提高初中英语词汇教学的有效性

提高初中英语词汇教学的有效性abstract：efficient input of vocabulary results in output of language to a large extent. most teachers just let students remember words， but do not teach them how to remember. it cannot be effective in helping students understand and correctly use words if the analyses of the words are ignored. what’s worse， mechanical repetition will just make students lose interests and confidence in learning english. this thesis makes a detailed analysis of current situation of vocabulary teaching， and therefore puts forward some strategies like intuitional teaching and interactive teaching， teaching of pronunciation and spelling rules，words expansion in logic notes， and the use of diagrams，to help students understand and use the words. only to improve the effectiveness of vocabulary teaching in junior middle schools to help students learn english.key words：junior； vocabulary teaching； strategies；effectivenessintroductionfor most teachers， they just read the new words and corresponding chinese， and then let students to repeat and spell words. only in this way may let students lose interestsand confidence in learning english.this thesis makes a brief introduction of problems of students in vocabulary learning， and applies some strategies through consulting theories of books and journals to make effective vocabulary teaching.1 problems of students in vocabulary learningin junior middle schools， english words become more and longer， and it is difficult for students to effectively remember words through mechanical repetition. however， some teachers don’t pay much attention to vocabulary teaching，thus there exist problems of current vocabulary teaching results.firstly， most students’ pronunciation and spelling is incorrect with most words. each time testing words spelling after the completion of a unit， just 30-40 words， only few of them can correctly spell， almost 50% of them wrongly spell half of the words.secondly， most students don’t have the ability to recognize changed words. for example， students know the word take，but the word has to be changed in some occasion： changing into takes （singular third-person）， took （past tense or past participle）， taking （present participle）， in theseoccasions， students can’t recognize them， let alone the understanding of meaning.thirdly， most students have short memory for vocabulary. even if they pass the test， after ten days， test them words of the same unit， only to find that students who can correctly spell half of the words are less than 1/3 of the all.last but not least， most students can’t use the word correctly. most students can’t distinguish the various parts of speech in english words and will make ridiculous or incomprehensible sentences.2 strategies to improve vocabulary teaching2.1 cultivating interestsfirst， teachers should make use of intuitional teaching. using objects or pictures properly can stimulate student’s interests to observe things in life and pay attention to the english expression of an object or a concept.i. to make induction ： when talking about stationary such as pen， pencil， ruler， eraser， pencil case， pencil sharpener and so on， teachers can use pictures to raise student’s interests to directly describe things using english words instead of telling them corresponding chinese. similarly， it also works in furniture， sports， vegetable，fruit， animal，color， musical instrument， whether condition and so on.ii. to make a comparison： cup and bottle are both means “a container” and have same corresponding chinese. if teachers don’t make a comparison， students easily tend to make a wrong use. however， cup is usually with a handle，so it is necessary to use objects or pictures to stress the difference.iii. to use ballads： teachers can use ballad to help students to remember related word. basic vocabulary without inner rules is difficult for students to remember， so teachers can string them together into ballad， such as seven days in a week， for example：monday， tuesday， wednesday；thursday， friday， saturday；sunday， sunday， sunday！second， teachers should take advantage of interactive teaching. first step， a teacher can speak out the new words and make the appropriate action， let student guess the meaning； and then after some remembering excises， let students listen to orders and make the corresponding action in the way of group activities or the whole class to testwhether they have mastered or not. as nation says，“combining arrangement activities can be used as vocabulary learning exercises.”（nation， 1979： 102）. for example：teaching prepositions： with the help of two or three students， stand in a line or in a row， a teacher can make active explain the words of direction like “behind”，“ between”，“ among”，“ next to”，“ in front of”，“ in the front of” and so on.2.2 correct teaching of pronunciationfirstly， teachers can let students make pronunciation through observing. when teaching international phonetic alphabet （ipa）， teachers can let every student to prepare a piece of mirror for observing the place of articulation and the shape of mouth. for example， from[ɑ：]， [?]， [?]， [e]，[i] to [i：]， the shape of the mouth is from round to flat. most teachers like to teach whole phonetics in one or two classes， however， the result is not so good. we should teach and correct pronunciation at any time through the review of learned words in primary school in the teaching process， thus students can be easier to accept and master. teachers should especially correct the following phonetic alphabet：i. correct students to pronounce full vowels instead ofblurring.ii.when pronouncing [s] and [z]， one should not touch the tip of the tongue； whilepronuncing [θ] and [?]， one should touch the tip of the tongue.iii. let students pay attention to the shape of the mouth when pronouncing [t?] [d?] [tr] [dr].iv. when pronouncing [v]， one should bite lower lip； while pronouncing [w]， one should make the mouth like a circle and do not bite lip.v. let students feel the place of articulation of [n] and [?].vi. let students notice the pronunciation of [?]. for example， in the word “ruler” [‘ru：l?]，[?] should make a sound； while in the word “rule” [ru：l]， [?] should not make a sound， just make the tip of the tongue withstand the palate.secondly， teachers should teach students the pronunciation rules.i. in stressed syllable which letters are combined in the way like “consonant + vowel （a， i， o） + consonant + e”，the vowel has its own sound. for example， the word “make”just has one stressed syllable and in line with the letter combination， so the letter “a” sounds [ei]；in word “bike”，the letter “i” sounds [ai]； in word “home”， the letter “o” sounds [?u].ii. in general， in stressed syllable， vowel letter or letter combination has long sounds. while in unstressed syllable， it has short sounds. for example， letter combination “ar” in word “car”（[kɑ：]） sound [ɑ：]；in word “collar”（[‘k?l?]） sounds [?].iii. special pronunciation should especially emphasize. sometimes letter combination has long sounds， and sometimes has short sounds. so teachers should let students to pay attention to summarize. for example， letter combination “oo”sounds [u：]， but in the word “look”，“good”，“foot”，“book” and “wood” sounds short vowel [u]； in the word “blood” and “flood” sounds [?].2.3 effective teaching of spellingteachers should give students more scientific ways to lead them to remember the newwords. the first one is spelling rules.i. to divide a word into syllables. each syllable has a vowel phoneme. for example， theword “family” has three syllables.ii. to remember spelling by the pronunciation. for example，when the word has thevowel[?u]， its letter combination may be “o”（go， host，phone， cold），“ow”（know， show， low， flow） or “oa”（boat， coat， goal）.iii. realizing compound words. for example，pencil-sharpener， pencil-case.iv. keeping prefixes and suffixes in mind. for example，prefix（il-， ir-， im-， un-， mis-， dis- ，pre-， ex- ，re-， tele-， uni-， bi- tri-）； suffix（-er， -eer， -or，-ess， -ize， -en， -fy， -ful， -ous， -less）the second one is logic notes when having effective word expansion. notes are the main ways to help students keep new knowledge and to review. so teachers should offer logic notes to help students to memorize. a word has changes in parts of speech and grammar structure. teachers can list words in this way as follows：i. parts of speech：v.（vt./vi.）--- n. （c.n./u.n.）--- adj. --- adv. for example：（an） actor/actress （c.n.）act （vi.）— action （c.n.）activity （u.n.）—active （adj.）—actively （adv.）ii. grammar structure：verb---past tense---past participle---present participle. for example：begin – began – begun – beginning2.4 proper teaching of meaningwhen teaching antonym， teachers can use diagrams to help students to understand the meaning. for example：conclusionthis thesis introduces correct teaching of pronunciation through observing by a mirror， focuses on the logic notes in word expansion and pays attention to test whether the students have mastered the word or not in order to make a review or go on teaching new words.in order to get maximum effectiveness in vocabulary teaching， teachers should continuously makeself-improvement of skills in teaching english vocabulary，and accordingly use various ways to help students to remember the new words instead of being restricted by one or two means. references：[1]i. s. p. nation. teaching and learning vocabulary.beijing： foreign language teaching and research press， 1979.[2]norbert schmitt. “vocabulary learning strategies” in vocabulary： description， acquisition and pedagogy. shanghai：[3]shanghai foreign language education press， 2002.[4]shen yinzhen. multiculturalism and its relationship to the teaching of modern english. hangzhou： zhejiang university press， 2005.[5]胡壮麟.《语言学教程》.北京：北京大学出版社，2010.[6]王宗炎.《语言学和语言的应用》.上海：上海外语教育出版社，1998.[7]周秋宏.初中英语词汇教学反思.《教育与管理》，2011（12）：126-127.作者简介：王娟，女，山东省潍坊，重庆师范大学2012级外国语学院硕士研究生，专业：翻译硕士，方向：笔译。