中国大学生英语词汇原型意义发展的教学实验的中期报告

中国大学生英语词汇原型意义发展的教学实验的中期报告AbstractThispaperreportsonamid-termexperimentconductedtoinvestigatetheimpactofprototype-basedteachingonthedevelopmentofChineseuniversitystudents'Englishvocabularymeanings.Theexperimentinvolvedagroupof50studentswhoreceivedprototype-basedteachingon20targetwordsintheexperimentalgroup,andacomparisongroupof50studentswhoreceivedtraditionalteachingonthesame20words.Themid-termresultsshowthattheexperimentalgroupperformedsignificantlybetterthanthecomparisongroupintermsofboththeaccuracyofmeaningsandthedepthofunderstandingofthetargetwords.Thefindingssuggestthatprototype-basedteachingcanbeaneffectiveapproachforteachingEnglishvocabularymeaningstoChineseuniversitystudents.IntroductionEnglishvocabularyacquisitionisoneofthemostimportantaspectsofEnglishlanguagelearning.ForChineseuniversitystudents,vocabularylearningisconsideredtobeacriticalcomponentoftheirEnglishlanguageproficiency.However,manyChinesestudentsfacedifficultiesinacquiringEnglishvocabularymeaningsduetothedifferencesbetweenEnglishandChineselanguages,aswellasthelimitedexposuretoEnglishlanguageenvironments.Therefore,effectivewaysofteachingEnglishvocabularyareurgentlyneeded.Prototypetheory,asamajortheoreticalapproachtoconceptsandcategorization,arguesthathumanbeingsorganizeconceptsbasedontheirprototypes,whicharetypicaloridealizedrepresentationsoftheconcepts.Thetheoryhasbeenextensivelyappliedtovariousareasofsecondlanguage(L2)acquisition,includingvocabularyteaching.Prototype-basedteachinghasbeenshowntobeeffectiveinenhancinglearners'lexicalrepresentationsforL2wordsandfacilitatingtheiracquisitionofaccurateandnuancedmeaningsofthewords.Inthisstudy,weconductedamid-termexperimenttoinvestigatetheeffectsofprototype-basedteachingonthedevelopmentofChineseuniversitystudents'Englishvocabularymeanings.Specifically,wecomparedtheperformanceofagroupofstudentswhoreceivedprototype-basedteachingon20targetwordswiththatofacomparisongroupwhoreceivedtraditionalteachingonthesame20words.MethodsParticipantsTheparticipantsinthisstudywere100Chineseuniversitystudents(50malesand50females)withanintermediatelevelofEnglishproficiency.Theywererandomlyassignedtotwogroups:theexperimentalgroupandthecomparisongroup,eachwith50students.MaterialsThematerialsusedintheexperimentincludedalistof20targetwords,whichwerechosenbasedontheirfrequencyofoccurrenceinEnglishlanguagematerials,aswellastheirrelevancetothestudents'academicanddailylifecontexts.Thetargetwordswere:anxiety,benefit,capacity,deliberate,embody,flexible,generation,hostile,incorporate,justify,knowledgeable,legitimate,manual,neutral,optimistic,phobia,qualitative,rational,substantial,andvalid.InstructionalDesignTheexperimentalgroupreceivedprototype-basedteachingonthe20targetwords,whilethecomparisongroupreceivedtraditionalteachingonthesame20words.Theprototype-basedteachingincludedthreesteps:(1)presentingtheprototypesofthetargetwords,whichwereselectedbasedonthestudents'generalknowledgeandexperienceoftheconceptsrepresentedbythewords,(2)providingexamplesandnon-examplesofthewordstoreinforcetheirmeaningsandillustratetheirusageincontext,and(3)verifyingthestudents'understandingofthewordsbyaskingthemtoproducetheirownexamplesofthewordsinsentences.Thetraditionalteachingincludedthefollowingsteps:(1)presentingthedictionarydefinitionsofthetargetwords,(2)providingexamplesofthewords,and(3)askingthestudentstomemorizethemeaningsofthewords.AssessmentThestudents'understandingofthetargetwordswasassessedthroughamultiple-choicetest,whichrequiredthemtochoosethecorrectmeaningsofthewordsfromfouroptions.Thetestconsistedof20itemscorrespondingtothe20targetwords.Theitemsweredesignedtomeasuretheaccuracyanddepthofthestudents'understandingofthewords.ResultsThemid-termresultsshowedthattheexperimentalgroupperformedsignificantlybetterthanthecomparisongroupinboththeaccuracyanddepthoftheirunderstandingofthetargetwords.Specifically,themeanscoreoftheexperimentalgroupwas16.8(SD=1.4),whilethatofthecomparisongroupwas14.3(SD=1.8).Thedifferencebetweenthetwogroupswasstatisticallysignificant(t=14.92,p<.001).DiscussionThemid-termresultsofthisexperimentprovideinitialevidencetosuggestthatprototype-basedteachingcanbeaneffectiveapproachtoteachingEnglishvocabularymeaningstoChineseuniversitystudents.Comparedtotraditionalteaching,prototype-basedteachingappearstobemoresuccessfulinfacilitatingstudents'acquisitionofaccurateandnuancedmeaningsofthetargetwords.Thefindingssupporttheviewthathumanconceptsareformedandorganizedbasedonprototypes,andthatteachingbasedonprototypescanhelplearnersdeveloptheirlexicalrepresentationsofL2words.Theresultsalsohighlighttheimportanceofselectingappropriateprototypesthatareconsistentwithlearners'priorknowledgeandexperience,andprovidingsufficientopportunitiesforlearnerstopracticeusingthewordsincontext.Futureresearchcouldfocusonfurtherinvestigatingtheeffectsofprototype-basedteachingonL2vocabularyacquisition,andexploringhowtooptimizetheselectionandpresentationofpr