An Experimental Study On Context-based English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Vocabulary has been regarded as the foundation of English teaching and learning.Throughout the EFL teaching history,there are diverse approaches of vocabulary teaching.However,how to teach vocabulary effectively is still a heated debate in foreign language teaching.With the development of studies on context,context-based language teaching has become a vital research trend.Considering the current situation of vocabulary teaching in senior high schools of China,the present study attempts to further verify the effects of context-based vocabulary teaching.On the basis of theory of depth processing,connectionism and Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives,this study addresses the following two research questions:1)Can context-based English vocabulary teaching facilitate senior high school students' memory of words?2)Can context-based English vocabulary teaching improve senior high school students' lexical competence more effectively? If yes,in what dimensions? If no,what might be the reasons?A quasi-experimental research of 14 weeks has been implemented in a foreign languages school in Guangzhou to find out the answers to the above questions.Two classes of Senior One,a total number of 100 students whose ages range from 15 to 16,were randomly selected as the participants of the present research.Among them,50 students(28 males and 22 females)of Class Three were selected as experimental class(EC),in which context-based vocabulary teaching was adopted;while another 50 students(24 males and 26 females)of Class Four as control class(CC)where word-list vocabulary teaching was employed.All of the participants were engaged in the pre-test,short-term memory test,long-term memory test,and post-test,and eight students from EC were involved in the interview after the long-term memory test.The four tests were conducted in the two classes at the same time to examine the participants' memory of words and lexical competence.The results of the tests were quantitatively analyzed by applying SPSS 21.0,and the results of the interview was qualitatively analyzed.Subsequently,the discussion was illustrated in light of the relevant theoretical framework.The empirical data indicated that context-based English vocabulary teaching can facilitate senior high school students' memory of words,in particular,the long-term memory of words;besides,this approach can improve senior high school students' lexical competence more effectively,especially in terms of inferential competence and the competence of understanding specific contextual meaning of words.The findings of the present study imply that it is feasible to propel context-based vocabulary teaching in senior high schools.Therefore,teachers are advised to elaborately design contextual texts and discourses to boost students' lexical competence – the ability of applying words precisely and appropriately and retrieving words quickly and proficiently,which result in the development of students' comprehensive language competence.