The Effect Of Narrow Reading On English Vocabulary Learning In Senior High School

Vocabulary learning and teaching play important roles in English language study,and vocabulary also have a strong correlation of the reading.In senior high school,students spend lots of time on reciting new words in words lists.But the results are not positive.The words recited from words lists always cannot be used correctly in sentences and passages,which effects their reading ability.So it is necessary to explore an effective method of vocabulary teaching to help students get rid of difficulties of vocabulary learning.Distinguished with extensive reading,narrow reading means reading in only one genre,one subject matter,or the work of one author at a time.It can provide enough background knowledge of the topic,and increase the repetition rate of the new words.This thesis applies narrow reading into high school English vocabulary teaching,which aims to explore its effect on vocabulary acquisition.To gain the best learning results,the study adds text-based vocabulary exercises after narrow reading.A “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model is applied in the experiment.Students will learn vocabulary through reading material,that means words are learned in different context,which can help students learn vocabulary effectively.Based on previous researches at home and abroad and the two related theories: Krashen’s input hypothesis and Schema Theory.The study will be done to answer following questions:(1)Can “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model promote high school students’ vocabulary retention?(2)Can “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model improve high school students’ vocabulary using?(3)What’s the students’ attitude towards “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model?This empirical study select 80 participants from two classes in the same grade in No 1 senior high school in Qingshui Gansu province.Two classes were selected randomly as experimental class(EC)and control class(CC).The “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model was applied in the experimental class while the control class was conducted by traditional vocabulary teaching method.The procedures of the experiment are as follows:Firstly,a pretest was conducted in both EC and CC.The result of pretest showed that two classes had nearly the same knowledge of target vocabulary.Then in the experimental class,the “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model was applied while the control class was conducted by traditional vocabulary teaching method.After learning of each unit,the immediate test was carried out in both experimental class and control class to check if students had mastered the target words.The result showed there were no significant difference between two class in the immediate tests.The experiment lasts six weeks.Two weeks later,a delayed test and questionnaire were conducted.The scores of delayed test showed that the experimental class had higher scores than control class in the number and using of target words students had learned.The analysis of the data showed the scores of two classes had significant difference.The mean scores of immediate tests and delayed tests were also compared.The results showed that after two weeks,the EC obviously declined less points than CC,which means the students in the EC had better retention of target words than CC.The questionnaire in experimental class showed that the “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model can improve their confidence and effectiveness of vocabulary learning.It have positive effect on the students’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning.So it can be concluded that the “Narrow Reading and Text-based Vocabulary Exercises” vocabulary teaching model can improve students’ capacity of learning new words.At last,although the study has many limitations,the write hopes this study can provide a new idea to learn English vocabulary for students,teachers and textbook compilers.