An Action Study On Multimodal Teaching Of English Vocabulary In The Second Stage Of Primary Schoo

Being as the important foundation,vocabulary is indispensable for English learning,without solid base,students’ ability in the development of English speaking,listening,reading as well as writing will be influenced directly.Therefore it is oblivious to see that vocabulary plays a decisive role in the development of learners’ language ability.However,there are plenty of limitations within the traditional vocabulary teaching method whose "mechanical recitation" is commonly used in primary school,especially for the mobilization of students’ interest in learning and the development of vocabulary comprehensive ability.While now under the background of knowledge economization and education informationization globally,the requirement for the specification of talent-cultivation is getting stricter and stricter,cultivation of students’ core literacy also becomes the key task of current compulsory education stage in our country.However,our cultivation for talents has been limited by the traditional mechanical vocabulary teaching methods.In recent years,in order to deal with the problems in the traditional method of English vocabulary teaching,many theories of English vocabulary teaching have been put forward in theoretical circles,among them,the theory of Muti-modal teaching provides a relative new idea and an effective solution for English vocabulary teaching,its combination with multimedia means provides rich resources for classroom teaching,creates a vivid and rich classroom atmosphere,motivates students’ participation in the classroom with multiple senses,stimulates students’ learning interest,helps students strengthen the impression of new words,and reduces students’ memory burden for learning subsequent words.Therefore,this study tries to take the current problems in the English vocabulary teaching during the second learning phase in primary school as the starting point,to explore the influence that Multi-modal teaching brings to the English vocabulary learning on this phase,and the way how to make Multi-modals more effective in the English vocabulary teaching on this phase.38 students from one of the classes in Grade 4 of a primary school in Changshan Economic Development Zone,Zhangzhou City,Fujian Province have been selected as the research objects for conducting a three-month action study,with the aims to put Multi-modal vocabulary teaching in the second learning phase of primary school into practice,so that students’ interest,ability and attitude for English vocabulary learning would be improved.This study was carried out in the following three phases:The first phase was for preparation,including the collation & summary for the relevant home-abroad literature of Muti-modal and its theory in foreign language teaching,investigation of students’ vocabulary levels & learning conditions,and analysis of the current problems in the English vocabulary teaching in the second learning phase of primary school.Then under the comprehensive consideration for theoretical basis,purpose as well as significance of the study,the feasibility of Muti-modal teaching design in English vocabulary teaching for the second learning phase in primary school was determined.The second phase was for teaching experiment.According to the analysis of teaching needs,the author preliminarily mapped out the procedure design for Multi-modal in the English vocabulary teaching of the second learning phase in primary school,based on which action research in two rounds had been carried out,including "planning-action-observation-reflection" those four steps.Action research aims to optimize the design of teaching activities continuously through its spiral progressive way.The third phase was for reflection and conclusion.This phase mainly verify the two-rounds action teaching experiments by summarizing and analyzing the results of vocabulary level tests,questionnaires,student interviews taken in both pre & post experiments.Accordingly,enlightenment and suggestions for Multi-modal teaching in the English vocabulary teaching of the second learning phase in primary school had been concluded.The results of this study show that Multi-modal vocabulary teaching can ameliorate the existed problems in the English vocabulary teaching of the second learning phase in primary school,such as the boring and monotonous teaching methods,poor learning effects of students.The ability level,learning interest,classroom focus as well as learning attitude of the students in this learning phase have been improved.The position of students’ main body in learning has been given full play.However,due to the limited conditions,there are following deficiencies in this study,the experimental time was short which lasted only three months;The study’s objects were relatively narrow,only 38 fourth-grade students in one class,and the researcher’s own experience was insufficient,she did not take the influences of other variables such as the ages of the subjects and family education situations into consideration.