OnBoostingtheStudyofActiveWordsThroughSemantic—association

1、OnBoostingtheStudyofActiveWordsThroughSemanticassociation【Abstract】Asacomponentoflanguageproficiency，lexicalabilityisessentialtolanguagelearners，andaflurryofscholarlyworkinthelastseveraldecadeshasconfirmeditsimportancetotheacademicworldaswellaslanguageteachinge.g.CoadyHuckin1997，Nation1990，2020，Schi

2、mitMcCarthy1997，Singleton1999etc.Thispaperaimstoillustratethatitisfeasibletousesemantic-associationmethodtoboostthestudyofactivewordsbyraisinglanguagelearnersconsciousnessandactivatingtheassociativenetworksofvocabularyinlearnersmentallexicon.basedontherationalethatvocabularyofalanguageisanorganizedn

3、etworkofsense-relations，thispaperdesignsaseriesofclassroomactivitiesaimingatactivatingpeoplesmentallexiconandproducingmorevariedandadvancedvocabularyintheirwriting.Inthispaper，chapteroneintroducesthedefinitionanddescriptionofpassivewordsandactivewords.Followingchapterone，chaptertwofocusesthetheoryan

4、ditsapplicationinteaching.Andinthelastchapter，severalclassroomactivitiesaredesignedtoimprovetheactiveuseofvocabulary.【Keywords】passivewords；activewords；semantic-association1.PassivewordsandActiveWordsAlmosteveryonehasmetwordsthatcanbeunderstoodperfectlywellinatext，butfailtoberememberedwhenusedproduc

5、tively.Thisphenomenonmaylargelyresultfromthedistinctionofactive/passivewordsorreceptive/productivewordshereafterRP.AlthoughthereremainsalackofclarityoverdefinitionofthenotionsofRP，manyscholarsmanagetoexplainRPfromvariousaspects.Nation2020：24describesRPaspedagogicconceptions：Receptivecarriestheideath

6、atwereceivelanguageinputfromothersthroughlisteningandreadingandtrytocomprehendit，productivethatweproducelanguageformsbyspeakingandwritingtoconveymessagestoothers.Inhisopinion，passivevocabularyuseinvolvesthecognitiveprocessofperceivingawordformandretrievingitsmeaning；whileactiveworduseinvolvesthatofw

7、antingtoexpressameaningorallyorinthewrittenformandofretrievingandproducingtheappropriatespokenorwrittenwordform.Melka1997：85describesRPbasedontherationalethatlexicalknowledgeisacontinuumconsistingofseverallevelsofknowledge：Certaindegreesofknowledgecouldbelabeledashigherdegreesoffamiliarity，closetopr

8、oductiveknowledge，butatwhichpointreceptiveknowledgecanbeconvertedintoproductiveknowledgeisclearlynoteasytoanswer.endprintAccordingtoMelka，weshouldsaythatvocabularyacquisitionisamovementfromareceptivetoproductivemastery，representingincreasingdegreesofknowledgeorfamiliaritywithaword.Allinall，itcanbesa

9、idthatactivevocabularyiswhatyoucancomeupwithanduseinwritingorspeaking，whilepassivevocabularyiswhatyoucanrecognizewhenheardorseenbutcannotrecallwhenitisappropriateforyoutouseit.2.TheTheoryofSemanticFieldandItsApplicationtoEnglishVocabularyTeachingSemanticapproachorwordassociationnetworks-isaneffectiv

10、ewaytoactivatestudentsexistingmentallexiconandtotransformthepassivewordsintoactiveuse.Semanticfieldisatermreferringtothephenomenonthatvocabularyisanintegratedsystem，andcanbedividedintosemanticallyrelatedsetsorfields.Wordsineachsemanticfielddefineoneanother.Wordsdonotexistinisolation.Theyformdifferen

11、tsemanticfields，suchasananimalfieldwhichcontainsallkindsofwordsthatdenoteanimals，oracookingfieldwhichincludesvariouswordsrelatedtocooking，andsoon.Wordsthatbelongtothesamesemanticclassareinthesamesemanticfield.Letuslookatsomemoreexamplesofsemanticfields：1vehicle：car，Jorry，truck，coach，van，motorscooter

12、2building：factory，hospital，house，church3vegetable：spinach，cauliflower，cabbage，pepper，onion，tomato，cucumberAccordingtothetheoryofsemanticfield，themeaningofawordisdecidedbyitsrelationshipswithotherwordsinthesamesemanticfield.Therearevariouskindsofsuchsenserelationships，forexample，synonymy，antonymy，hyp

13、onymy，andpart/whole.2.1SynonymySynonymyreferstotherelationshipofsimilarityoridentityinmeaning.Synonymsarethewordswhichhavethesameorverynearlythesameessentialmeaning.Examplesofsynonymsarethepairsbroadwide，hideconceal，almostnearly，cabtaxi.2.2AntonymyTwoformswithoppositemeaningsarecalledantonyms，andcom

14、monlyusedexamplesarethepairs：quickslow，bigsmall，longshort，richpoor.Antonymsareusuallydividedintotwomaintypes，the“gradableandthe“non-gradable.Gradableantonyms，suchasthepairbigsmall，canbeusedincomparativeconstructionslikebiggerthansmallerthan.Also，thenegativeofonememberofthegradablepairdoesnotnecessar

15、ilyimplytheother.Withnon-gradableantonyms，alsocalled“complementarypairs，comparativeconstructionsarenotnormallyusedtheexpressionsdeaderormoredeadsoundstrange，andthenegativeofonememberdoesimplytheother.endprint2.3HyponymyHyponymyreferstotherelationshipofsemanticinclusion.Wordswithmorespecificmeaningor

16、narrowermeaningarehyponyms，whilewordswithmoreinclusiveorgeneralmeaningsaresuperordinateterms.Twohyponymssharingthesameonesuperordinatearecalled“co-hyponyms.Forexample，“floweristhesuperordinateof“tulip，“violetand“rose，whicharetheco-hyponymsof“flower.2.4Part/wholerelationshipWhenaword，whichreferstoone

17、thing，isapartofanotherword，thesetwowordsareinpart-wholesemanticfield.Thiskindofsemanticfieldaredividedintotwocategories.Oneisin-orderrelation.Forexample，inthesemanticfield“year，thereareJanuary，February，March，etc.Theotherisout-of-orderrelation，thatis，inthiskindofsemanticfields，wordsneedntbearrangedin

18、certainorder.3.SemanticNetworkActivitiesAsisknown，itisnoteasytomovepassivewordsintoactiveuse.Laufer1995suggeststhatonecauseofthismaybealackofknowledgeandsuitableactivitiestopushreceptiveandproductiveknowledgeintoactiveuse.Belowarethreeactivitiesdesignedtoboostthestudyofactivewords.3.1Activity1Modifi

19、edReadingMaterialsExplanation：Modificationofreadingmaterialsisdonebyfindingsuitablevocabularytoreplaclessfrequentwordsorfindingadvancedwordstoreplacelow-levelorbasicwords.Purpose：Modifiedreadingtextscanbeusedtoestablishpreviouslylearnedvocabularybyrepeateduse，sostudentscanconsolidatethevocabularywit

20、hinthesamesemanticfieldbyrepeatingtheconcernedvocabulary.Procedure1Teacherschooseanauthentictextwiththesimilartopictothecompositiontobewritteninthewritingcourse.2Teacherstrytohuntforsuitablewordstoreplacelessfrequentwordsorfindingadvancedwordstoreplacelow-levelorbasicwords.3Readingmaterialsaredelive

21、redtostudentsatleastoneortwodaysbeforethewritingcourse.4Studentsarerequiredtoreadthetextandpayattentiontothesubstitutedwords.5Studentsfallintoseveralgroupsinwritingclasstodiscussandchoosethesuitablewordstouseintheircompositions.6Duringtheprocessofwriting，teacherstrytoenhancestudentsawarenessoftheuse

22、ofwordstheyhavecollectedinthetext.3.2Activity2UsingWordCategoriesExplanation：Vocabularyisnotanunstructured，randomcollectionofwordsbutanorganizedsemanticnetwork，soeachgivenwordisincludedinitsspecificsemanticdomain.Thisideacanfacilitatestudentsretrievalandproductionofwordsbyactivitiesofcollectingwords

23、inthesamesemanticfield.Thefurtherevaluationamongclassmateswillhelpconsolidatethewords.endprintProcedure：1Teacherspreparethejumbledwordsinapaperasahandoutdeliveredtostudents.2Teachersaskstudentsingroupsorpairstoputthejumbledwordsintotheboxesmarkedwithdifferentcategories.3Teacherscheckthestudentsworka

24、ndencouragestudentsfurtherassociationofwordsinthesamesemanticdomain.4Teacherssuggeststudentsuseofthewordsinthesamecategoryinwriting.5Afterfinishingwritingacomposition，studentsareaskedtoexchangetheircompositionswiththeirpartners.6Teachersaskstudentstocheckthecompositionanddiscusswiththepartneraboutwh

25、ethersuitablewordsareusedincontextsandwhethertherearesomeothersynonymsorhyponymstosubstitutethepresentwords.7Studentsareaskedtogiveconstructiveadvicetoeachotherabouttheuseofwordsandmakecorrections.Sample：SupposingthetopicisaboutSports，thefollowingtablemayillustratethisactivity.E.g.1Thelanguageofspor

26、tsSportsCategoriesLocationTeamsEquipmentScoringInchargeSoccerGroundPitchStadium11playersBallBootsStripGoalpostsGoalsDraw1-0onenil2-2twoallRefereeTwolinesmenTennisCourtSinglesDoublesMixeddoublesRacketBallsNet15-0fifteen-lovePointsGame/setUmpireLine-judges3.3Activity3WordDomainExplanation：WordDomainac

27、tivitymeansthatteachersbringforwardaconceptandhavinstudentscallupfamiliarwordsrelatedtotheconcept.Purpose：Thisactivitycanpreparestudentstoaddnewwordsintheformofaworddomaintotheirlexicalnetworks，andthenhelpstudentsstorethewordsinlong-termmemoryandfinallyputthewordsintotheirownuse.Procedure：1Teachersc

28、hooseathemeorconceptconnectedwiththecompositiontobewritten.2Teacherswritethekeywordsontheblackboardandaskstudentstobrainstormthewordsrelatedtothekeywords.3Teacherswriteallthewordsdownontheblackboardandaskstudentstocategorizewordsbydegree.4Teachersencouragestudentsuseofthewordsintheirwriting.Sample：S

29、upposingstudentsaregoingtowriteaboutaHorribleExperience，thenthefocuswordmightbeafraid.ThefollowingfiguremayillustratethisactivityfromNation：1994.endprintE.g.2Less-MoreWORRIEDAFRAIDTERRIFIEDworriedafraidterrifiednervousscaredhorrifiedtensefrightenedpanic-strickenuneasyfearfulscaredstiffConclusionBein

30、gacrucialpartofalanguage，vocabularylaysthefoundationofalanguage，carriesmeaningsintendedbypeople，andguaranteesthepossibilityofpropercommunication.Itisadmittedthatonlybyputtingpassivewordsintoactiveuse，doesthelanguagelearnertrulymasterthevocabularyofthatlanguage.Andthroughtheclassroomactivitiesdesignedinthispaper，semantic-associationmethodiseffectivelyappliedtoboosttheactiveuseofwordsbyrais