1、abulary. McCarthy ( 1990 ) also pointed out “ no matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of a Second Language are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings, communication in the language cannot happen in any meaningful way. Nation (1994) s
2、tated that “Vocabulary knowledge is generally considered an important factor in the comprehension of language; the number of known words is related to skillful language use”. Some researchers even believe that the success of language learning depends largely on vocabulary learning, which is somethin
3、g more than memorizing glossaries of words.Vocabulary learning is one of the most important parts in language learning, and it naturally has the same important position in language acquisition as vocabulary has in a language. “It has been said that learning a second language means learning its vocab
4、ulary” (Gass: 325). From this, it could be argued that vocabulary is one of the core elements of language, as well as of language learning, language teaching and language learners.In a word, vocabulary functions as the core of a language, but it is the most difficult and unsuccessful in language lea
5、rning at the same time.The importance of vocabulary learning suggests that it is quite significant for English learners to acquire vocabulary in large quantity and good quality. Nevertheless, vocabulary acquisition is a difficult and long - term task. At the same time, vocabulary teaching is one of
6、the primary tasks in the whole procedure of English teaching. As the basic part in English teaching practice, vocabulary teaching has long held the attentions of instructors. The present situation also calls for more emphasis on vocabulary teaching. Textbooks for students are more frequently changed
7、 than before. Its an obvious fact that English as a subject is more demanding than ever before, the most evident sign of which is that vocabulary in the new series of text books is much richer than in the past. The new criterion of English course in senior middle school also makes great demands on v
8、ocabulary in language studies. Vocabulary teaching is a fundamental and an integral part of language teaching. As Maiguashea (1993) points out, the study of vocabulary has changed from being “poor relation” of second language education in the past into the role of “guest of honor” at present.In a wo
9、rd, vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical language learner.As everyone knows, vocabulary is of critical importance to any typical language learners, especially when vocabulary research has undergone dramatic changes in the latest decades. In China, for most Engl
10、ish learners, especially for beginning learners, English vocabulary has long been their major obstacle to learning. Nowadays, much more attention has been paid to vocabulary teaching, which constitutes an integral part of any language teaching program. Vocabulary teaching in China has gradually shif
11、ted from the traditional methods which are dominated by a teacher-centered, examination-oriented and grammar-based method to multi-method. Various teaching approaches have been introduced, and especially Communicative Approach has contributed much to the development of English Language Teaching in o
12、ur country. Nobody can deny these contributions. Many vocabulary teaching approaches strongly emphasize the significance of vocabulary teaching and learning.But there are still some problems in vocabulary teaching in senior middle schools in China today. In the present English classroom in China, th
13、ere are two models of words to be taught and learned. They are all the results of teacher-centered way of vocabulary teaching. Firstly, the teacher asks the class to read after him the whole word list in the text, followed by the teacher s interpretations of each word in the list. Secondly, the teac
14、her chooses some basic words and paraphrases them or gives the Chinese equivalents. It is common to hear the complaints from the students that they forget almost the new words that they have recently memorized. Meanwhile, for the teachers, they often complain that they cannot bear to see so many mis
15、takes in students speaking or writing or whatever due to lack of vocabulary competence. As usually, teachers only teach students English words and their Chinese equivalents in texts or reading materials, and students only rigidly memorize what their teachers tell them, though they understand the mea
16、ning of the new word, yet they are not sure while using it, regardless of understanding it. Great efforts have been put in vocabulary learning and teaching, but the results are not satisfactory for the time being. The trouble the students meet with is that they are not able to communicate with other
17、s in English freely or understand many reading or listening materials even though they have a good command of grammatical or phonetic rules. Changing this situation is not only the job of learners but also that of teachers.To sum up, considering the complexity of vocabulary teaching as well as the m
18、ain problems of the senior middle school students word acquisition, the present study devotes to the study of the application of contextual theories in English vocabulary teaching.As we have entered the 21st century, the acquisition of vocabulary has assumed a more important role, and as some would
19、argue, it is the central role in learning a second language (Lewis, 1993). For students, studying English is not only the necessity for examination, but also the tool to exchange information, so the final vocabulary teaching purpose is to help students learn how to continue to acquire vocabulary on
20、their own. At such a point, it is necessary to explore an effective way to improve our vocabulary teaching. Only by this way can English teaching meet the requirements of the New Standard of National English Curriculum.With the development of applied linguistics and functional teaching approach, lin
21、guists have become increasingly aware of the important role of context in language studies and language use. Words exist in a certain context. In dealing with the word meanings, the connotation cant be determined without the help of the context. More attention should be paid to the part that context
22、 plays in vocabulary teaching. This paper, therefore, makes a study of effective vocabulary teaching which focuses on context in the use of vocabulary. The purpose is to call upon English teachers to be sensitive to the various contexts with which learners assumed to confront, arouse the students in
23、terest, get a deeper understanding of the word meaning, stimulate students to think actively, strengthen their memory, help them make use of the relative context to grasp the connotative meaning of word completely and accurately, choose appropriate words to express themselves in writing or communica
24、tion and improve students word power. Teaching vocabulary combined with context also helps to create linguistic atmosphere, develops the ability of using English and linguistic sense. Therefore, it is very important to teach students words in context and guide them to learn English word from context
25、 by themselves.The study of context in vocabulary acquisition is of great significance obviously from two aspects. Firstly, in the theory, on the basis of careful study of the scholars at home and abroad, the author makes general introduction of the contextual theories; Secondly, in practice, the au
26、thor makes a tentative study of the application of contextual theories in English vocabulary teaching, and we often find that, the meanings of the English words are elastic. English is considered as a language that has great adaptability and plasticity meanings of words which rely on context a great
27、 deal. Therefore, we should combine word meanings with situations, pay attention to the relation between context and vocabulary，vocabulary learning will be easier and more effective for the students. 2. Literature Review on ContextIn order to have a general picture of the theoretical framework of th
28、e present study, it is necessary to first review the literature on context. 2.1 Definitions of ContextContext is an important concept in the study of language use and language function. The definition of context is still a controversial problem in linguistics. Different linguists of different school
29、s or approaches will define this term specifically. As a comprehensive concept in communication theory, “context” refers to all elements of a communicative situation: verbal and non-verbal Context, the context of the given speech situation and the social context of the relationship between the speak
30、er and the hearer, their knowledge and their attitudes.Context means “the total environment in which a word appears” The new word interacts with other words and the reader can acquire its meaning from the context ( Rumelhart, 1977 ) .Goodman (1986) thinks that context can be defined as “information
31、that reduces uncertainty about the elements of a text, their meanings, and the meaning of the text as a whole”.Context is referred to as morphological, syntactic and discourse information in a given text, Which can be classified and described in terms of general features (Nation & Coady: 102 ) .From
32、 the above description of context, we may draw a conclusion and redefine context as following: Context is the environment in which language is used and by which language conveys its real sense. It refers to the linguistic knowledge and what is implied or related of non-linguistic knowledge belonging
33、 to the linguistic expressions in a language.2.1.1 Overseas Scholars Studies of Context Context, a very important concept in modern linguistics, was first advocated by the Polish-born English anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Malinowski felt it necessary to provide information not only about the
34、situation in which the discourses were produced, but also about the wider context, the total cultural background ( Malinowski: 307 ) .When Malinowski did the field work in the primitive culture of Trobriand Islands off eastern New Guinea, he had to face the problem of how to interpret it for the English-speaking readers. To deal with these cases, he devised the concept of “context of situation”, which referred to the “environment of the text” (Halliday:
