4.Conclusion 11

4.1The discovery of this research 11

4.2 Suggestion for Future Research 12

References 14

Appendix 15

Test of English word recognition 15

Questionnaire 17

1. Introduction

It is said that from the children's physical and cognitive development perspective, 11 to 13 years old are the strongest period for a child to learn a new language. (Scovel T, 1999) during this period, the children can imitate and learn quickly. It is very likely for them to form the sense of the phrase.

According to the elementary students’ psychological characteristic and the rule of language learning, the elementary school grade English classroom teaching more focus on training listening and speaking skills, so the vivid and lively heard training activities constitute a characteristic pattern of elementary school classroom. But in teaching practice, we often encounter such a problem: students can say the word when they see pictures or text, but when the same words and sentences in the case of no pictures or background tip appeared, students are confused, this is a result of "focus on hearing but ignore recognizing" teaching. 

Many English teachers believe that English teaching in elementary schools focuses mostly on cultivating students “listening, speaking ability, a senior to begin to “read, write,” training. A direct consequence of this practice is the heavy burden of learning to read and write in middle and high schools, resulting in frustration and lack of confidence.( 廖新华2012) 

Elementary students in China are still in their beginning stage of learning English as a foreign language, and their cognition is at the “concrete operational” stage, according to Piaget. These developmental characteristics mean that students of this age group are smart and curious, but their learning, including learning two languages, Chinese and English, is still easily influenced by many factors, from family, parents, to their own likes and dislikes. During the initial stage of learning English, vocabulary is an important part in English learning and teaching. In order to find some typical influencing factors of elementary school students English word recognition ability, a large number of previous studies in China and abroad on this topic are consulted. Then test and questionnaire investigations are constructed according to these factors. The students in this project are Grades four and five in an elementary school in Hang Zhou.

2. Literature Review

2.1 The Definition of Dialectics

Word recognition, according to Literacy Information and Communication System (LINCS) is "the ability of a reader to recognize written words correctly and virtually effortlessly." It is sometimes referred to as "isolated word recognition" because it involves a reader's ability to recognize words inpidually from a list without needing similar words for contextual help. (http://lincs.ed.gov/) LINCS continues to say that "rapid and effortless word recognition is the main component of fluent reading" and explains that these skills can be improved by "practicing with flashcards, lists, and word grids."

Recognition means the act of knowing the basic meaning of a word or a phrase on sight because you have known or learned about them in the past. (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics). According to the English curriculum standards of compulsory education, with clearly defined objectives, primary school students are supposed to understand simple live or recorded speech with aid of pictures and images, read and recognize all words studied.