3。4 Data collection 9

4。 Data analysis 10

4。1 The analysis of the tests 10

4。1。1 The analysis of students’ listening comprehension 10

4。1。2 The analysis of students’ oral speaking ability 12

4。2 The analysis of the questionnaire 13

4。3 Results and discussion 15

5。Conclusions 17

5。1 Summary 17

5。2 Limitations 17

References 19

Appendix 1 21

Appendix 2 22

Appendix 3 23

1。 Introduction

1。1 The background of the study

As a significant part of English learning, vocabulary, undoubtedly, is the building material and plays the utmost important role in the language learning and people’s communication。 That is to say, almost all the activities are based on the vocabulary。 Vocabulary is really important in the English learning as well as teaching。 Just as the famous linguist Wilkins (1972：111) said in his book，“without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed。” So without words, no one can express himself or exchange information with others。 It is vocabulary that links people with people。 For the foreign language learners, especially for the beginners, learning vocabulary, usually, is the fundamental step in their language learning。 As we all know, primary school is exactly a beginning platform for students to learn English。 Therefore, in primary schools, vocabulary does act a vital part in English learning and teaching。 论文网

But in real teaching situations, there is not as much attention paid to the effectiveness of vocabulary teaching as in traditional approach。 Students simply repeat, spell the new words and then recite。 Therefore, they usually do some mechanical practice。 And teachers only focus on the meaning and usage of the words, but ignore the importance of helping students effectively remember new words。 Repeating the new words again and again is really a boring process in which it is not easy for most of students to focus, letting alone for those in low grades。 In this way, students can be more likely to lose interest in learning vocabulary and even want to get rid of it。 If students don’t learn vocabulary well, how can they make sentences? If students have no vocabulary basis, how can they have the further communication with others?

Therefore, teachers try to apply chant to vocabulary teaching to improve the effectiveness of traditional approach of vocabulary teaching nowadays。 Chant, with the special melody and rhythm, enjoys high popularity among the students in primary school。 According to the Full time compulsory education curriculum standards in English (2011), chant has been listed in the goal of comprehensive language application ability。 And almost each unit in the various textbook versions (PEP、Oxford) has chant teaching。 For those grade 3 or 4, the number of the chant for students to master should reach 15。 And for those grade 5 or 6, the number of the chant for students to master should achieve 30-40。 Nowadays, with the continual reform of English teaching, chant has been a unique language material in teaching, which contributes a lot to English learning among students。 

What’s more, the curriculum standard also points out that the main goal of English teaching is to cultivate and develop the students' English learning interests, and to foster language application ability comprehensively, reflecting that English teaching should be effective and all-round developed。