According to her teaching practice in a junior middle school, the writer found some problems in vocabulary teaching and learning. It seems that the student and the English teacher hold different attitudes toward vocabulary learning. Most students find it difficult to learn vocabulary efficiently, and do not have effective ways to master vocabulary，much less to put them into use. However, teachers tend to feel that vocabulary is easy to grasp and needn’t take much amount of effort, but it is grammar that should be placed emphasis on. The teacher’s ignorance of the importance of vocabulary gives rise to the improper vocabulary teaching methods and the student’s discouraging attitudes as well as low efficient learning strategies. As a result, the low efficiency of vocabulary learning exerts great negative influence on students’ attitudes toward English and their effect of English study.

From the perspectives of both teachers and students, this thesis mainly analyzes the problems that occur in vocabulary teaching and learning, and discusses them in terms of theory and practice based on the new teaching program. To solve these problems, some practical suggestions are proposed. The purpose of this thesis is to explore more effective ways for junior middle school students to learn vocabulary well and learn English easily.

2. Literature Review源'自:优尔]'论-文'网"]www.youerw.com

Vocabulary offers the meaning of language. Many linguists have studied the usage of vocabulary. For example, the famous English linguistic Jeremy Hammer once said, “If the language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and flesh.” (Harmer, 1991: 153) Hammer expresses his opinion toward the relationship between vocabulary and language structures. Apart from this perspective, many scholars study the function of vocabulary in a language from the angle of relationship between vocabulary and grammar. It is widely acknowledged that vocabulary, sound and grammar are the three elements of language; meanwhile vocabulary is the carrier of sound and grammar. About the function of each element, Michael McCarthy proposed that “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in L2 cannot happen in any meaningful way.” (McCarthy, 1990: 12) In his view, vocabulary is prior to sound and grammar. Another scholar D. A. Wilkins also put that “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” (Wilkins, 1972: 111)