1. Introduction Language consists of three basic elements: pronunciation， vocabulary and grammar. Vocabulary is the basic element of language， because thoughts and concepts are all expressed through vocabulary and vocabulary is central to language and critical to the typical language learner. Without it， language no longer exists. Krashen said: “When students travel， they don’t carry grammar books， they carry dictionaries.” [1] Wilkins had said “Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” [2] In a word， one’s English level mostly depends on the mastery of vocabulary: the more vocabulary one owns， the more easily is it possible for him to express better. Therefore， as a teacher， she/he must put vocabulary teaching in the first place to help students learn vocabulary well. 2. Problems exist in English vocabulary teaching and learning Vocabulary teaching is an important part in English teaching. However， most of the English teachers today neglect the importance of vocabulary teaching， they pay little attention to the cultivation of students ability to learn vocabulary actively and independently. The things continuing this way， the students easily forget words learned before. The most terrible is that students cannot put learned words into practice. 2.1 Problems exist in English vocabulary teaching 2.1.1Teachers neglect the importance of vocabulary Teachers leave vocabulary learning to students themselves. Some books tell teachers that students could learn all the words they need without help. In fact， teachers are sometimes told that they ought not to teach too many words before their students have mastered the grammar and the sound system of the language. In journal articles for teachers， vocabulary is seldom mentioned. Pronunciation and grammar were emphasized， but there is little or no emphasis on vocabulary. 2.1.2 Teachers neglect teaching techniques Many teachers do not seem to take a systematic approach to vocabulary teaching. They often prepare lessons just before class， and there is no long-term planning. In class， teachers do not put students in the first place， and they maximize TTT (Teachers Talking Time) and minimize STT (Students Talking Time). Teachers neglect taking creative measures and techniques to arouse students’ attention to vocabulary study. 2.1.3 Teachers neglect collocation The words always appear together with other words， not in isolation. Language is made up of sets of words that go together to express a single meaning such as “by the way， go ahead， in the end” and so on. These are often called collocations or phrases. However， most vocabulary teaching is on identifying and teaching single words， rather than collocations or phrases. Many teachers ask students to remember some words without collocation. As a result， students only remember them without understanding the systems of the words. Their oral English sound strange and they say something like “yesterday night (last night)”. Therefore， teachers need to introduce lots of word relationships not only single words， and learners need to be taught how to notice word relationships on their own. 2.1.4 Teachers neglect selecting vocabulary Many teachers often teach any new words in the textbook without selection. This can not only confuse students who get them all mixed up， but also overload the students’ memory. In fact， students do not need to learn every word they meet. It is because not all words are equally useful. A convenient pision for the levels of vocabulary is shown in the accompanying table adapted from Nation. Table 1. A Convenient Division for the Levels of Vocabulary Level Number of words Text coverage， % High-frequency words Academic vocabulary Technical vocabulary Low-frequency words Total 2，000 800 2，000 123，000 128，000 87 8 3 2 100

“Clearly the 2，000 high-frequency words of English should receive attention first. With these， it is possible for people to use English in any normal way.” [3] 2.1.5 Teachers neglect consolidation In vocabulary teaching， teachers seldom help students consolidate learned vocabulary， so students learn them and then forget. Learning English vocabulary needs to be highly recycled. However， most textbooks do not seem to regularly recycle important vocabulary and the practice in class is not enough. These make students lose the opportunities of consolidating vocabulary. Since the vocabulary learned before have not been consolidated in time， the students forget it easily. The teacher should work out some ways to recycle the vocabulary introduced in the course book. 2.1.6 Teacher neglect practice In English teaching， the teacher teaches too much knowledge of words， but neglects putting them into practice， especially in vocabulary teaching. Many teachers ask students to recite and remember the new words， but do not know how to organize students to use the new words in writing， speaking and reading. It is not easy for students to digest and absorb the words in time， so students feel it difficult to learn vocabulary. The effects can be found in the following facts: (I) Students do not believe that it is a good idea to learn a lot， read a lot， practice a lot and do not believe that he can remember and master a number of vocabularies in a short time. (II) Students lacking of skills to remember vocabulary have trouble in spelling the words (III)Students make a lot mistakes in translation and writing. 2.2Problems exist in vocabulary learning 2.2.1 Students forget the words easily Many students spend a lot of time learning vocabulary， but most of them still complain that their vocabulary is not enough and they cannot avoid forgetting the words. It is easier for students to recognize the words than consolidate and remember them. “Initial word knowledge is very fragile and memories of new words that are not met again soon are lost.” [4] Here are some reasons: First， memory has a regular pattern. Rob Waring said: “Brains are designed to forget， not to remember. If a student has just learned 10 new words， it is normal for most of them to be forgotten within a few days， and maybe only one or two will be remained in the medium or long term. This is called the ‘Forgetting Curve’”. [5] Second， there is very low recycling of vocabulary in course books. Most words， which are learned before seldom appear in another exercise， or even in the same book. The words， which cannot be consolidated in time， are forgotten quickly. 2.2.2 The efficiency of study is not so high. The main reason is that Chinese affects vocabulary learning. In this situation， it is very difficult for students to understand the relationships among meaning， pronunciation and formation. So students feel vocabulary learning difficult. For example， when they have learned “take”， “cake” and later come across “lake”， they do not know how to use the knowledge they learned to read it. On the other hand， teachers do not know how to use the effective way to draw students’ attention. Therefore， students lose interest in learning. ⑴ Students cannot use the words in communication flexibly. In the process of vocabulary learning， because of the environmental limitation and the lack of learning techniques， the students always remember the meaning without certain collocation or cultural background. So they do not understand these words and use them blindly in conversation. When they meet some phrases， such as “a bad apple” “as busy as a bee” or” A little bird told me”， which contain no new words at all， so they will feel puzzled. ⑵ Many students learn vocabulary in ineffective ways. Rote learning is a typical ineffective way. So it is important to make students aware that not all words are equally important and that effective ways of vocabulary learning help to reduce forgetting. [6] 3. Select words Learners need help in developing a large sight vocabulary， so that they may automatically access word meaning. However， it is fortunate that not all English words need to be learned. This is because not all words are equally useful. Students do not have time to learn all the words， nor do they have time to pay attention to too many words each time. It is important that vocabulary teachers have to focus on: (1) Building the learner’s ‘start up’ or initial vocabulary. (2) Developing the learner’s understanding of what learning words means. (3) Showing the learner how to learn the words most effectively. The final aim is to develop the learners as independent word learners. [7] Before reaching the aim， teachers should carefully choose certain words to teach， with focus on the most frequent and useful words. Special attention should also be given to words which are difficult to learn. 3.1 What words to teach? Research shows that learners should learn 2，000 most frequent words in English and about 3，000 word families to be good at English (‘Word family’ is a group of words that own the same meaning such as ‘care， careful， careless’ etc.). Teachers should concentrate on the most frequent and useful words first， as these words are the words that students will meet very often. Many teachers concentrate on rarer words assuming that the basic words like “take， put” are known. But those words are among the most troublesome， with their multiple meanings. Therefore， teachers should work very hard on the high frequency words. 3.2 Some criteria for selecting vocabulary. Selecting words is not blind， it need criteria to limit its scope. Table 2 Some criteria for selecting vocabulary Criteria Definition Range Coverage Frequency Learnability Language needs The extent to which a word occurs in the different types of texts The capacity of a word to replace other words The number of occurrences of a word in the target language The extent to which a word can be learned without difficulty The extent to which a word is regarded as ‘required’ by the learner in order to communicate.

Source: Adapted from Teaching Vocabulary [8] 3.3 Four principles for selecting vocabulary Selecting words also need principles. (1) The words that native speaker usually use in many field is the words for learners to learn. (2) Some words which are not usually and widely used， but it is certain that students always come across in study (such as experiment， graph， specimen etc.). (3) The capacity of a word or phrases to replace other words or other phrases. For example， ‘immediately’ can take the place of ‘straight away， without delay， instantly， in a flash’ etc. (4) Different words have different teaching difficulties. For example， “classroom is easier to teach than “humanism”. [9] There is no need for students to learn the chosen words in the same way. In fact， it is enough for some words to be mastered as the active voice， other words need changing into the passive voice. 4. What is involved in vocabulary teaching Learning is a process of gradual development， so is vocabulary learning. Vocabulary learning can be pided into 3 stages: (1) Learn the new words. (2) Put the words in the certain place of memory. (3) Consolidate the words to reach the deep memory.[10] Nowadays vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus， and should be taught on a well-planned and regular basis. There are many ways of vocabulary teaching in English study. Different teachers should adopt various effective teaching methods and use a lot of other means to stimulate students’ enthusiasm in vocabulary learning， which certainly will have an great effect on students’ English study. 4.1 Presentation The words in most English textbook are explained in the students’ native tongues. In such book， the English word appears first on the left of the page， and the meanings of words appear on the right of the page in the students’ language. Except this， there is no other instruction. So teachers need to offer a creative and attractive presentation after reading aloud each word. It means that in classes the teacher should use some particular skills and techniques to show the meanings of the words. 4.1.1 Use real objects to show meanings In order to help students understand the meaning of a word， using real objects are a good way for teaching. Teachers can bring real objects to the classroom for showing the meaning of words. For example， 錢包（a purse）， 蘋果（an apple）， 甜的糖果(a sweet candy) etc. 4.1.2 Draw pictures， diagrams Pictures for vocabulary teaching may have many resources. Besides those drawn by the students and the teacher， there are attractive sets that are intended for schools. Pictures， which are cut out of magazines and newspapers， are also useful; many cheap books for children have attractive pictures， which can show meanings of basic words. 4.1.2.3 Commands and actions to show meanings. Commands and actions are the communicative way of teaching vocabulary. They not only arouse students’ interest to study English， but also make students understand the meanings of new words easily. For example: Put your left hand on your head Touch your neck with both hands Put your hands on your knees Put both hands on your shoulder Put your tight hand on your left knee Bend your knees and touch the floor Touch the floor near your left foot Put both hands on your legs Sit down and put your hands on your knees[11]