英语论文网

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Research Background  
The  importance  of  vocabulary  in  language  learning  is  self-evident.  In  the second or foreign language acquisition, enlarging learners’ vocabulary is regarded as one  of  the  most  important  aspects.  The  vital  role  of  vocabulary  is  perhaps  best explained  by  Wilkins  when  he  said  in  1972:  “Without  grammar  very  little  can  be conveyed;  whereas  without  vocabulary  nothing  can  be  conveyed.”  Lewis  (1993) develops  the  Lexical  Approach  theory,  which  elaborates  the  importance  of  lexical knowledge  as  the  basis  of  any  language.  He  asserts  that  vocabulary  is  integral  to language use, whether in listening, speaking, reading or writing.   Commanding  a  word  well  means  acquiring  various  relevant  word  knowledge, ranging from features of the word itself such as pronunciation, spelling, register and stylistics  (Meara,  1996;  Nation,  1990;  Richards,  1976)  to  different  sense  relations between  one  word  and  another,  including  collocation  and  knowledge  of  semantic relationship,  such  as  antonymy,  synonymy,  hyponymy  (Chapelle,  1994;  Henriksen, 1999;  Read,  2000).  English  synonyms  are  of  great  importance  as  the  number  of them  accounts  for  more  than  60%  of  English  vocabulary  (He,  2003).  Learners should  master  the  synonyms  of  a  word  and  be  able  to  distinguish  them.  A  good knowledge  of  synonyms  can  help  learners  use  words  accurately  and  properly  in expressing  themselves  in  both  writing  and  speaking.  However,  the  correct  use  of synonyms by Chinese learners is far from satisfactory.  
..........

1.2 Research Purpose and Significance
Synonym learning is an important aspect of SLA (second language acquisition).  It is generally recognized that the mastery of synonyms is an essential component of SLA. Therefore SLA learners should develop strong abilities and skills in the usage of  synonyms  so  as  to  become  proficient  in  the  second  language.  It  was  not  until 1990s that research into synonyms began to receive attention and gain development in applied linguistics. For  Chinese  learners  of  English,  one  of  the  biggest  difficulties  in  English learning is to distinguish synonyms. They usually just know the shared meaning of those synonyms but have little understanding of their subtle differences. Thus, they may  misuse  them  in  differ本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。