The Empirical Research On Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High School Under The Spreading Activation Teaching Mode

The spreading activation model is considered as one of the ways of word organization in internal lexicon in psychological linguistics, which refers that the concepts of node vocabulary are connected with each other through their relation in aspects of meaning, sound, and syntax. Once a node is activated, related nodes will be activated automatically with activation process spread to other nodes. Meanwhile, the activation energy becomes increasingly weak with the diffusion distance. Moreover, the length of linking line among nodes displays their relation. Shorter length means the concepts represented by nodes are closer, and vice versa. With more further researches on internal lexicon launched by psychological linguists, many scholars begin to study the relationship between the ways of word storage and word extraction. As a result, as one of main methods for word memorization, the researches on spreading activation model have gained widely attention. At present, more studies about spreading activation model are focusing on vocabulary memory and extraction, whereas the researches on vocabulary teaching are rare. Therefore, this paper is going to provide concrete advice on English vocabulary teaching in senior high under the framework of spreading activation model. First, focus on words linked in a network and words with deep meanings in English classes. Second, take use of students’ interest to guide them to learn words by themselves.This research selects two classes of Grade1 of a senior high school in Harbin as experimental subjects, with one class as experimental group; the other one as control group. Compared with traditional vocabulary teaching method in control group, vocabulary teaching in experimental group employs new method under the direction of spreading activation model, and the results of pretest and posttest, along with results of questionnaire on that those are tracked to test the following hypotheses:(1) The spreading activation model helps in vocabulary memorization.(2) The spreading activation model has a positive effect for student to create a context on their own, and to bring up their ability of increasing vocabulary.(3) Students achieve flexible and accurate use of vocabulary use after the employment of spreading activation model in English class.This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter is an introduction, mainly on the research background of this study, research purpose and significance and the framework of the thesis. The second chapter is the literature review, which reviews the domestic and foreign researches on the spreading activation model combined with vocabulary teaching, and makes comparison and analysis on its application in vocabulary teaching. Chapter Three, as the theoretical basis, expounds all the theoretical concepts involved in experimental research and teaching suggestions. Chapter Four is the experiment part, the main body of this paper. This chapter organizes and analyzes the data collected through SPSS 22.0 and points out possible problems in teaching and learning with the application of spreading activation model. Based on the experimental results obtained in the fourth chapter, the fifth chapter puts forward some suggestions for this teaching mode and the existing problems. The sixth chapter is the conclusion, which points out the shortcomings of this study and the prospects of the future research.