A Study On The Application Of The Form-focused Instruction In College Vocabulary Teaching

Vocabulary constitutes the building blocks of a language to which English is no exception and abundant and useful words are the basis for the ability of language expression. The methodologies in vocabulary teaching are so mechanical that the students spend lots of time in memorizing new words. However, the outcomes are generally poor. Therefore, it is badly in need of developing new ways in vocabulary teaching and learning from a different perspective.In the past 30 years’research, the understanding of form-focused instruction is changing and developing successively. The FFI witnessed its prosperity abroad and recently FFI has been empirically evaluated using a variety of methodologies. FFI focus both on meaning and also on forms. It stresses that only when learners participate in meaningful activities can they effectively notice and acquire language characteristics. This instruction could stimulate learners to integrate more new structures into their own language system and to put them into practice, which is good not only for nurturing learners’second language fluency but also for promoting their language accuracy and complexity.The research in this paper is carried out to study the application of FFI instruction in college vocabulary teaching. It aims at answering the three questions as follows:(1) How does focus-on-form instruction appear to help the students in vocabulary learning compared with focus-on forms instruction? Which one is more efficient? (2) How is ability of students’ vocabulary output in communicative environments under FFI compared with FonFs instruction? (3) What are the attitudes of the students towards the application of FFI in vocabulary teaching? Do they think that their competence in vocabulary learning is improved through the FFI?103 freshmen majoring in Chinese from two parallel natural classes of Shaanxi Normal University were chosen as the subjects. One class was selected as the CC where FonFs instruction is applied while the other one was selected as the EC where FFI was adopted. The vocabulary standard test and a pre-questionnaire were carried out in both classes to have a understanding of the students’English vocabulary proficiency and their feelings and opinions about previous and present vocabulary learning and teaching methods. After the teaching process, two post-tests were conducted in both classes and the post-questionnaire and an interview are carried out only in the experimental class. Through analyzing all the results by SPSS 22.0, the conclusions are as follows:(1) FFI and FonFs are both indispensable in vocabulary input learning. (2) FFI is more effective in vocabulary output learning compared with FonFs instruction. (3) Students are in favor of the FFI in vocabulary teaching and their vocabulary output ability has improved in communicative environments under FFI.Based on the results and discussion, the application of FFI in college vocabulary teaching is feasible and indispensable. Some implications for English vocabulary teaching are also presented according to the major findings. Simultaneously, the limitations of the study and the suggestions for future study are also given in this paper so as to promote deeper study in vocabulary teaching.