An Analysis of Different English Vocabulary Teaching Models

徐志鵬

【Abstract】English vocabulary is of great importance in English teaching， and there are many teaching models， such as multimodal metaphor based， lexical chunks based， semantic fields based and output-driven hypothesis based teaching models. This paper aims to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of different models in the hope of helping teachers find the appropriate ones to teach different kinds of words.

【Key words】English vocabulary teaching models； multimodal metaphor； lexical chunks； semantic fields； output-driven hypothesis

Vocabulary is the base of a language， so its very important in language teaching. As an international language， English is given great emphasis in many countries， and scholars and experts come up with different models to teach English vocabulary. Here are just a few of them.

1. multimodal metaphor based

The multimodal metaphor based English vocabulary teaching model advocates employing a variety of ways， such as pictures， recordings， videos， gestures and even expressions， to involves students five senses in learning new words. In teaching， teachers can show a video clip of dolphins to illustrate the word “dolphin” so that students can see what a dolphin is like and hear its voice to have a vivid impression of a dolphin. When teaching the word “apple”， teachers can show students an apple， which students can see， touch， smell and even taste to have a lively impression on this word when listening to the teacher say “apple”. After tasting the apple， the teacher can show students a smiling face and says “delicious”， and then students can make sense of the word “smile” and “delicious”. When teaching the word “bang”， teachers can just bang a desk. While students may be startled， they can be deeply impressed as well.

Obviously， this vocabulary teaching model can arouse students interest in learning new words and have a deep impression when they employ their five senses to learn the words， but the problem is that not all the “words” can be touched， smelt and tasted. Mostly， teachers can show students videos for them to see and hear to enhance students understanding of the words， yet its hard for teachers to find appropriate video to teach target words unless it comes with the textbook.

2. lexical chunks based

Linguist Michael Lewis puts forward the lexical chunks based teaching method and classifies lexical chunks into four groups： words and polywords； collocations； institutional utterances； and sentence frames and heads. By “words and polywords”， he refers to isolated words and combinations of words. The word “way” itself is an isolated word if you try to remember its own pronunciation， spelling and meaning. But if you remember the phrases “by the way”， which you can not say “by the road”， then you are remembering polywords. By “collocations”， he means two or more words usually appears together， like “suicide” often comes with “commit”， you can seldom see otherwise. By “institutional utterances”， he means word combination with established pragmatic functions like people say “How are you today？” to greet others. By “sentence frames and heads”， he means something like signal words “to summarize”， which help organize the text.

As far as I am concerned， polywords， collocations， institutional utterances and sentence frames and heads are meaningful patterns good for input， especially output， but what about words， isolated words？

3. semantic fields based

The Theory of Semantic Fields was first put forward by the German scholar， J. Trier. According to him， words are inter related and conditioned in semantics， thus forming an integrated and ever-changing lexical system. Words are not isolated， but are integrated to form a semantic field under a common concept. A good example is given by Liang Jianping about the word “hit”. If you hit something many times， you may “beat”， “flog”， “flail”， “batter” or “pound” something. If you hit something with a quick movement， you may “knock”， “rap”， “bat”， “slap”， “swat”， or “kick” something. If you hit something as a punishment， you may “spank”， “slap”， “smack”， “flog”， “whack”， “thrash”， or “belt” something. If you hit something lightly， you may “tap”， “pat”， “cuff”， or “nudge” something. If you hit something very hard， causing damage， you may “batter”， “hash”， “belt”， “cane”， “clout”， “thump”， or “thrash” something.

Remembering words in this way， students can link them together， instead of reciting them separately. By remembering the word “hit”， students can try to remember the related words at the same time. When they try to express the idea of “hit”， they can choose from these words， and find the most appropriate ones and vary the expressions. In this sense， the semantic field based vocabulary teaching model can help students remember a large number of words at the same time and activate them later in speaking or writing. However， not all the words can be remembered in this way and it may be confusing for them to remember so many words at the same time and hard to tell the differences between them.

4. output-driven hypothesis based

According to the “output-driven hypothesis”， without output， one can not learn a language efficiently even with a large amount of input. Therefore， teachers should attach great importance to output when teaching vocabulary. Here are some of my suggestions. First， teachers can ask students to make sentences with new words. Second， teachers can ask students to translate the summary of the text. Third， teachers can ask students to retell the text. Fourth， teachers can ask students to use as many as new words to tell new stories， their own stories. When using new words， students may make some mistakes. In that case， teachers should pay special attention and explain the new words again. To make sure that students have mastered the new words， teachers may ask students to make new sentences or translate sentences.

By using new words， students can have a deep impression on them and can partly solve the problem of speaking and writing. But the problem is that when translating sentences， retelling the text， or telling their own stories， students can not use all the new words. Some new words may just be neglected by students.

After analyzing different English vocabulary teaching models， we may find that each teaching model has their own advantages and disadvantages. Teachers should choose their own vocabulary teaching model or combine several teaching models to teach different kinds of words.

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