Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Research
Williams and Burden, for example, have pointed out thatlanguage teachers should go far beyond the transmission of knowledge and shouldempower students by assisting them in acquiring knowledge, skills, and strategiesneeded to become autonomous learners who can take responsibility for their ownlearning (Williams and Burden, 1997). Following this trend, researches on individualdifferences, such as age, motivation, learning strategies, language aptitude havereceived tremendous attention. Many researchers have also paid much attention to it.Learning style, the concern of the current study, which is also one of the importantaspects of individual differences. Vocabulary, as well as grammar and pronunciation, is a basic component oflanguage. However, throughout the development of teaching methods fromGrammar-Translation Method, Direct Method, Situational Language TeachingApproach，and Audio-Lingual Approach to Communicative Language TeachingApproach, vocabulary teaching has played an increasingly important role in languagelearning. The development of vocabulary teaching has focused on the best way to helpstudents leam in the most efficient way. However, it can be easily noticed thatstudents taught by the same teacher with the same method come out with differentlearning outcomes. As studies go further and transfer from teaching to learning, it issuggested that there is no single best way to teach vocabulary; what counts is otherfactors such as age, proficiency level and so on.
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1.2 Aims and Significance of the Research
Vocabulary is a basic and essential part of the language. The mastery ofvocabulary has a great impact on developing and improving students' basic skills oflanguage, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, translation and othercommunicative competence. Many language learners admitted that they encounteredconsiderable difficulty with vocabulary even when they upgraded from an initial stageof acquiring a second language to a much more advanced level. Language practitioners also have reached a high degree of consensus regarding the importanceof vocabulary. The findings in Macaro's survey indicated that secondary languageteachers viewed vocabulary as a topic they most needed research to shed light on toenhance the teaching and learning in their classrooms (Macaro, E?’ 2003). Therefore, itmay be claimed that the role of vocabulary in L2 learning is immediately recognizedand implications for teaching from substantial research are in great demand. How toteach vocabulary effectively is the theme of reflection and exploration for eachteacher in teaching process.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Previous Studies on Methods of Vocabulary Teaching
Since 1990s. China's foreign language teaching methods have been influencedby western language teaching theories. There are five methods, which are paid closeattention to in the foreign language classroom in our country, those are.Grammar-translation, Audio-lingualism. 3 Ps (Presentation, Practice and Production),Task-based Learning and Communicative Approach. Studies on vocabulary teachinghave attached great importance to vocabulary teaching methodsWithin Grammar - Translation method, “learning mainly involves the mastery ofgrammatical rules and memorization of long lists of literacy vocabulary related totexts” (Crystal, 1997: 165). Within this teaching method, vocabulary selection is basedsolely on the reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual word lists, dictionary study, and memorization. In a typical Grammar - Translation text, thegrammar rules are presented and illustrated, a list of vocabulary items are presentedwith their translation equivalents，and translation exercises are prescribed (Richards &Rodgers，2001). The vocabulary taught in Grammar Translation Method is obsolete andexclusive and teaching of vocabulary was based on definition and etymology. At thattime, most learners just tried to memorize new words and expressions repeatedly andmechanically.
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2.2 Previous Studies on Learning Style
The studies on learning styles have mainly gone through three stages: the firststage was from 1950s to 1960s, when “learning style" was defined from differentperspectives; the second stage was from 1970s to 1980s, during which the theories oflearning style began to take into shape and learning style became an important area ofexploration and investigation; the beginning of the 1990s marked the beginning of thethird development stage of learning styles，during which more empirical researcheswere made to put the theory of learning style into some specialized fields (Bailey,2000: 115-133).Reid was one of the best-known pioneers exploring the learning styles. In 1984，Reid carried out a research - composing the Perceptual Learning Style PreferenceQuestionnaire (PLSPQ) by surveying 1388 students with different languagebackground in Colorado State University. Some related researches then have beendone and some meaningful findings are identified: non-native speakers differedsignificantly from native speakers in learning style preferences; compared with nativeEnglish speakers，kinesthetic and tactile learning styles were most strongly preferredby ESL learners, and group learning style was the least preferred by both nativeEnglish speakers and ESL learners; males preferred visual and tactile learning stylesmore than females; Chinese EFL learners were strongly auditory, visual, kinestheticand tactile learners; statistical analysis did not result in significant differencesbetween successful and unsuccessful language learners in learning style preferences.Reid's research resulted in an increasing understanding of the similarities anddifferences in terms of ESL students and native English speakers (Stebbins, 1995:135-146).
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Chapter 3 Theoretical Basis of the Research......... 14
3.1 Learning Style Theory........ 14
3.1.1 Definition of Learning Style........ 16
3.1.2 Classification of Learning Styles........ 19
3.2 Application of Learning Style in Vocabulary Teaching........22
Chapter 4 Research Design........ 25
4.1 Research Questions........ 25
4.2 Participants ........28
4.3 Research Instruments........ 30
4.4 Implementation of the Experiment........32
4.5 Data Collection and Analysis........ 34
4.5.1 Data Collection ........34
4.5.2 Data Analysis ........35
Chapter 5 Data Analysis........ 36
5.1 Results and Analysis of Learning Style Questionnaire........ 36
5.2 Results and Analysis of Vocabulary Tests........ 38
5.3 Results and Analysis of Interview........ 42
Chapter 6 Conclusions
6.1 Major Findings
This paper applies learning style theory to vocabulary teaching in senior highschool and reports on the experimental study in an attempt to exploit efficientvocabulary teaching approaches and reveal the effects of learning style theory onvocabulary teaching in senior high school. The students of two classes of the Grade 2in No.25 middle school in Tianjin take part in the study. A learning style survey isadministered to all students firstly and the empirical teaching practice is carried outaccording to the results of survey. Vocabulary pretest and posttest are given to thestudents and the data collected are analyzed with SPSS 18.0 to determine whetherthere are significant differences between the two tests. The results show that theapplication of learning style theory to vocabulary teaching is effective in manyaspects. Summarizing the whole process of the study, the following significances ofthe study are found.
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Conclusion
The current education system and examination system is not reasonable.Standardized entrance exam becomes the only method to select talent. So society，schools and parents pay more attention to students' test scores，and ignore theirlearning process, emotion attitudes, values and abilities (Chen Chen, 2011: 112). Juststudying for test leads to students are lack of interest and motivation in Englishlearning. Therefore, in order to better applying learning style theory to Englishteaching，the government departments must firstly speeding up the reform of theeducation evaluation system, to make the methods of teaching according to thelearning styles to the category of the education evaluation system. Let it truly be listedill the whole system of education evaluation. Only in this way, the method of teachingaccording to learning style theory can be truly implemented.
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Reference (omitted)
