How to teach vocabulary in middle school 英语专业毕业论文.doc

how to teach vocabulary in middle school abstract:as we all know, a word is like a brick, it is the most basic material for putting up a high building.vocabulary teaching is an indispensable part of english curriculum. but some traditional vocabulary-teaching methods seem to isolate the words from the context or break away from the scientific rules,so that they cant help students to develop a language competence in the long run but cause them to lose interest in english. middle school english teachers should take great responsibility for this, since they are the initial ones who introduce students to the field of english.this article first analyse the importance of vocabulary teaching in middle schools. then it reviews some traditional vocabulary teaching methods and tries to tell the teachers how to teach vocabulary effectively from different perspectives, such as teaching meaning and use in communication, teaching pronunciation and spelling, teaching grammar. lastly it suggests some practical vocabulary teaching ideas in my teaching practice. key words: english vocabulary，interests, context，teaching.1. introductioni have been teaching the students who are in their third year of a middle school .in my teaching, ive found there are some problems , now ill finish my study in hunan radio & tv university . i hope i can solve the problems that have troubled me for some time. through the action research so that i can apply my knowledge and theory into practice which i learned from hunan radio & tv university. english is an international language and english is becoming more and more important. i am an english teacher , but in my teaching experience, there is one problem that some of my students dont like english and especially dont like to memorize the vocabulary. they think it is difficult to memorize the words easily and effectively. vocabulary is one of the fundamentals of english. students need to be prepared with a wide and vivid vocabulary to compete in the worlds marketplace. the challenge of teaching vocabulary is creating lesson plans that are both effective and entaining. 2 .problems and problem analysis (1) students interestsa lot of students dont like to memorize the vacabularies. because they think it is boring and difficult.(2) teach words in isolationmiddle school english teachers in china usually ask students to learn vocabulary lists in which words are isolated from the context. in one case, they let the students pick out all the new words in the text, list them on a paper, and consult the dictionary for the chinese or english meanings. neglecting the study of the relationships in english vocabulary system might result in students slowness in comprehension and inappropriateness in exploiting the english words. being taught in these ways without a change, students might have difficulty in working out the meanings of some words(3)teach english words in one-to-one correspondence to chinese wordsmany english teachers tend to teach english words in one-to-one correspondence to chinese words; for example, english “milk” is “牛奶” in chinese. this traditional translation teaching method which has been adopted in china for a long time is considered to be helpful. but in the long run the overuse of this method is harmful to the development of studentslanguage competence. especially in the elementary stage. in fact, many linguists believe that no word can be exactly translated into another language. learning the vocabulary of a second language is not just to memorize the equivalent words of language one, but to learn the meaning relationship between “milk” and all other words in english within the context of cultural life.(4) treat all words equallysome english teachers treat all vocabulary equally. that is, they generally imply that students should be able to produce all vocabulary presented. but as is suggested by the linguists that words can be classified into receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary according to the needs, language levels and professions of the learners. they point out that all speakers are able to recognize more words than they usually use on a productive level. productive vocabulary is that utilized in everyday speech. receptive vocabulary, on the other hand, although needed for comprehension, is not necessarily essential for production in speaking and writing. teachers who do notice this fact ask students to concentrate equally on the acquisition of both receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary. this method of vocabulary teaching adds much burden to students, and would cause them to become tired of vocabulary learning.possible solutionswith these reasons ,i have corresponding provided some possible solutions which are as follows1.using interesting pictures, real things, to help my students to understand and study the new words.2.organizing helpful and interesting activities to motivate the students to memorize the words .3.guide the vivid situations to let the students guess the meaning of the words.4.creating a harmonious teaching circumstance and a good teacher-student relationship. 5. choose a list of words to focus on thats an integral part of the students existing curriculum. include words that students find in their everyday lives. provide vocabulary words that are age appropriate.6.motivate students by creating rewards, games, puzzles and other fun activities. mix a variety of activities centered on vocabulary to reach a broader range of students.7.model proper use of vocabulary words. use language creatively and with gusto. have fun with your own vocabulary and students will want to have fun with theirs.8.create a word wall where students write new and interesting vocabulary words. refer to the wall often during class so students become familiar with it and its purpose.9.quiz and test the students on their vocabulary words. disguise the purpose, learning vocabulary, of the quiz. explain that quizzes and tests only help the teacher know how well the students have been taught.10.revise the old vocabulary words often. bring them up casually in class and on quizzes. tell students that learning does not end after the test. it is important for them to recall vocabulary words. 3.project objectivemy research objective is that to enhance my students ability to memorize the vocabulary easily and correctly by using the new methods.4.project hypothesisit is hypothesized that pictures ,real things,comunication , context, pronunciation and spelling can increase my students ability to memorize the vocabulary. 5.project rationaleas we know interest is the best teacher of the students. interest is one of the most important factor in learning a foreign language .as darwin said “just as eating without liking does harm to ones health, learning without interest harms memory and retains nothing when one takes in it” former experiments show that among the factors contributing to success of learners ,interest accounts for about 35%.psychological studies indicate that human beings mainly depend on eyes and ears to obtain information received by eyes which will remain 60% in memory after 3 hours and only 40% after 3days while the information obtained both by eyes and ears will obtain 90% in memory after 3 hours and still 75% after 3days .another study indicate that the development of human beings ideation is a process from thinking from images to abstraction. the teenagers in middle school have developed thinking more in images than in abstraction. application of pictures and real things in english teaching will create language circumstances for students and mobilize their interest in thinking in mages ,for the abstract language material to turn into concrete images hence pictures and real things are suitable for the psychological development of teenagers. it is not only a better way to improve students interest and remove their anxiety ,but also helpful to their memory.first i can solve the problem that many of my students are not interested in memorizing the words.they learn cultural information in a very easy and relaxing way. interesting pictures and real things make them memorize the words and arouse their interets to search for more vocabulary like this. second method is associations. i love to take a word and show people how the word has been in a movie, in a movie title, in a song that they like. theres a deodorant i think called arid extra dry for example. so arid it turns out means very dry. so when you learn that arid means very dry. you associate it with this deodorant, which obviously, you know, arid extra dry is not going to be a deodorant thats called wet or smelly or something like that. its going to be dry. thats what its doing. its an antiperspirant deodorant. so, its a great association for arid and then people will never forget it. and again i love to do this with movies. a lot of movies have really great vocab in them and when you point that out to students. even watch a movie in class. monty python and the holy grail, pirates of the caribbean. these are some movies that actually have great vocab. and when you put it in you can even watch the movie together and then go over the fifty or more words that are in the movie.in order to arouse the students interest in learning vocabulary and memorize efficiently, the teacher may have specific vocabulary exercise and organize practice activities in class warm-ups or in the lead-ins to the presentation of new items when establishing the context or situation. 6.project designon the basis of the rationale .i plan to use some units in grade9 students book go for it as my language materials.new teaching methods and new tasks were designed with the aims of providing students with a chance to memorize and guess the meaning of the vocabularies by using the pictures and real things and vivid situations.before class, i collected some pictures and real things and design some situations related to the lesson. at initial stages, the pictures are made up of what students want to know and later on the teacher might bring some more complicated pictures or real things in order to arouse the students interest.guide clear instruction try to explain correctly and try to memorize the words efficiently.encourage the students to use as more english words as they can and solve the problem with other students and the teachers proper help. i design four activities to tried it out in four weeks so as to test the hypothesis.timetable of the project design.grade 9 in junior schoolunit topicaimactivitytime (minutes)week 4animalsto know the names of animals and how to protect animals.practice using useful expression 35week 1musicto express what kind of music they like.fill in the blanks35week 3 feeling to summarize the nouns and adjective words about the weather,movies,colors.encourage students to practice english 35week 2inventionsto deal with grammar focus talk about when they were invented35week 1 activity 1unit 6 grade 9 students book go for it purpose : to talk about things students like.instructions: to teach new words with real thingsprocedures: first ,talk about some students hobbies in order to increase their interests.then ask students to listen to the music. finally, guide them how to express the feeling about different kinds of music. then make the conversations in pairs face to face and guess the new words in their dialogues and textbooks.week 2 activity 2 unit 9 grade 9 students book go for it purpose : to deal with grammar focus instructions: first, show some pictures of some inventions in order to increase students interests. then tell them to gather the expression of inventions, guide them to practice the answers. finally, give some pictures to some students to read the words aloud. give them topics with pictures and cards and then make them practice the drills face to face, then ask them to read and memorize the new words.week 3 activity 3 unit 13 grade 9 students book go for it purpose : to summarize the nouns and adjective words about the weather,music,color. instructions : to teach the vocabulary in contexts and situations.procedure: classificate the words of weather ,music and color.then show some real thing to the students and ask them to talk about their feelings about weather, music and color. divide students into several groups to do this job and finally check which have used the most words.week 4 activity4 unit 15 grade 9 students book go for it purpose : to understand the new words about animals instructions: to teach new words with pictures procedure: first, i ask a student to stand in the front of the classroom,and then i ask him:do you like these animals?why? tiger and lion are dangerous animals.they bite people.encourage students to guess the meaning of bite.7.project implementationit took me four weeks to carry out my project design .the followings are my project implements.week 1 activity 1date : monday march 20th class 14contents: unit 6 section a 1a grade 9 sb go for it step 1 revision check the homework step 2 pre-speaking t: in this class ,we are going to talk about music ,before we talk about it, lets listen to the music. (the teacher play a piece of rock music and then ask students to answer what kind of music it is)use the same way to teach other kinds of new words about music.step 3 while speaking show the new words on the blackboard firstly, i play the different kinds of music and ask them to read the words about music aloud.secondly, let them talk about what kind of music they like.finally ,give several minutes to ss to practice saying the new wordsstep 4 post-speaking t: please turn to your books to page 24 activity 1a. organize ss to look at the pictures carefully ,and write the correct letter (am ) for each sentence.ask ss to fill in the blanks and then check the answer with the whole class.step 5 homework remember the new words week 2 activity 2date : monday march 28th class 12contents: unit 9 2a and grammar focus. grade 9 sb go for it step 1 revision check the homework step 2 pre-speaking sb page 36 2a t: in this unit ,we will talk about some inventions. look, what is this? ( show a mobile phone )show the other inventions in the same way. students can take an interest in the real things and they also interested in the names of these things.step 3 while speaking show the new words and time on the bb . firstly ,show different things with new phrases and say : what is this ? it is a pair of slippersthe ss read after me .do you know when they were invented? students just guess one of the time on the bb. (teach the other words and sentences in the same way)secondly , divide the class into two groups and show the things one by one to let one group ask and other groups ,then exchange the partners,finally ,ask several ss to stand in the front of the classroom ,each of them holds a thing or a picture that i well designed to practice the structures :whats this? it is a car. when was it invented?step 4 post- speaking sb page 36 grammar focust: please turn your books to page 36 and then ask the ss to talk about things in their daily life.step4 home workremember the useful expressions week 3 activity 3date : tuesday april 11th class 14contents: unit13 section a grade 9 sb go for it step 1 revision check the homework step 2 pre-speaking 1: in this unit ,we talk about our feelings about the weather, music and color and so on.firstly, show a piece of sad music and ask students what do you feel about this music?students answer it makes me sad.secondly, guide different situations to ask students to express their feelings. such as embarrassed, guilty and uncomfortable. step 3 practice show the conversation on the blackboard . i divide students into small groups in class and ask them to make conversations to express their feelings by using the new vocabularies .t: please turn to your books to page 7 activity 1a. organize ss to look at the pictures carefully ,and write the correct letter (am ) for each blank.ask ss to fill in the blanks and then check the answer with the whole class.step 5 homework remember the new words step4 home worki give a well-designed picture to every group with some new words and phrases. i ask them to make new conversations with the pictures in small groups. students can share the sentence patterns they have made with other groups and practice them together. working in small groups would not only make students feel secure but also develop the good relationship with their learning parttners.week 4 activity 4date : wednesday april 19th class 12contents: unit15 section a 1c grade 8 sb go for it step 1 revision check the homework step 2 pre-speaking sb page 25 unit13 section a 1c 1: in this unit ,we talk about animals and endangered animals. first, we have a revision of animals we have learned about.second, design an interesting situation to let students guess the meaning of words,for example, t: do you like these animals?(show the pictures of tiger and lion)t:why?ss: tiger and lion are dangerous animals.they bite people.(encourage students to guess the meaning of bite.)finally, ask students to make conversations by using the new words. step 3 practice ask the ss to make their own conversations according to different pictures and words. finally ,give some pictures and words about activities to some ss to make conversations, and then encourage the ss to practice the drills face to face in the fron