2。 Literature Review

Vocabulary is the basic unit of language, which is an essential part of language expression。 Therefore, vocabulary learning is an important component of foreign language learning。 From the present situation of English teaching in our country, vocabulary is the main factor hindering the improvement of learners’ ability to use language。 The problems of listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation are caused by the poor lexical competence, which restricts foreign language learning。 Thus, the foreign language teaching and research workers are widely concerned this problem。 

This paper explores the relevance of context theory to English vocabulary, the contextual problems in English vocabulary teaching and the Enlightenment to English vocabulary teaching aiming to overcome the tendency of isolating vocabulary from context in English vocabulary teaching and provide a new perspective for the study of English vocabulary teaching。 

2。1 The context theory文献综述

The concept of context theory was proposed by the Polish British anthropologist Malinowski (Malinowski, Bronislaw Kaspar) in 1923。He argues that context is a very important factor in understanding language。

2。1。1 The definition of the context

 “Context” is a common concern of many disciplines。 Philosophy, logic, anthropology, linguistics and psychology all emphasize the research and exploration of context。 The concept of context was proposed by the Polish British anthropologist Malinowski (Malinowski, Bronislaw Kaspar) in 1923。He argues that context is a very important factor in understanding language。 And the context is pided into “context of culture” and “context of situation” in many fields。 Each language research method contains a certain concept of context, and has an impact on foreign language teaching。 The British linguist Firth inherited his teacher Malinowski on the theory of context。 Combining “Situational context” and “cultural context” into “situational context” and proposing “contextual context”, broaden the concept of context。 

Since 1980s, Contextual research has received unprecedented attention in the linguistic circles of China, and the analysis of contextual factors is also intensive。 Chinese scholars has basically followed the point of context of Malinowski and Firth in the study of context theory。 The context is pided into situational context and cultural context。 Context theory is not only used to instruct verbal communication。 It is also being used to guide language teaching, vocabulary teaching can get twice the result with the aid of the above context theory。