An Investigation On Application Of Context Theory To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Vocabulary is the basis of English language learning as enlarging the amount of vocabulary is an important prerequisite for improving English abilities in listening,speaking,reading,viewing and writing.Therefore,vocabulary teaching has been regarded as the focus of senior high school English teaching for a long time.How to use effective methods to implement English vocabulary teaching in senior high school and how to improve students’ amount of vocabulary have become the issues discussed by scholars and teachers.Consequently quite a few research achievements have been made concerning the empirical studies of the attempt to apply context theory in English vocabulary teaching in senior high school.Context refers to the actual environment in which a language is used.Any word establishes its connection with other words through certain syntactic and semantic relations,and conveys information in the context(Ministry of Education,2018).Using context theory to implement vocabulary teaching advocates for creating contexts concerning the real life so as to stimulate students’ interest and improve their comprehensive ability to use language.Guided by context theory,this research adopts the methods of questionnaire,interview and classroom observation and selects 246 students from four classes of Grade One and 41 English teachers from the three grades of Luoyang No.1 Senior High School as the research objects for a 17 weeks’ investigation.The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current situation,the positive effects and the main problems on the application of context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching.Based on these research objectives,this study puts forward three research questions.(1)What is the current situation of the application of context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching?(2)What is the current situation of the application of context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching?(3)What is the current situation of the application of context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching?The research findings are summarized as follows.(1)Most of the teachers are aware of the important role of context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching and hold a positive attitude towards the application of context theory,but problems are found with application in breadth and depth.In terms of breadth,only a few teachers practice context theory in their vocabulary teaching frequently and appropriately.In terms of depth,most of the teachers’ understanding of context theory only rests on guessing the meanings of words based on the context and giving examples to explain the usages of new words.From the perspective of students,many of them also agree with the application of context theory in vocabulary teaching,but there are some problems in the process of creating contexts and applying of contexts,which leads to their lack of confidence in English vocabulary learning.(2)The application of context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching enriches vocabulary teaching activities and teaching resources.It helps students to step up in grasping the meanings of words more accurately and increasing students’ awareness of culture learning.(3)The major problems on the application of the context theory in senior high school English vocabulary teaching include: insufficient attention from teachers and students on the context theory,teachers and students’ lack in professional knowledge of context theory;the inappropriate setting of contexts from teachers and the monotonous methods.This study is of practical significance in that it can help senior high school English teachers to further understand the current situation of the application of contextual theory in English vocabulary teaching in senior high school as well as the main problems,and in that it can also provide reference for the improvement of English vocabulary teaching in senior high school.