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Dual Coding Theory and English Vocabulary Teaching
Vocabulary learning is the foundation of foreign language learning, and it is closely related to the development of English learners’ listening, speaking, reading and writing ability. However, the result of vocabulary teaching is not optimistic in China. How to memorize vocabulary effectively has always been an unsolved problem. Traditional vocabulary teaching methods mainly focus on the teaching of vocabulary meaning and usage, and the students learn by rote. Therefore, the students always find it difficult to remember and use new words with such mechanical methods. Dual Coding Theory (DCT) belongs to cognitive psychological perspective which hypothesizes two sub-systems in the cognition process: one verbal and the other non-verbal. The verbal system manages the representation and processing of language in all its forms, whereas the nonverbal system deals with the representation and processing of nonverbal objects, events and situations. The primary form of nonverbal representation is mental imagery. The paper tries to probe into Dual Coding Theory and its application in English vocabulary teaching. The purpose is to explore vocabulary teaching methods based on Dual Coding Theory and find out whether they are effective in vocabulary teaching. Through the experiment, the effect of the vocabulary teaching methods based on Dual Coding Theory is testified. Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that the DCT-based methods are effective in vocabulary teaching. Hopefully, the findings of the paper can be of some reference value to vocabulary teaching and learning.
1.1 The Background and Significance of the StudyVocabulary is a central factor in language, and it takes a fundamental role in language. Psychometric studies suggest that vocabulary takes a very central role in reading ability, together with other specific factors such as decoding, comprehension and rate (Sadoski, 2005). As is always cited that “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (Wilkins,1978). Therefore, vocabulary is the premise of language learning. What vocabulary to language is brick to skyscraper. A good command of vocabulary is the guarantee of learning second language well.Literature review reports a waxing and waning of the importance of vocabulary in research and teaching over the last 100 years. In the early times of English teaching in China, structuralism prevailed for decades, which mainly focus on grammar and sentence patterns. Therefore, vocabulary did not receive much attention. Usually the main vocabulary teaching model is that teachers just teach the meaning of words and students are required to memorize the words. Gradually, the significance of vocabulary draws more and more attention with the evolution of linguistic theory. Currently, the study of vocabulary teaching and learning has become a popular issue of linguistics. As to English major students, however, vocabulary is still a big problem. English major students are supposed to take TEM-4 and TEM-8 examinations to check their English proficiency, and the basic vocabulary quantity demanded for the two tests is 8000 and 10000 respectively. So it is not an easy task for the English major students to remember so many words. And in the class, teachers usually do not spend much time on vocabulary teaching, neither do they find a very effective way for vocabulary teaching. There is still a lot to explore about the effective methods of vocabulary teaching and learning.Dual Coding Theory (DCT), first proposed by Allan Paivio (1971) , holds that there are two systems in human cognition process: the verbal system and non-verbal system. The information processing in people’s mind is accomplished in two different channels forming two different representations. The theory belongs to cognitive psychology, and it has been used to guide first language teaching in western countries and achieved some progress, but it has not been widely applied in China. There has been a few research about the application of DCT in middle school vocabulary teaching and college English teaching, but studies about the effect of DCT on vocabulary teaching of English major students is still a blank. Therefore, the study is meaningful to help the teachers and students to find an effective way to teach and learn vocabulary. To sum up, the study is significant in two aspects. First, it will further the research of the application of DCT to English vocabulary teaching in China. Second, this study may provide some other methods of vocabulary teaching and learning to teachers and students.
1.2 The Purpose of the Study The study aims at finding a solution to make the English major students be more effective in vocabulary learning on the theoretical basis of DCT. The teaching methods based on DCT not only focus on verbal language, but also on nonverbal representations. This paper is supposed to explore the way to apply DCT effectively into the teaching and learning of vocabulary.
1.3 The Organization of the PaperThe paper consists of five parts. The first part is the introduction of the whole paper, in which the background, significance, purpose and organization of the paper are included. The second part is the literature review of the studies on DCT and vocabulary teaching. The third part is about DCT and the DCT-based vocabulary teaching methods. Several vocabulary teaching methods based on DCT will be introduced in this part. The fourth part is about the research, in which the specific steps of the research will be illustrated. The last part is the conclusion of the whole study.
References[1] Arlin, M. Scott, M. & Webster, J., 1979. The effects of pictures on Rate of Learning Sight Words: a critique of the Focal Attention Hypothesis [J]. Reading Research Quarterly, 14(4), 645-660.[2] Asher, J.1977. Learning Another Language through Actions: The Complete Teacher’s book[M] . Los Gatos, Calif.: Sky Oaks Productions.[3] Bull,B.L.&Wittrock, M.C., 1971. Imagery in the Learning of Verbal Definitions [J]. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 43, 289-293. [4] Personal blog http://www.favevogue.com [5] Goetz, E. T. , Steffensen, M. S. , & Cheng, X. Imagery and Affect Reports in Readers’First and Second Languages [P]. RL Polo Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco , CA, 1995.
About the Author
Hi, my name is Helen and I have graduated from college school for about one year. I like watch movies,travelling and fashionable things, such as Gucci bags, beautiful sunglasses, Ralph Lauren Polo and so on. I hope life is forever sweet and colourful just like now.
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