Effectiveness of Contextualized Micro-lessons in the Acquisition of College English Vocabulary

Abstract

Traditional vocabulary teaching focuses on the pronunciation, form, and meaning of words, without taking into account the context of vocabulary learning. This approach tends to make the learning process monotonous and results in low student interest and efficiency. On the other hand, contextualized teaching and learning enables students to grasp the spelling, meaning, usage, and collocation of vocabulary within specific contexts. In this study, contextualized vocabulary micro-lessons have been applied in College English teaching to examine their effectiveness in enhancing vocabulary learning. The findings reveal that, following a semester of vocabulary micro-lesson learning, there has been some improvement in students' average vocabulary scores, with a 22% increase in the proportion of high-scoring students. Furthermore, results from a questionnaire survey indicate that 84% of students believe that contextualized vocabulary micro-lessons not only enhance their interest in vocabulary learning, but also improve the overall effectiveness of vocabulary acquisition.