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1、An Analysis of English Vocabulary Teaching Strategies in Rural Junior Middle School Problems and Suggestions浅析农村初中英语词汇教学的策略问题及建议1. Introduction 1.1 Importance of Vocabulary TeachingAs widely known, language learning involves three parts: pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Vocabulary, as one of t
2、hree components, is essential and important to peoples communication and language learning. One of the famous linguists Wilkins（1987 ）once said that:“without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. ”(Zhang Ping 2006，21) To some degree, vocabulary is the lig
3、ament for people to communicate with each other. Without enough words, one cant communicate with others, no matter how wonderful his grammar and pronunciation are. Therefore, acquiring adequate vocabulary is of critical importance to language learners. It is clear that without words, language learni
4、ng will turn out to be a castle in the air. So the quantity and the accuracy of vocabulary grasped by students are one of the standards that is used to measure ones level of language, the teacher have to pay much attention to vocabulary teaching, especially to its strategy in rural junior middle sch
5、ools.Thus, vocabulary teaching should be considered as one indispensable part of English lessons in middle schools and an important task for teachers to fulfill. Usually, what teachers do have good or bad influence on students. If his methods are easily accepted by students, he could easily arouse t
6、heir interest and help them to develop a solid foundation of language acquisition ability. Whereas if he fails to do so, it might bring a heavy blow to students confidence and might cause them to disgust English.1.2 Three Distinguished Features of English VocabularyEnglish words are quite different
7、from Chinese characters, the former is a spelling system while the later is a stroke system. English words have three distinguished features: Firstly, the pronunciation of each word is corresponded to its spelling. Secondly, English words often have more than one meaning. When we come across a word,
8、 try to guess its meaning from the context in which it is used. Thirdly, English words can change their shapes and their grammatical values, too. Students need to know facts about word formation and how to twist words to fit different grammatical contexts and how suffixes and prefixes work. Knowing
9、the three distinguished characteristics of English vocabulary will help teachers to deliver vocabulary teaching.In china, especially in rural junior middle schools, English teachers do not realize the importance of vocabulary teaching and three features of English vocabulary, so they do not emphasiz
10、e too much on vocabulary and students are poor in learning.Therefore, this paper aims to show some scientific methods of vocabulary teaching and learning. In the following parts, the author will discuss three topics:(1) investigation and analysis about current problems of vocabulary teaching and lea
11、rning from rural junior middle schools; (2) put forward several advanced and scientific teaching and learning methods; (3) conclusions on English vocabulary teaching in rural junior middle schools.2. Investigations and AnalysisIn order to find out some main problems of vocabulary teaching and learni
12、ng in rural junior middle schools, the author have made a questionnaire from students. By taking this investigation result from rural junior middle schools, we know 57% students think their teachers often teach isolated words which are listed in textbook, 80% students consider that their English tea
13、chers ignore the relationship between words and understanding of words, more than half students are lazy, more than 80% students fail to follow the memory and so on. In the light of this investigation, the author finds out problems existed in vocabulary teaching and learning, some drawbacks are list
14、ed as follow:2.1 Current Condition of Vocabulary Teaching and LearningFirstly, students dont think much of learning vocabulary. They think it will take them a long time to remember words, so just be able to read and write is enough. Though some students spend much time learning it, they dont have go
15、od learning effect. Among them, they remember words inflexibly without memorial ways. So the more quickly they learn, the more quickly they forget. According to the questionnaire, we know 70% students have this phenomenon. Secondly, vocabulary teaching ways are very dull. A large number of teachers
16、spend one and two lessons teaching vocabulary of each unit. They usually explain words and let students remember and recite them by themselves without relating to daily life. In class, teachers role is just an educator and information provider, students role is only listener, so they will easily fee
17、l tired and uninteresting. Therefore, they are sick of listening and poor in learning vocabulary.2.2 Main Problems of Vocabulary Teaching 2.2.1 Treating All Words EquallyFrom the investigation, 40% students could not tell important words from unimportant words. That is because some English teachers
18、treat all vocabulary equally. In other words, they generally imply that students should be able to grasp all vocabulary presented, including receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary. But linguists point out that all speakers are able to recognize more words than they usually use on a productiv
19、e level, because productive vocabulary is utilized in everyday speech. Receptive vocabulary, on the other hand, although needed for comprehension, is not necessarily essential for production in speaking and writing. However, teachers who do not notice this fact ask students to concentrate equally on
20、 the acquisition of both types of vocabulary, which adds much burden to students, and cause them to become tired of vocabulary learning, thereby reducing the effectiveness of their studies.2.2.2 Teaching Words in Isolation and in One-to-One Correspondence to Chinese WordsIn English vocabulary, there
21、 are many different words in sentences and expressed in the context with completely different meanings. For example: (1) Is he running in the 100 meters? (Race) (2) Run for president. (Election)(3)The report ran in all the newspaper. (Published) (4)He ran a cow into a barn. (Rush)Because of the poly
22、semy, it is precisely that words must be taught in certain context, so that students know how to use them. However, in actual teaching, some teachers, for the sake of convenience, only teach words in accordance with the word list. They pick out new words in the text, list them on a paper, and then c
23、onsult dictionary about meanings and copy all the meanings of that word to a number of students, finally ask them to recite. But in fact, the same word has different social meanings in different context. Learning English vocabulary is not just to memorize its Chinese equivalent, but to learn the mea
24、ning relationship and all other relative words in English within the context of cultural life. Such teaching method separate context, many students feel that learning vocabulary is too dry and dull, so gradually, they lose interest. As time passed, they have sick mentality, which result in decreased
25、 performance and made the whole learning process into a vicious circle.2.2.3 Neglecting the Cooperation of Sense Organs：Generally speaking, an average English learner will remember a new word well and make it become an active one if he observes, speaks out, hears, writes as well as recites it. But f
26、rom the questionnaire, we know there is only 2% student notice the cooperation of sense organs and many rural middle school English teachers seem to be unaware of this rule. As a result, a few students remember vocabulary in incorrect ways and many English teachers in rural middle schools hold the f
27、alse belief that the more they write down, the better they remember. Finally most students do not co-operate the functions of eyes, ears, mouth and hands when memorizing new words. They treat the new words as if they are telephone numbers. They read the new words letter by letter without observing t
28、he pronunciation rules. For example, when they read the word “classroom”, they do it in this way: “c-l-a-s-s-r-o-o-m, classroom” instead of “clkl-aa:-sss-rr-oou:-mm, classroom”. 2.2.4 Harmful Method of PunishmentIn the countryside, from the investigation, we see 80% students think their English teac
29、hers are in favor of copying words many times. They hold the false belief that the more students write down, the better they remember. This awkward punishment often cause students to fear and worry about English lessons. It is true that most of the middle school students are interested in English at
30、 the very beginning, because it is a new subject that is full of novelty and interest. And they like their English teachers, too. But with the misuse of teaching methods by their teachers, they may begin to feel discouraged in English learning and disgust their English teachers.Being taught in this
31、way, they achieve little although they take painful efforts in vocabulary learning. Consequently, they cant find much pleasure in English and become more lazy in study. Neither is their English ability improved, nor they are interested in English learning.2.3 Main Problems of Vocabulary LearningFrom
32、 investigation, we know that the situation of students implementation in their study was inferior to satisfactory. The subjective problems of students lie in the following two aspects:2.3.1 Learners Inactive AttitudeOn one hand, according to investigation, more than half students are lazy. So when t
33、hey are asked to remember new words, they are always reluctant to spend much time in accumulating vocabulary. They think learning vocabulary is a boring and time-consuming task and it is not as important as grammar. So they do not make study plan, they just try to remember words meaning before exam
34、or dictation. But the exam not only tests their spelling and meaning, but also the collocation, application and understanding of words. So students should extend the application and understanding of words.On the other hand, students have got into the habit of receiving information from their teacher
35、s, they totally depend on their teachers. When meeting new words in their after-class reading, they are unwilling to look up dictionary or guess the meaning from context; when required to read magazines, short stories, most students find they are hard to be read. For them, classroom is the only plac
36、e to study and they study under the supervision of their teachers and parents.2.3.2 Failing to Follow Memory RuleFrom investigation, we find that nearly 80% rural junior middle school students recite and write vocabulary from memorization, they practice and consolidate words by writing them many tim
37、es instead of applying them in conversation and context. As is well known, there are two types of memory process: short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory means that the store of input only stays in memory temporarily, while the long-term memory means the store of input stays in memory for
38、 more than 10 days, even for the whole life. In fact, our memory process is a recyclable process. According to the survey of linguists, the more times the word is used, the better one remembers it. But many students partially emphasized the function of short-term memory and doing exercises by writin
39、g instead of practicing. They ignored cooperation of sense organs, and seem to care more about the amount of vocabulary input than those actual stay in their memory. They claim that time is so limited that they cant spend too much time on the repetition of vocabulary learning.2.4 Reasons that Cause
40、These ProblemsFrom the investigation, we can see that there are subjective reasons and objective reasons that cause poor vocabulary teaching and learning efficiency.2.4.1 Subjective Aspects 2.4.1.1 Teachers Poor Quality and Less AwarenessAccording to the investigation result, we know rural middle sc
41、hool English teachers are poor in the following two aspects. On one hand, in some rural areas, many junior middle school English teachers are supply teachers, they do not accept proper education and they lock of scientific method of vocabulary teaching. Although a small part of these English teacher
42、s have accepted the formal college or university education, they are still irresponsible to vocabulary teaching, they think vocabulary does not need teaching. In class, as long as students know how to read and write is enough. After class, ask students to recite them alone and finally accomplish voc
43、abulary teaching by dictation. In addition, they do not pay much attention to phonetic symbols, they think they have been responsible to it, so in the course of vocabulary teaching, they seldom concern with students grasping. But actually, English words are tens and thousands of times of 48(the numb
44、er of phonetic symbols), so phonetic symbols are implement tools of vocabulary spelling, writing and pronunciation. Only grasped them well can students have the self-taught ability and learn vocabulary well. On the other hand, many teachers ignore the interest training in English class. As a matter
45、of fact, interest is the source of improving the initiative in students learning, it makes students remember words profoundly and heighten memory effect. But many rural middle school English teachers abide by traditional English teaching pattern in class. For example: most teachers spend one or two
46、periods on vocabulary teaching of each unit without any activities and always ask students to read and read again. This cut-and-dried machinery is trainned, students thinking ability could not developed. But Great educator B.A.Cyxomjinhcknn has spoken: “students arriving in school not only for gain
47、knowledge, mainly being for becoming more clever.”(Wang Tianyi 1994， 423) Therefore, if we always just open books and read like machinery in class, we may finally accommodate ourselves to what one English proverb speaks: “ No play makes John a dumb boy.” Therefore, it can be seen that students creat
48、ive ability improvement are vitally interrelated to teachers quality.2.4.1.2 Students Laziness Likewise, teachers indifference to vocabulary learning has led to students despise to vocabulary learning and accumulation. When faced with the increasing vocabulary number and degree of difficulty, studen
49、ts gradually become exhausted. They come to school only for finishing the nine-year compulsory education or even for growing up, thus it is unnecessary for them to work hard. Whats more, in our daily life, Chinese is spoken everywhere, whereas English is not very common. From this aspect, students think learned but without practice also will forget quickly. Thus their laziness in thinking and action cause learning effect poor.2.4.2 Objective Aspects 2.4.2.1 Ex
