| The study of English vocabulary plays a key role in English language learning.Researchers in China and other countries have probed it from different angles and perspectives.For instance,researchers explored the application and effect of lexical chunks and context theory on English vocabulary teaching,but the related research on English vocabulary teaching in middle school is not deep enough.These researches have not shed much light on the existing problems like monotonous teaching methods,ambiguous teaching objectives and low teaching efficiency.To learn English vocabulary by rote is still common;Memorizing and differentiating vocabulary of similar meanings are still difficult for learners;The expansion and application of English vocabulary are still beyond students’ reach.All these learning difficulties exert a negative impact on students’ vocabulary learning.Therefor,it is necessary to find a high efficient method to change this situation.Semantic field theory,an important theory in linguistics,emphasizes the semantic inter-relation between words.It is this inherent connection that enables vocabulary learning more efficient,for example,the semantic connection between words learned and to be learned can promote students’ learning of new words due to the positive transfer of acquired vocabulary knowledge.The semantic field has various categories,such as hyponym,synonymy,antonym and meronomy.Combining the current situation of English vocabulary teaching in middle school,this paper puts forward the application of semantic field theory in middle school English vocabulary teaching,focusing on the following three questions:(1)What is the effect of semantic clustering presentation mode on middle school students’ English vocabulary knowledge in breadth?(2)What is the effect of semantic clustering presentation mode on middle school students’ English vocabulary knowledge in depth?(3)What is students’ feedback on adopting semantic clustering to present vocabulary?In this experiment,the research method of combining qualitative and quantitative analysis were adopted,and 80 eighth grade students from two classes at a middle school of Nanchang,Jiangxi province participated in the 12-week teaching experiment.Before the experiment,the questionnaire was handed out to collect information about the subjects’ vocabulary learning.During the experiment,the experimental class presented vocabulary in semantic field,while the word-list presentation was adopted in control class.After each experiment,an immediate test was conducted,then a post-delayed test was carried out in the two classes one week later.All the data collected were analyzed by SPSS23.0 software.Finally,a semi-structured interview was conducted and the texts were studied qualitatively.Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis,the author draws the following conclusions:The study found that applying semantic clustering presentation mode on vocabulary teaching can obviously improve students’ vocabulary knowledge both in breadth and depth,especially the vocabulary knowledge in depth.Besides,this presentation mode can activate most of students’ learning interest and promote the vocabulary acquisition,in particular the usage and meaning.The findings provided some suggestions for English vocabulary teaching in middle school.For example,to facilitate the vocabulary learning effect,teachers can guide students to construct semantic field to learn and review vocabulary. |
