The Application Of Project-based Learning In English Vocabulary Teaching In Junior High School

Wilkins(1972),a British linguist,said,“Without grammar very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”,which has indicated the importance of vocabulary learning.According to the English Curriculum Standard for compulsory Education(2022),it requires that in vocabulary knowledge of third level standard,students who are in the Eighth Grade should “understand and comprehend the basic meaning of English vocabulary in a specific context”.Besides,the“implementation proposal” points out teachers should extremely promote students’ autonomy to learn in activities.Project-based learning(PBL),a new learning model,based on constructivism learning theory,discovery learning theory and pragmatism education theory,focuses a lot on students’ autonomous learning,which is consistent with the content advocated by the English Curriculum Standard for compulsory Education(2022).Therefore,this study attempts to apply project-based learning on English vocabulary teaching in junior high school and explore the impact on students’ learning.Based on input hypothesis,output hypothesis and interactive theory,combined with project-based learning model,the study takes students from two parallel classes in Nanliyuan Junior High School as subjects and aims to explore two research questions:1)Whether PBL can cultivate students’ interest in vocabulary learning? If so,in what aspects?2)Whether PBL can improve students’ competence in vocabulary learning? If so,in what aspectsThe study lasts four months.Project-based learning(PBL)model is applied in the experimental class,while the Presentation-Practice-Production(PPP)model is used in control class.Questionnaire,test and interview are employed as research instruments.The questionnaire and interview are conducted in the experimental class to get to know students’ interest in English vocabulary learning.Test is employed to testify the effects of PBL on students’ vocabulary learning.The main results are as followed:1)The students in experimental class have an obvious improvement in being interested in learning English vocabulary from the dimensions of attention,relevance,confidence and significance.2)Students’ competence in the experimental class in learning English vocabulary has been significantly improved in the aspects of pronouncing,spelling,reading and writing.This study provides a practical supplement to the junior high school English vocabulary teaching model,and puts forward helpful pedagogical suggestions of project-based learning on vocabulary teaching in junior high school in practice.