On English vocabulary teaching methods

Vocabulary is the basic building material of pronunciation, and English vocabulary teaching is an important part of English classroom teaching. Although English vocabulary teaching is not as important as conversation teaching and requires few words, it is also necessary to master knowledge. And vocabulary teaching is also relatively boring. How to effectively teach English vocabulary in primary schools, and then stimulate and maintain students' interest in learning English, is an important topic that every English teacher must study. With the development of the times and the deepening of teaching, vocabulary teaching will definitely vary from place to place and from person to person, and its teaching methods need to be improved or developed continuously.

First, the problems in English vocabulary teaching

(1) Teachers teach words in isolation and talk too much.

Teaching and explaining words in isolation is a common drawback in vocabulary teaching in the past. In fact, vocabulary is a regular and systematic vocabulary. On the one hand, it is combined with pronunciation, sentence patterns and texts, on the other hand, it is reflected in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Therefore, the whole teaching method should be fully used in vocabulary teaching, which can greatly reduce the time for teachers to talk about knowledge, return the time to students, let students observe and think for themselves, and master vocabulary according to the vertical and horizontal relations of form, sound, meaning, structure and usage within vocabulary.

(B) Students have little exposure to vocabulary and little absorption.

Although many words were remembered at first, they were gradually forgotten. Because the vocabulary teaching combined with listening, speaking, reading and writing is not planned and purposeful enough, vocabulary repetition and absorption are less; On the other hand, a small vocabulary makes it difficult to listen, speak, read and write a lot. This vicious circle leads to difficulties in English teaching in primary and secondary schools, and many students have difficulties in English. I hate learning English because I'm afraid of remembering words.

(C) the teaching of different vocabulary regardless of primary and secondary, the average effort, the burden is too heavy

In practice, many teachers often ask students to master the pronunciation, form, meaning and usage of all words and use them in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The results did not meet the requirements, and teachers and students failed to grasp the main contradiction between vocabulary teaching and learning, and the effect was not good.

It can be seen that English vocabulary teaching is not as simple as we thought before, and there are still many difficulties and problems to be solved in actual teaching. As an English teacher, we should seriously study and study scientific teaching theory, and put it into practice in combination with reality, so as to maximize teaching efficiency.

Second, several teaching methods commonly used in English vocabulary teaching

Task-based teaching method advocated by English curriculum standards takes students' interest as the starting point, communication as the purpose and task as the basis, which fully embodies students' subjectivity and language communication and strengthens the process of language communication. Task-centered teaching philosophy aims at cultivating students' awareness of active participation, exploration and discovery and language communication ability. In the teaching activities designed by teachers, students complete their learning tasks through participation, experience, thinking, discussion, communication and cooperation.

Therefore, in order to improve the teaching effect, we must combine scientific theory with practical needs. In vocabulary teaching, we should carefully organize the teaching according to the different contents reflected in the vocabulary in the textbook and the age characteristics of students, so that students can learn quickly and remember well. In training, words cannot be separated from sentences, and sentences cannot be separated from meanings. Generally speaking, vocabulary teaching can be carried out in the following ways.

(A) intuitive teaching method

The intuitive teaching method mainly allows students to establish image thinking through objects, pictures, gestures, actions and expressions, which can greatly improve the memory effect. This is also the most commonly used teaching method.

1. Teaching in kind. Mainly used in the teaching of physical names, such as clocks, cups, apples, oranges and so on. These are common things in daily life, which are extremely easy to prepare, small in size and convenient to carry. In class, the teacher can read and write words on the blackboard while presenting physical objects, and complete the sound, shape and meaning of words at one time, vividly. Then, some sentence patterns "What is this? It is "a/an …" or "I like it very much …" that guides students to practice and strengthens students' unified awareness of the sound, form and meaning of words.

2. Use multimedia means, such as wall charts, stick figures and courseware to teach vocabulary. For those words that are not easy to teach in kind, such as family members, dates, weather, animals, etc. Flip charts, stick figures or audio-visual media can be used, depending on the actual situation of the school. Schools with poor conditions can use stick figures or wall charts; Schools with better conditions can use multimedia. Through these teaching AIDS, teachers can easily present the meaning, form and meaning of vocabulary to students.

3. Teaching with the help of gestures, movements or expressions. There are many verbs in English, which can be easily understood by students through gestures, actions and expressions. Such as singing, running, jumping, swimming, etc. Teachers can do actions while speaking English words, or ask some students with good English and strong understanding to do actions according to the teacher's instructions. The teacher can describe it first, and then ask the students to follow the words and sentence patterns: run-he is running. Jump-he is jumping, and so on. Teachers can write verbs and related sentence patterns on the blackboard to guide students to practice familiar vocabulary.

(B) the method of creating the scene

When teaching vocabulary, teachers should try to avoid writing words on the blackboard to teach students to read. They should try their best to create situations and teach vocabulary by creating situations, so that students can learn and master vocabulary in situations. For example, when teaching place nouns (such as hospitals, stations, cinemas), teachers can simply draw place rankings on cards or paper in advance and write words at the same time, and specific students will take them on stage during class. The teacher said: I want to go to Beijing. Where must I go? Wait, and guide the students to say the new word station, etc. At the same time, please take a step forward with the pictures of the corresponding words to show the word shape and meaning. Or the teacher designs a scene, taking the corridor between the two groups as the street, and the students holding pictures are stations, hospitals and other places. The teacher instructs the students to put the words into specific sentence patterns repeatedly in this specific situation until they can use them flexibly.

(C) Comparative teaching method

Contrastive teaching methods in vocabulary teaching can be divided into three types: one is synonym contrast, the other is antonym contrast, and the third is homonym contrast. Synonym contrast: A large number of words in English have the same or similar meanings. It is a common method to teach vocabulary by replacing or comparing synonyms, such as glad-happy and enjoy-like. , can help students "review the old and learn the new". Contrast of antonyms (relative words): Comparing antonyms or relative words helps students to remember them in a related way during the learning process. Now the shop is open. It's not closed. Or the weather is not very cold. It is warm. This contrast is not only easy to remember, but also makes words clear in sentences, which is helpful for students to use them accurately. Comparison of homophones: When teaching new words, teachers can ask students to write homophones on the blackboard. Such as: I don't know, weak, etc. Distinguish the differences in writing and meaning of these words, and make sentences with these words respectively, so as to encourage students to deeply remember and firmly grasp the pronunciation, part of speech, meaning and spelling of new words.

(D) Lexical Organization Law

With the increase of students' vocabulary, teachers can organize and classify words according to certain categories, help students discover the rules of memory, and use vocabulary organization methods to help students remember words. Classification organization method: that is, classify words according to similar relations. The teacher first puts forward a general word and asks students to collect words belonging to this category. For example, fruits: apples, bananas, pears, etc. This classification makes scattered words gather together, which is convenient for association and recall. Proximity organization law: that is, according to the principle of proximity association, two or more impressions that are close in space and time are linked together, so that as long as one is thought of, an impression that is close to it will be associated and recalled. If you think of celestial bodies, you will think of stars, the sun, the earth, the moon, then airplanes, spaceships, then astronauts, pilots and so on.

(E) English-Chinese interpretation methods

This method includes English interpretation and Chinese interpretation. The first is to explain vocabulary in English and cultivate students' English thinking ability. For example: a bank-a place to save money, and so on. The second is to explain the meaning of words in Chinese. The use of mother tongue should be avoided as much as possible in English teaching. However, some words that express abstract concepts, such as air and traffic, may be difficult for middle school students to explain in English. At this time, the teacher can explain directly in Chinese, which not only saves class time, but also makes the meaning clear.

(6) Game and Competition Law

Teenagers are lively and competitive, and follow the rules. Teachers should make full use of this feature of students and strive to create opportunities for students to speak and do in English class, so that they can become masters of learning. Introducing competition mechanism and games into the classroom not only shortens the distance between teachers and students, but also makes students in a state of active learning. The commonly used game methods in vocabulary teaching include "finding friends", "guessing games" and "word solitaire". There are also many forms of competitions, such as "see who gives more examples" and "see who finishes fastest". Games and competitions can be used in all aspects of vocabulary teaching, and can also penetrate into the above-mentioned teaching methods, but teachers should pay attention to reasonable control of time and avoid only pursuing fun and ignoring the effect.

(7) Spelling rules of words

This method should be based on good pronunciation. As a phonetic symbol, English has certain rules to follow between letters and pronunciation, which is what we often call the pronunciation rules. Teachers should make students master the rules of pronunciation skillfully in vocabulary teaching and explain them more intuitively and vividly through a large number of example sentences. For example, a reads [ei]: name, cake, being late, etc. Guide students to use pronunciation rules to pronounce and remember words in the first syllable. This method can cultivate students' ability to learn words by themselves.

(8) Exploration methods

It is a common method for most teachers to show words directly to teach students pronunciation. It only pays attention to imparting knowledge itself, which is what we often call "cognitive method". In vocabulary teaching, it can also become an "exploration method", allowing students to discover the laws of knowledge by themselves.

The following is a teaching example of the word "bread".

Teacher: Do you know how to read it in English? (Show pictures of bread. )

Student: No.

Please find the words with "ea".

Student: (All the students start to think and find the following words: tea, teacher, head, please, meat, …)

Now please read it and tell me how to pronounce "ea" in each word.

Please give me tea, mea, head, …

T: Oh, great! Now, you know, sometimes we may send "EA" [I:], but sometimes we may send "EA" [E]. The "ea" in bread here should be read as [e], which is the same as "head".

Health: OK, we can read [bread].

Using "inquiry method" can give full play to students' autonomy and creativity in learning. Under the guidance of the teacher, the students learned the pronunciation of words, mastered the rules of pronunciation, and learned the methods of thinking and seeking knowledge. This kind of learning is not passively accepting knowledge, but acquiring inquiry ability through independent participation. It is a kind of "inquiry learning": it not only pays attention to the result of knowledge acquisition, but also pays attention to the process of knowledge acquisition, paying attention to the construction of meaning and application. Therefore, it is particularly conducive to the effective implementation of quality education and innovative education. There are many ways to teach English vocabulary, and the above are just the most commonly used and common ones.

As the saying goes: teaching has the law, but teaching cannot. English vocabulary teaching must be based on the development of the times and science, based on certain scientific teaching theories, combined with the characteristics of teaching objects and teaching materials, and design teaching methods that conform to students' psychological characteristics and follow the law of language learning to adapt to the development of the times and students' learning needs. So as to stimulate students' interest in learning, improve teaching efficiency, and constantly pay attention to and learn new educational trends, collect and absorb successful examples, and create novel and practical teaching methods in combination with reality.