2.1.3.5 Self-awareness of Primary School Students 7

2.2 Games in English Class 7

2.2.1 Definition of Classroom Game 7

2.2.2 Classification and Characteristics of Classroom Game 8

2.2.3 Researches at Home and Abroad 8

2.2.4 Problems of Classroom Games 9

2.3 Vocabulary Teaching 10

2.3.1 Current Situation of Vocabulary Teaching 10

2.3.2 Related Researches of Vocabulary Teaching 10

2.3.3 Features of Vocabulary Teaching 11

2.3.4 Problems of Vocabulary Teaching 11

3. Methodology 12

3.1 Participants 12

3.2 Method 12

4. Data Analysis 13

4.1 Teaching Materials of the class 13

4.2 Explanation of the Application of Games in Class 13

4.2.1 Observations of the Class 13

4.2.2 Interviews of the English Teachers 15

4.2.3 Questionnaire of the Students 16

5. Suggestions on the Application of Games in English Vocabulary Teaching 18

6. Conclusion 19

References 20

1. Introduction

What happens in the language classroom is gradually attracting much more attention from the society. One of the most obvious circumstances is that some language teachers do not just tell students language knowledge anymore and they prefer to adopt some techniques or skills to arouse students’ interest and enable them to absorb knowledge effectively. Game is one of the most prevalent and effective skills or methods.

1.1 The Necessity and Significance of the Research

English Vocabulary teaching in primary school is a significant segment of English teaching for the reason that vocabulary is one of the most fundamental components of language (e.g. Yang Di, 2014; Zhou Wangyou, 2013; Fu Xiaoping, 2007). Without vocabulary it would be almost impossible for students to learn language and teachers would also find it hardly possible to teach language. To some extent, English vocabulary teaching in primary school contains a rich group of features, including being interesting, connected with contexts, rich in levels, direct viewing, in need of reinforcement and constantly developing, etc (e.g. Fu Xiaoping, 2007). These are not only features but also requirements of teaching English vocabulary in primary school. 

However, in traditional English vocabulary teaching, there exist more than a few problems that are against the requirements of teaching. For example, due to limited ability of understanding, primary school students are usually demanded to repeat the words and phrases again and again after teacher, which could disinterest them easily in learning and could not enable them to master knowledge effectively. Besides, students are not often given opportunities to learn much vocabulary with efficient strategies. That is why an increasing number of primary school teachers begin to employ games in English class especially when teaching vocabulary. And it is also the issue that inspires me to do more research about this topic and insist that it has to be done in the thesis. 

The first issue we need to know is the definition of game. Just as Spodek Bernard and Saracho Olivia (271) demonstrated: “Games are a different kind of play activity. They are highly structured and include specific rules to be followed.” Games, promoting interaction between student and teacher as well as thinking and learning of student, are interesting teaching activities with some certain objectives and a set of rules. They can be pided into a great many categories in accordance with various standards. According to the connotation of foreign language teaching, there are some characteristics of classroom games just as what follows: enlightenment, exploration, expressivity, communication, knowledge, innovation, interest (e.g Liu Min, 2014).   有喜在小学英语词汇教学中的运用(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_50171.html