Abstract

Wilkins once said “without grammar very little can be said, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”(Wilkins, 1987). We can see that vocabulary is the basic element of language expression and plays an important role in language learning. Recently, with an increasing number of English learners and English teachers’ inaccurate teaching method, students meet a lot of problems during the process of English learning. And the teaching of vocabulary is a big problem needed to be solved. In most middle schools, the English teacher have realized the significance of vocabulary in English language learning, but there lacks effective methods to teaching vocabulary. So in the process of vocabulary teaching, most first-line teachers only focus on vocabulary accumulation and mechanical repetition but neglect semantic relations and their interrelations between vocabularies. Meanwhile, students memorize vocabulary mechanically and feel dull, which leads to deficiency and time-consuming in vocabulary acquisition. Take the current situation, the study of semantic field theory and previous literature into consideration, the author tries to apply Semantic Field Theory to vocabulary teaching in senior high school in China, taking advantage of semantic relations, namely, hyponymy, synonym, antonymy and collocation, to build a semantic field. The students of high school have learned English since primary and junior high school, and they have vocabulary foundation. So, the author applies semantic field theory to high school’s vocabulary teaching so that enrich students’ vocabulary and deepen vocabulary understanding and further improve the effectiveness of semantic field teaching approach.The subjects are 75 students coming from No.2 senior high of Yibin, which are divided into two groups, one is experimental group the other is controlled group. I want to verify three questions  1) Compared with traditional method, can semantic field teaching approach get superior effect? 2) can the semantic field teaching approach deepen students understanding of vocabulary? 3) can semantic field teaching approach change students’ attitude toward vocabulary?

Key words: Senior High School;  Semantic Field Theory;  Vocabulary Teaching

Contents

Abstract

摘要

1 Introduction-1

1.1 Research Background-1

1.2 Purpose of this study-2

1.4 Main Contributions of This Paper-3

2 Literature Review-5

2.1 The Research Situations of Lexics at Abroad-5

2.2 The Research Situations of Lexics at Home-6

3 The Foundation of Theory-8

3.1 Brief Introduction of the Semantic Field Theory-8

3.2 Semantic Relations from the Point of Semantic Field Theory-9

3.2.1 Synonymy-9

3.2.2 Hyponymy-10

3.2.3 Antonymy-11

3.2.3.1 Gradable Antonyms-11

3.2.3.2 Complementary Antonyms-11

3.2.3.3 Relational Opposites-11

3.2.4 Collocation-11

4 Methodology-13

4.1 Purposes of This Experiment-13

4.2 Subjects of This Experiment-13

4.3 Design of This Experiment-14

4.3.1 Teaching Materials-14

4.3.2 Teaching Method Adopted During the Experiment-15

4.3.3 The Role of Teachers, Students and Materials-15

4.4 The Procedure of This Experiment-15

4.5 Collect Data and Analyze It.-17

4.5.1 Collect and Analyze the Data of Pre-experiment Examination Paper-17

4.5.2 Collect and Analyze the Data of After-experiment Examination Paper-17

5 Conclusions and Implications-19

5.1 Findings-19

5.2 Implications-19

5.3 Limitations-20

5.4 Suggestions for Further Experiment-21

Bibliography-22

Appendices-23

Appendix 1  The Interview Records of Five Students-23

Appendix 2  Before-experiment Paper-24

Appendix 3  Examination Scores of Before Experiment Stage-26

Appendix 4  Lesson Plans for Two Classes-28

Appendix 5  Examination Paper of Post-experiment Stage-32

Appendix 6  Examination scores of after experiment stage-34

Appendix 7  The After-experimental Interview Records of Five Students-36

Acknowledgements-37