Abstract
This study investigates the word meaning acquisition of polysemous words for English majors by the way of questionnaire and two word meaning tests. The conclusions are drawn as follows: providing primary meaning to students can help them guess the extended meaning of unfamiliar polysemous words than providing the other extended meanings; the English majors at different language proficiency level show similar acquisition effects in primary meaning but different acquisition effects in the extended meanings. Therefore, in vocabulary instruction, if the word meaning acquisition sequence can be followed and the connections of word meanings can be cherished, the word meaning instruction outcome will be more efficient.
Highlights
The meaning of language is the center of human communication, and the study of it has a long history in the philosophy of language, linguistics, psychology, and literature
The study aims to explore the acquisition of word meanings for English majors in the following three aspects: 1) Whether the English majors at same language proficiency provided with a primary meaning gain better guessing of extended meanings of words than those provided with other extended meanings? 2) Whether the English majors have significant difference in primary meaning of a word? 3) Whether the English majors have significant difference in direct meaning of a word? The study explores the acquisition of word meanings for English majors in China and may add something to previous researches and some implications to language teaching, textbooks writing and dictionary compiling
This study revealed three associated findings: first, the subjects receiving primary-meaning-cued sentences, in contrast to non-primary meaning-cued sentences, scored significantly higher in inferring the meanings of unfamiliar polysemous words in context
Summary
The meaning of language is the center of human communication, and the study of it has a long history in the philosophy of language, linguistics, psychology, and literature. A Study of Word Meaning Acquisition of Polysemous Words for English Majors. Durkin & Manning (1989) use the dominant meaning instead of the primary meaning They think that the dominant meaning of a polysemous word is taken to be that comes most readily to mind for a majority of native speakers when the word is resented without biasing context. It is necessary to explore the meanings acquisition of polysemous words for English majors in China. The study aims to explore the acquisition of word meanings for English majors in the following three aspects: 1) Whether the English majors at same language proficiency provided with a primary meaning gain better guessing of extended meanings of words than those provided with other extended meanings? The study explores the acquisition of word meanings for English majors in China and may add something to previous researches and some implications to language teaching, textbooks writing and dictionary compiling The study aims to explore the acquisition of word meanings for English majors in the following three aspects: 1) Whether the English majors at same language proficiency provided with a primary meaning gain better guessing of extended meanings of words than those provided with other extended meanings? 2) Whether the English majors have significant difference in primary meaning of a word? 3) Whether the English majors have significant difference in direct meaning of a word? The study explores the acquisition of word meanings for English majors in China and may add something to previous researches and some implications to language teaching, textbooks writing and dictionary compiling
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