A Study On Application Of Situational Teaching Method To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Vocabulary is regarded as one of the core elements of language,hence,vocabulary teaching becomes an essential part of English teaching.With the propulsion and penetration of New Curriculum Reform,notable changes have taken place in English vocabulary teaching.Nowadays,New Curriculum not only demands students to learn more vocabulary,but also requires them to accurately use the obtained vocabulary.Therefore,the final goal of vocabulary teaching is not just simple memorization,but also correct application.However,the current situation of vocabulary teaching is time-consuming with inefficient.The reason is that the traditional and single teaching method leads to students' rote learning,consequently causing the unsatisfactory learning effect.So the key is to change the vocabulary teaching methods.In recent years,the foreign and domestic researchers have been engaged in exploring effective vocabulary teaching methods,including situational teaching method which attracts more and more attention.The situational teaching method means that teachers in the teaching process introduce or create situations related with the vocabulary to arouse students' experience of an attitude,thus helping them better understand and master the vocabulary.Therefore,based on constructivist learning theory,Krashen's input hypothesis and cognitive learning theory,this research emphasizes the creation of corresponding situations according to different vocabulary and aims at testifying the effectiveness and feasibility of situational teaching method in English vocabulary teaching,consequently stimulating students' learning interest,arousing their emotions,improving their learning effect as well as providing reference for future relevant studies on the application of situational teaching method to English vocabulary teaching.In this study,the students of two parallel senior grade one classes in the interning school are selected as subjects of the research,and the two classes are taught by the same teacher who respectively uses situational teaching method and traditional teaching method in the experimental class and the controlled class to explore whether the situational teaching method is effective in vocabulary teaching and how to effectively use this method.The specific questions are as follows: 1)What is the current situation of English vocabulary teaching in senior high schools? 2)Is the situational teaching method effective in English vocabulary teaching? 3)What can teachers do to apply situational teaching method to English vocabulary teaching in senior high schools? Notably,the questionnaires,interviews,and tests are mainly used to collect data,and the SPSS software is also used to analyze the collected data accurately and scientifically.The research shows that the students in the experimental class have made great progress in understanding and using vocabulary after a term's learning vocabulary with situational teaching method;on the contrary,the students in the controlled class don't have such obvious changes.As a consequence,this method is proved to be effective in English vocabulary teaching in senior high schools.So teachers should use this method to teach vocabulary as much as possible,particularly,they had better present situations through pictures,performance,stories or tasks,in order to strengthen learning atmosphere and to improve students' learning enthusiasm,thus achieving vocabulary teaching goals effectively.