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1、How to teach vocabulary well in senior middle schoolContent1. The importance of a good vocabulary.1.1 In speaking1.2 In reading1.3 In learning1.4 In thinking 2. A brief introduction to the problems we have in our vocabulary teaching and learning in senior middle school. 2.1 Students problems in voca
2、bulary learning.2.2 Teachers neglect in vocabulary teaching.3. The effective ways of vocabulary teaching and learning.3.1 Make students become interested in words.3.1.1 The ways of arousing students interests.3.1.2 How to use those ways to teach words.3.2 Teach not only the vocabulary itself but als
3、o more information of words.3.2.1 Teach the history of words.3.2.2 Use context to teach words.3.3 Make students be dictionary-minded.3.3.1 Teach students how to choose a good and useful dictionary.3.3.2 Teach students how to use dictionary as a good tool.3.4 Make students know word prefixes and root
4、s.3.4.1 The importance of learning prefixes and roots.3.5 Make students use the words they have learnt before as often as possible.3.5.1 Make sentences.3.5.2 Write compositions.3.5.3 Communicate with others.4. Conclusion.AbstractIt is said that vocabulary is a very important tool for English learner
5、s with which they communicate. However, nowadays, more and more teachers and students especially in senior middle school think that vocabulary is very difficult and boring for teaching and learning, so they dont think highly of it and only spend less time and energy in vocabulary teaching and learni
6、ng. Actually, according to the “Curriculum Standard for English Teaching and Learning in Senior Middle School “ by Education Department, vocabulary teaching is not becoming less important but more and more essential. In this case, how to treat this problem (Neglect of vocabulary teaching and learnin
7、g), and how to solve it, is no doubt a vital task for English teachers. This paper want to show people the importance of vocabulary teaching and learning, the situation of vocabulary teaching and learning in todays China, and the way how to improve it. First, to show people the importance of a good
8、vocabulary in speaking, reading, learning and thinking. Second, give a brief introduction to the problems we have in our vocabulary teaching and learning in senior middle school. That is students problems in vocabulary learning, and teachers neglect in vocabulary teaching. Then, give the effective w
9、ays of vocabulary teaching and learning, such as: make students become interested in words, teach not only the vocabulary itself but also teach the history of words, and use context to teach words, teach students how to choose a good dictionary and how to use it as a good tool, make students know wo
10、rd prefixes and roots, and still, make students use the words they have learnt before as often as possible.Key words: vocabulary teaching and learning How to teach vocabulary well in senior middle school 1. The important of a good vocabulary.Words are the tools with which we communicate. Words are t
11、he currency of communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication - listening, speaking, reading and writing, even thinking. However, a poor vocabulary tends to place a limit on our ability to understand. How many times have you heard teachers ask, “use your words?” When students
12、 improve their vocabulary, their academic and social confidence and competence improve, too. 1.1 In speakingIt is easy enough to talk about the weather; but it is not so easy to talk about ideas and concepts. How many times have you heard someone say, “I know what I mean, but I just cant express it?
13、” This is an open confession of an inadequate vocabulary. Plato said that to transmit ideas, a speaker must paint pictures in the minds of listeners through the use of precise words. Although the chances for students to speak in senior middle schools English class is quite limited, they do need some
14、 basic vocabulary to speak or talk about something with others.1.2 In reading Reading generally requires greater use of a persons vocabulary than any other act of communication. So in reading it is especially easy to misinterpret meanings because of an imprecise vocabulary. But most of students woul
15、d rather go on reading and just guess the meanings of words from the context than stop reading to consult a dictionary. Unfortunately, sometimes their thoughts of meanings are not right. And such errors can lead to the complete misinterpretation of an authors presentation. And that, in turn, can res
16、ult in a memory full of fuzzy thoughts, instead of crystal clear concepts. So, as students in senior middle school who will have percentage of reading exercises in College Entrance Examination Papers, a good vocabulary is compulsory.1.3 In learningWithout an adequate vocabulary, no one can master im
17、portant principles and ideas. The fundamental building blocks of learning and knowledge are words- words with precise meanings. Get the meanings wrong, and you have learned false information. If you have no idea of the meanings, then you will have to work harder to learn. Moreover, an inadequate voc
18、abulary can limit your ability to conceptualize; that is , though you may hear and recognize individual words, you will have difficulty grasping the sequence of concepts being developed by a speaker or an author. Thus, students in senior middle school must learn how to learn vocabulary well in order
19、 to understand articles in textbooks and exam papers better.1.4 In thinkingAs we know, listening, speaking, reading and writing are the most important skills for students in senior middle school. However, actually, they also need good thinking before speaking. J.B.Watson, a noted psychologist, said
20、that thinking is silent speech. This means when we think, there is no magical process taking place in our heads that rearranges some mystical fluff and makes our thoughts out of all that; when we think, we think in words. We rearrange words in our heads, pushing new ones together, putting old ones t
21、ogether with new ones, and rearranging old ones; when we are thinking we are thinking with words. Words are the tools of our thinking, the symbols of our thoughts. Without them our thinking about ideas is impossible. From this line of reasoning, it seems logical to accept the idea that the more care
22、fully we develop our vocabulary, the more careful will be our thinking. As we know words precisely, we are able to think precisely. 2. The problems we have in our vocabulary teaching and learning in senior middle school.2.1 Students problems in vocabulary learning.Nowadays, more and more students in
23、 senior middle school feel that vocabulary is difficult to learn and master. One of the first things they noticed when they study in senior middle schools is the abundance of new words. New words are on the pages of many textbooks, workbooks, exam papers and magazines students pore over. They echo d
24、own the halls of the classroom buildings as students and teachers talk to each other. New words will engulf students at every turn when they study in senior middle school. They will become their daily companions whether they wish or not, for the business of senior middle school life is carried out w
25、ith new words, and these new words are the hardest ones to be memorized by students. Another problem students often have when they study in senior middle school is that they will discover that many of the words they learned to know and use many years ago, they believe they understand what they mean,
26、 but they seldom, if ever, speak or write these words. Students are also surprised that some of the words they have used over the years and considered old friends because they understood their meanings are now used in different ways, with different meanings. Those problems they met made lots of stud
27、ents give up vocabulary learning.2.2 Teachers neglect in vocabulary teaching.And it is a pity that like students in senior middle school, teachers dont like vocabulary teaching neither. They think that grammar is the most important thing for students learning English in senior middle school; vocabul
28、ary teaching is only a part of grammar teaching. Thus, they dont think highly of it and only spend less time and energy in vocabulary teaching, or even neglect it. However, according to the Curriculum Standard for English Teaching and Learning is Senior Middle School by Education Department, “when s
29、tudents graduate from senior middle school, they must learn and master 3000 words and 400 to 500 phrases or idioms; use vocabulary to help understanding and expressing different functions, ideas and attitudes; use vocabulary to describe some complex things, activities and characteristics and to expl
30、ain concepts”. (1) Vocabulary teaching is not becoming less important but more and more essential. So what do we need to do is not hate or afraid of or even ignore vocabulary teaching and learning but pay more attention to do it as well as we can.3. The effective ways of vocabulary teaching and lear
31、ningBy speaking, listening, and associating with people you will be able to increase your vocabulary, this is what this approach suggests. Obviously this is true for the very young child who is just getting acquainted with the language. But for students in senior middle school, there are many times
32、when the opposite is true. That is, the number of words known can actually decrease with time if the words are not used. So we cant depend on natural growth to increase our vocabularies. On the market today are a number of books designed to improve your vocabulary. They are all do-it-yourself in the
33、ir approaches and claim that you will be able to improve your supply of usable words by large numbers and in short time. The books are generally easy to read and in some instances even quite entertaining. But by and large they are not going to help you learn the words you need to know to become a su
34、ccessful senior middle school student. On the negative side, what may happen is that you may accumulate a collection of words that simply dont fit the kind of life you live and the kind of academic situation in which you study. You invested time and energy that could have been better used doing othe
35、r things. Some people suggest that the best way to improve your vocabulary is by reading good books, particularly books that contain words that contain words you dont know. This system would work if you would stop look up the words you dont know in a dictionary. But you wont learn new words automati
36、cally by just reading them, not very often anyway. Occasionally, as youll see later, it is possible to derive the meaning of words from their context. But this process, too, must be supplemented with dictionary work. Some persons suggest that the simplest way to increase your word power is to go to
37、the dictionary, pull out five or six words that you dont know, write them and their definitions on card, and then, in off moments during the day, study the card. As we will see later the idea of using a card is not bad. But to pick any five or six words from the dictionary will often leave you with
38、a collection of words you cant use. Granted, a great deal can be learned from studying the dictionary. And of course you can also learn a great deal from studying the phone book. The problem with “ studying the dictionary “ is no different from that associated with making word lists and study vocabu
39、lary self-help books: you end up with words that dont fit anyplace. What is different about studying the dictionary compared with some of the other approaches we have mentioned is that dictionary studying is about the most boring thing I can think of doing. I will quickly add that used as it should
40、be used-to find out something about a word you dont know-the dictionary can be one of the most exciting books on your shelf. It is all how you use it.3.1 Make students become interested in words.Whatever you learn, you must be interested in it. If not, you can never start it, let alone learn it very
41、 well. It is the same to vocabulary learning in English. As we know, interest is the best teacher. You can begin to gather in words immediately by becoming attentive and interested in them. A genuine interest in words is the surest path to a close kinship between students and words. The spark that i
42、gnites students interest in words will occur in different ways at different times-often by chance and occasionally by luck. It can also come about because they want it to happen. Students can create their own interest in words by reading books like “ The old man and the sea “, or magazines like “ Ti
43、mes ”, or watching cartons like “ King lion “, or listening some English songs like “ My heart will go on “. And teachers should use variety of ways to arouse students interest in vocabulary learning, such as: teach them to sing English songs, play games with English vocabulary, give them some riddl
44、es to guess and some short plays to perform. In this case, the English class will be more vivid and students will be more active in English study.3.2 Teach students not only the vocabulary itself but also more information of words. Words are symbols and we use them as tools. But they also have histo
45、ries that make them more than abstract symbols that are useful only for communication. If the students are truly interested in words, they will find some most interesting information as they dig into their histories. For example, many words in our English language come from the names of people. It i
46、s claimed that on August 6th, 1762, John Montague, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, ordered cold, thick-sliced beef to be placed between two pieces of toasted bread. Thus was born the sandwich. (2) Another interesting way of studying the history of words is to associate words we use today with the ethni
47、c groups that brought them to this country or with the American Indians. Some of the words we have borrowed from the American Indians include moose, raccoon, teepee and squash; from the French we obtained such words as caf, menu, chauffeur and salon; the Spanish gave us indigo, vanilla, cigar and mo
48、squito; also we have waltz, fatherland, kindergarten and poodle from German; and borrowed piano, bass, violin and opera from Italian. And words, like facts, are difficult to remember out of context. Remembering is greatly facilitated when you have a body of information with which to associate either
49、 a word or a fact. Students in senior middle school are generally much influenced by context and highly skilled at using it. And when they fail to make good use of context, they may go wildly wrong. Here, teachers role is a guide who teaches the students what kind of words they can just guess the meaning in context and what kind of words they must consult the dictionary and master the usages of the w
