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Chapter One Introduction

This is an empirical study on the application of constructivism-based interactive modeto the English vocabulary teaching in senior high school. This chapter makes a briefintroduction to the thesis, which includes the following three parts: research background,research purpose and significance as well as framework of the thesis.

1.1 Background of the study
Vocabulary, one of the fundamental components of language, plays a crucial role bothin English learning and teaching. However, the status of vocabulary has undergone somecertain changes over the past years. Now the importance of vocabulary is much betterrecognized and highlighted so that English teachers in senior high school come to lay moreand more emphasis on vocabulary teaching. Just as Wilkins (1972: 48) states “Withoutgrammar, very little can be conveyed, while without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed”.There is no doubt that the vocabulary size of learners directly affects other skills includinglistening, speaking, reading and writing.In English classes, cramming teaching approach occupies the dominant position, inwhich teacher is the knowledge provider and students act the role of receiver. The generalcharacteristics of traditional vocabulary class can be induced as follows. The teacher readsthe words and then gives the explanations one by one, whereas students are required toread them over and over again and write down the language points. Students are requiredto do some corresponding exercises subsequently to consolidate. Facing large number ofwords, students have to remember the meanings mechanically under this monotonousteaching mode. Gradually, they consider it boring and difficult to learn vocabulary in theperiod of senior school.The English Curriculum Criterion in Compulsory Education Phase revised byMinistry of Education demands that three thousand and five hundred vocabulary and atleast four hundred to five hundred phrases should be mastered for a qualified senior highschool graduate (2011). In addition, with the rapid development of society, English as theglobal language, renders higher requirement for English learners.
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1.2 Purpose and significance of the study
According to the significance of vocabulary in the period of senior high school andcurrent situation of English vocabulary teaching mentioned above, this study aims toexplore an effective mode of vocabulary teaching. Therefore, one of the purposes of thestudy is to testify whether constructivism-based interactive mode can stimulate students’interest and improve their vocabulary learning strategy. The other purpose of the study is toprove whether constructivism-based interactive mode will improve students’ vocabularytest scores.This study is expected to make contributions to vocabulary teaching and learning. Tobe precise, the significance of the study can be generalized from both theoretical sense andpractical sense. With regard to theoretical aspect, the study will introduce interactive modein detail as the further research of interactive mode including supporting theory, relatedcharacteristics, and previous studies at home and abroad. In the meanwhile, correlativedescriptions about vocabulary will be reviewed. But beyond that, the combination ofinteractive mode and vocabulary teaching enriches the theoretical development ofinteractive mode and vocabulary teaching respectively. All of that will provide supple