A Discussion of the Application of Context Theory in English Vocabulary Teaching

Abstract

Vocabulary is the basis of English learning and plays a significant role in language usage and informal communication. Context plays an important part in restricting the meaning of words in sentences or passages. This paper mainly analyzes the restrictive mechanism of context on lexical meaning and the forms of restriction through giving and illustrating examples. The selected examples include both utterances and written expressions. This paper chooses some typical viewpoints on classification of context in existing theory or study, and makes analysis from three levels: the linguistic context, the situational context and the cultural context. And the three levels can be further divided into more specific aspects, from which context can be interpreted from multiple perspectives to support and enrich the whole analysis. This paper chooses to study the restriction of context on lexical meaning in order to demonstrate the importance of context and provide inspiration for English vocabulary teaching.

Integrated Application of Situational and Traditional Teaching in Primary School English Vocabulary Teaching

“…Li (2022) proposed that using situational teaching methods can make the meaning of polysemous and ambiguous words single and certain and make vague words specific in meaning. [15] Thus, contexts can also be applied in the exercises and exams. For instance, the word "hard" has various meanings, while students in the primary schools might only know one of the meanings.…”

“…[1] Some researchers in recent days have already realized the necessity to change the teaching methods. For instance, It is stated that vocabulary cannot be learned by independently, learning English for the first time needs teachers to provide students with interesting methods to make English vocabulary learning more funny (Li, 2022). Although many researchers and educators now are aware of the importance of utilizing situational teaching in the class, there are still many problems.…”

An Analysis on the Use of TV Series- Friends as an Audiovisual Aid in English Vocabulary Teaching and Learning

“…Firth absorbed this theory and came up with two types of the context. The first one is the context of linguistic factors, and the other one is nonverbal context, which is related to the outside environment of the language, the features of language users, users' verbal and nonverbal demeanors [8]. Hu Zhaoxiong, a Chinese scholars divided "context" as linguistic context and non-linguistic context [6].…”