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A Study of Word Meaning Acquisition of Polysemous Words for English Majors
College of Foreign Language, Hunan University, Changsha, China
School of Foreign Languages, Yangtze University, Jinzhou, Hubei, China
- 1 College of Foreign Language, Hunan University, Changsha, China
- 2 School of Foreign Languages, Yangtze University, Jinzhou, Hubei, China
Creative Education·Volume 06 (2015)·Pages 1993–2001·Published 29 October 2015·DOI10.4236/ce.2015.618204
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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.
KeywordsWord Meaning AcquisitionPolysemous WordsEnglish Majors
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