The typical issue of vocabulary teaching and selection in English language classrooms in China

Abstract：This essay focuses on discussing an issue of vocabulary selection and teaching in English language classrooms in China. The problem that is going to be expounded is relying too much on definition-based method. For the expansion of the issue， four steps will be taken. Firstly， to give the description of the problem， which contains， what is happening in the English language classroom for ESL/EFL Chinese learners in terms of vocabulary selection and teaching. Secondly， to find out what the solution should be， and what are the advantages or motives of applying this method. Lastly， to make a brief conclusion for teaching.

Key words： vocabulary selection and teaching;English language classrooms;relying too much on definition-based method

1 Introduction

To focus on discussing the issue of vocabulary selection and teaching in English language classrooms in China， in this essay the problem that is going to be expounded is relying too much on definition-based method. To analyze the issue， four steps will be taken. Firstly， to give the description of the problem， which contains， what is happening in the English language classroom for ESL/EFL Chinese learners in terms of vocabulary selection and teaching， and accordingly what might the vocabulary teaching problems related to this phenomenon be. Secondly， to find out what the solution should be， and what are the advantages or motives of applying this method to solve the problem. Lastly， to conclude how the benefits of the solution mentioned and the practical application exemplified can guide the vocabulary teaching and selection in EFL classrooms.

2 General description

Normally， for intermediate or upper-intermediate Chinese EFL/ESL students， new lexis and phrases will be acquired through articles. And considering how to effectively select and teach vocabularies in language classes for those students， there are always two schemes in Chinese teachers mind. Frequently， teachers will firstly ask students to go through the target text and circle those words that are ‘unfamiliar for them， and then these being circled lexes will constitute the majority of the words that should be studied in this session. Subsequently when coming to the word teaching part， most commonly， teachers will get the meanings of circled words from students directly. As in most cases， the preparation work for learners before classes will include the preview of the definitions of any new lexis. Thus in this situation， learners will actually circle the words that are supposed to be unfamiliar， and will be reviewing the vocabularies that should be taught in the classroom. Thus， in the English language classrooms in China， when learners are studying new vocabularies through texts， there seldom is the opportunity for students to learn a new word from the context， they merely remember the word meanings and some useful phrases isolatedly.

This issue is quite typical when considering the Chinese ESL/EFL classrooms context. It should be paid attention to as soon as possible with the corresponding solutions being applied in an appropriate way. And more could be analyzed if more classroom observation are carried out in the future.

Reference list

[1] Carter， R. （1998）. Vocabulary： Applied Linguistic Perspectives. Retrieved from https：//ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liverpool/detail.action？docID=169244

[2] Nash， H.， & Snowling， M. （2005）. ‘Teaching new words to children with poor existing vocabulary knowledge： a controlled evaluation of the definition and context methods， INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION DISORDERS， 41（3）， pp. 335-354.

[3] Nelson， D. L. （2008）. ‘A Context-Based Strategy for Teaching Vocabulary， The English Journal， 97（4）， pp. 33-37.

[4] Sigafoos， J. （2007）. ‘Context-based teaching of new vocabulary is associated with greater durability than a definition-based method， EVIDENCE BASED COMMUNICATION ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION， （1）， pp. 20-21.

作者簡介：丁若芷（1994.4—），女，汉，湖南株洲，助教，文学硕士，研究方向为英语教育。