The Effect Of Context-based Vocabulary Teaching On Junior High School Students’ Learning Of English Polysemes

Context plays an important role in English vocabulary learning.Vocabulary is an important element of language.The diversified context theory provides a rich theoretical basis for vocabulary teaching.However,the traditional teaching method is still used in junior high school English Vocabulary Teaching in China.The vocabulary learning attitudes of junior high school students and the effects of understanding and using vocabulary are worrying.This paper introduces the context theory into English vocabulary teaching,explores and attempts the context-based vocabulary teaching,so as to meet the requirements of the new curriculum standard for junior high school students’ English vocabulary ability.In order to test the feasibility and effectiveness of context-based English Vocabulary Teaching in junior high school,this paper puts forward the following three research questions:(1)What is the effect of context-based vocabulary teaching on junior high school students’ interest in learning English poly semes?(2)What is the effect of context-based vocabulary teaching on junior high school students’ memory of English poly semes?(3)What is the effect of context-based vocabulary teaching on junior high school students’use of English polysemes?This paper adopts empirical research and selects two parallel classes(randomly divided into experimental class and control class)in grade two of a school in Suzhou for 15 weeks’teaching experiment.The experimental instruments include questionnaire,vocabulary test and interview.A pretest was conducted on the students of the two classes before the experiment.It was found that there was no significant difference in English vocabulary level between the two classes.Then a questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain the specific data of students’ vocabulary learning.In the experiment,the traditional vocabulary teaching method was adopted in the control class while the context-based vocabulary teaching method was adopted in the experimental class.After the experiment,the students of the two classes needed to complete the post-test and the teacher selected students for interview.The data of pretest and post-test were collected by SPSS 18.0 for analysis,processing and integration,and the effective data were analyzed by independent sample T-test.Based on the analysis of the results,the research findings are as follows:Firstly,it is found that vocabulary teaching under the guidance of context theory does improve the students’ interest in the learning of polysemes in the experimental class through questionnaires and interviews.Secondly,context-based vocabulary teaching enhances students’ ability to remember polysemes.In the post-test,the average score of the experimental class is more than two points higher than that of the control class(p<0.05),indicating that there exists significant difference.Thirdly,context-based vocabulary teaching helps students’ polysemes using ability.The statistical analysis of the two vocabulary tests of the two classes of students shows that the average score of the experimental class is obviously higher than that of the control group in translation(p<0.05),indicating that there exists significant difference.This study provides some implications for teaching polysemes in junior high school English.First of all,teachers should create life situations according to the characteristics of students’ age and psychological development stage,so that students can connect vocabulary with their own life.Secondly,teachers should be fully prepared before class,create different contexts according to the characteristics of words to improve the efficiency of students’vocabulary memory and unleash students’ thinking and imagination,so as to mobilize students’ enthusiasm for vocabulary learning.Finally,teachers should guide students to master various learning strategies to improve learning efficiency.Context-based vocabulary teaching requires students to try to guess the meaning of new words according to the context,so that students can form a virtuous circle of vocabulary learning.Finally,this study also has certain limitations,such as:limited sample size,limited testing time,which need to be improved in subsequent studies.