Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research Background
V ocabulary, the building ftiaterial of language, together with pronunciation andgrammar, constitutes the three essential elements of language. In the three essentialfactors，the vocabulary is a foundation of language learning. The amount of vocabularywill have a dirept effect on learners' listening, speaking, reading and writing and thedevelopment, of language skill. As the great British linguist Wilkins states that “whilewithout grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can beconveyed" (Wilkins，1972: 111). So it can be seen that vocabulary plays a critical part inlanguage teaching and learning. Vocabulary Scientist McCarthy (1990) vividly points outthe importance of vocabulary: “No matter how well the student learns grammar, nomatter how successfully he masters the sounds of a L2，without words to express a widerange of meanings，communication in that language cannot happen in any meaningfulway. ”According to what mentioned above，it can be concluded that how vocabulary istaught has been the focus of many English teachers, even the scholars who concernEnglish teaching. Since vocabulary teaching has been an effective way to improvestudents' English level, it is regarded as an important step in the whole procedure ofEnglish teaching and learning. Nevertheless, vocabulary teaching and learning is adifficult and a long-term task. As for students in China, vocabulary learning is oftenconsidered as the biggest obstacle in English learning，because their views of vocabularylearning still remain in the combination of pronunciation, spelling and meaning of thewords，which will make them fail in learning language and communication. Thus, how toteach vocabulary in class becomes especially important for teachers，especially thoseEnglish teachers in senior high schools. If teacher's methods are suitable for the students,they could arouse students' interest in English and help them to develop a solidfoundation of language learning. Therefore，the innovation in teaching vocabulary mustbe imperative under the circumstance of New English Curriculum Reform.
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1.2 Purpose and Significance of the Research
Recent years, though many experts have done researches on vocabulary teaching andlearning in China after the National Standard for English Curriculum formulated andmore and more teachers also have realized the importance of vocabulary teaching,vocabulary teaching still lacks a detailed comprehensive picture of how Chinese teachersdo with their English vocabulary teaching in senior high schools. Since the requirement ofEnglish vocabulary is increasing gradually year by year according to the College EntranceExamination, English vocabulary teaching becomes more important for it directly affectsstudents，scores in English tests. Therefore，as an English teacher in senior high school, itis necessary to study how to teach English vocabulary in senior high school，so as to findan effective way to teach vocabulary, which is one of the requirements of EnglishCurriculum Reform.
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Chapter 2 Literature review
2.1 Related Definitions
In this part, interrelated definitions will be given in order to set the base for Chapterthree and Chapter four. Here，the definitions of vocabulary and information processingtheory are introduced mainly and briefly. As known to all that phonetics, vocabulary and grammar are the three basic elementsof language. As one of basic elements of language，vocabulary has been studied bylinguistics. Then, what is vocabulary? The different linguists and researchers havedifferent definitions. In structural linguistics, "word" is the smallest form bearing phonicsand meanings. A word is believed to be the item appearing in dictionary, including thederivations and varies. Hatch (1995) defines vocabulary in this way: The term vocabularyrefers to a list or set of words for particular language or a list or a set of words thatindividual speakers of a language might use.According to Lewis (1993)，vocabulary is not equal to the items in the entry in adictionary. It should be viewed from a large area. Chunks or multi-word chunks likelexical phrases and idioms made up of several words should be included in the concept ofvocabulary. The chunks contain short phrases and fixed idioms.
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2.2 Related Researches at Home and Abroad
In this part, the related researches on vocabulary acquisition or learning guided bythe information processing theory at home and abroad will be presented briefly and separately, and from which it can be seen what research results are successfully achieved. Vocabulary is the basic material in a context，and the size of vocabulary is a major- .standard measuring the level of a foreign learner. However, vocabulary has been ignoredfor a Ipng time. As Zimmerman (1997:5) claims, 'the teaching and learning of vocabularyhave been undervalued in the field of the second language acquisition throughout itsvarying stages and up to the present day." "Modem linguistic theories placed littleemphasis on vocabulary, focusing more on structures，fimctions, notions，andcommunicative strategies" (Dubinetal, 2002:112).It is since 1970s that researchers began to pay attention to vocabulary acquisition.Richards (1976) was one of the first scholars to alert our eyes to vocabulary whenStructuralism is the dominant linguistic theory. Allen and Vallette (1972) also indicate that"whichever target language，vocabulary is a significant factor in the whole languageteaching. Second language learners also deem，a number of vocabularies are thefoundation of developing language skill，and especially for the beginners, the size ofvocabulary is more essential than veracity of structure. ” Since then many scholars statedtheir viewpoints on vocabulary. At the same time, many vocabulary teaching methodshave been pointed out.
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Chapter 3 Methodology.......... 16
3.1 Research hypothesis.......... 16
3.2 Research Subject.......... 16
3.3 Research Instruments.......... 17
3.4 Experiment procedures .......... 19
Chapter 4 Analysis of Data and the Major Findings.......... 27
4.1 Analysis of the Data of the Tests.......... 27
4.1.1 Analysis of the Data of the Pre-test.......... 27
4.1.2 Analysis of the Data of Post-test.......... 29
4.2 Analysis of the Questionnaire .......... 30
4.3 Major Findings 36Chapter 5 Pedagogical Implications .......... 38
5.1 Emphasizing the Importance of Theory Use in Senior HighSchool.......... 38
5.2 Stressing the Function of Attention While Teaching .......... 38
5.3 Creating Conditions and Space for Students.......... 40
Chapter 5 Pedagogical Suggestions
5.1 Emphasizing the Importance of Theory Use in Senior High School EnglishTeaching
As we all know, although many teachers realize the importance of vocabulary inlanguage acquisition, most teachers still adopt traditional method to teach vocabularybecause of lack of the guidance of theories. Most teachers like to ask students to read thenew words following them, and then go on to explain the meaning an(%isage of wordsone by one. Besides，teachers usually ask students copy words and recite after class.Finally teachers also check the memory of words from dictation. Through the procedureof the teaching method，we know that the traditional vocabulary teaching methodparticularly attaches significance to the phoneme and orthography about words whilescarcely pays attention to the semantic derivation and extension, therefore, students easyto feel boring and tired，some students even lose interest in vocabulary learning, whichwill give rise to the fact that the students have shallow cognition so that the memory is notdeep and the retention is temporary.
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Conclusion
Therefore，in order to draw much attention from students, When presenting the newwords, teachers e如 use pictures, cards，multi-media, real objects，even gestures andexpressions to help to convey the meanings of these words. Simple explanation could notmake a deep impression on students. Sometimes visual aids could give the students moredirect and vivid impressions, which will develop and train students' ability of figurativethinking, the stronger the stimulation is, the more intense impression there will be.Therefore，teaching vocabulary in this way will attract students，attention, which ishelpful for their long-term memorizing.At the same time, to stimulate students' attention is in fact to guide students toprocess English vocabulary in cognitive way According to linguistics, vocabularyteaching should not be learned in isolation, but embedded in context as they are used innatural communication. The task of vocabulary teaching is not only to get students tolearn a single word, but enable them to associate this word with another word，object, orconcept so that they can use them appropriately and understand the word collocationbetter and use them idiomatically.
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