ADiscussionontheImportanceofContextinVocabularyLearning.docVIP

ADiscussionontheImportanceofContextinVocabularyLearning 　　As is known to us all，vocabulary plays a very important role in English learning.The British linguist D.A.Wilkins mentioned in his book Linguistics in Language Teaching （1972） “Without grammar very little can be conveyed； without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”This illustrates the importance of vocabulary in language learning.However，for many Chinese students，vocabulary learning has always been a major obstacle.The reason for this may lie in the lack of context awareness in vocabulary teaching and learning.In traditional vocabulary teaching，teachers always ask students to memorize the words in vocabulary list by themselves.Students repeat the words and their definitions several times by rote.After that，there will be a dictation to check whether the students have remembered the words.As a result，no matter how hard they try，students still generally feel words are hard to remember and easy to forget，even though they have remembered the words，they still don’t know how to use them.The purpose of this essay is to explore the important role of context in vocabulary learning and the strategies of using context to help students learn vocabulary effectively.This essay includes three sections：section one deals with the definition of context and its functions； section two analyses the existing problems of learning vocabulary without context； section three focuses on how to make full use of context in vocabulary learning. 　　Importance of context in learning vocabulary 　　As is known to us all，vocabulary is not an isolated part in learning languages.Words appear in discourse，and discourse appears in specific situations.An English word may have several meanings，and the meaning of a word varies in different contexts.Only in a certain context，can the meaning of a word be understood accurately.In turn，if we want to speak correctly and appropriately，why have to choose words carefully depending on different situations