A Research On The Application Of Prototype Theory In The English Vocabulary Teaching Of The Vocational College

Vocabulary is very important in language learning.Whether someone can use words properly or not is a measure of high levels.The vocabularies required by “English Teaching Basic Requirements for Higher Vocational Colleges(Trial Implementation)” are the big problems for students.So how to improve students’ vocabulary breadth and depth in limited time becomes a great problem for teachers in higher vocational college.The prototype theory is increasingly causing the attention of researchers and English teachers home and abroad.It analyses the inner link of vocabularies from the cognitive way and provides the theoretical basis for the promotion and expansion of vocabulary.The paper is to testify whether the prototype category theory to vocabulary teaching at vocational colleges is effective or not.Three questions are listed below: 1.Is the new vocabulary teaching method based on the prototype theory superior to the traditional one;2.Can this new vocabulary teaching with the application of the prototype theory improve the efficiency of students’ vocabulary learning,including the expansion of vocabulary and depth of vocabulary;3.Can this new method improve the interests of English vocabulary learning,thus to improve the students’ autonomy?This study selected two classes(experimental class and control class)of freshmen in one of vocational college in Zhangzhou.After a semester of 16 weeks contrast teaching,difference between pre-test and post-test,difference of word-width between pre-test and post-test and difference of word-depth between pre-test and post-test are respectively significantly different,and it shows that the application of the prototype theory can not only enlarge students’ vocabulary but also enhance their vocabulary depth;on the basis of the collected questionnaires,this new method strengthens their vocabulary learning autonomy.Above experiment answers the research questions,which indicates the application of the prototype theory in the word teaching is superior to the traditional one and this new method can not only enlarge students’ vocabulary but also enhance their vocabulary depth,and strengthen their vocabulary learning autonomy.This paper is a try to integrate the prototype theory into the vocabulary teaching in higher vocational college and provides a new way for English vocabulary teaching in vocational college.