data collected and processed. It introduces the data collection and analysis in details.Chapter Five suggests some effective methods of promoting the students' learning strategies.Chapter Six draws the conclusions of the whole research. It summaries the study and gives answers to research questions, meanwhile, it points out the limitations and suggestions for further research.