Abstract：This essay focuses on discussing an issue of vocabulary selection and teaching in English language classrooms in China. The problem that is going to be expounded is relying too much on definition-based method. For the expansion of the issue， four steps will be taken. Firstly， to give the description of the problem， which contains， what is happening in the English language classroom for ESL/EFL Chinese learners in terms of vocabulary selection and teaching. Secondly， to find out what the solution should be， and what are the advantages or motives of applying this method. Lastly， to make a brief conclusion for teaching.
　　Key words： vocabulary selection and teaching;English language classrooms;relying too much on definition-based method
　　1 Introduction
　　To focus on discussing the issue of vocabulary selection and teaching in English language classrooms in China， in this essay the problem that is going to be expounded is relying too much on definition-based method. To analyze the issue， four steps will be taken. Firstly， to give the description of the problem， which contains， what is happening in the English language classroom for ESL/EFL Chinese learners in terms of vocabulary selection and teaching， and accordingly what might the vocabulary teaching problems related to this phenomenon be. Secondly， to find out what the solution should be， and what are the advantages or motives of applying this method to solve the problem. Lastly， to conclude how the benefits of the solution mentioned and the practical application exemplified can guide the vocabulary teaching and selection in EFL classrooms.
　　2 General description
　　Normally， for intermediate or upper-intermediate Chinese EFL/ESL students， new lexis and phrases will be acquired through articles. And considering how to effectively select and teach vocabularies in language classes for those students， there are always two schemes in Chinese teachers’ mind. Frequently， teachers will firstly ask students to go through the target text and circle those words that are ‘unfamiliar’ for them， and then these being circled lexes will constitute the majority of the words that should be studied in this session. Subsequently when coming to the word teaching part， most commonly， teachers will get the meanings of circled words from students directly. As in most cases， the preparation work for learners before classes will include the preview of the definitions of any new lexis. Thus in this situation， learners will actually circle the words that are supposed to be unfamiliar， and will be reviewing the vocabularies that should be taught in the classroom. Thus， in the English language classrooms in China， when learners are studying new vocabularies through texts， there seldom is the opportunity for students to learn a new word from the context， they merely remember the word meanings and some useful phrases isolatedly. 　　2.1 Importance of context
　　Learning lexis on a definition basis and on a context basis has been repetitiously compared by researchers. Similar to definition-based method， context-based learning can help students to easily get the definition of a word as well. Researchers like Nash and Snowling （2005， p. 349） have discovered that even a low-level learner could be able to understand unknown words from the text if he/she is taught by context-based method. That is to say， students are capable to get a sense of a word independently on themselves instead of by dictionaries. Moreover， Sigafoos （2007， p. 20） has found that when students are led to vocabulary by context-based methodology， they are more likely to achieve a long-term benefit. In his research， Sigafoos （2007， p. 20） compared two groups of students， taught by context-based method and definition-based method separately， both being involved in a follow-up research after months， the former group performed significantly better than the latter group on vocabulary memorization. Therefore， though focus on definition may help students in short-term memory， when being fixed to the context， learners could make that memory a durable one. Besides， context-based learning can also give students a more complete comprehension of a word. As what Moon （cited in Carter 1998， p. 163-164） has exemplified， a single word in ten different sentences with distinct situation could be defined by ten distinguishing meanings accordingly. Thus， if students are encouraged to learn a word from the provided context， he/she can have various taste of one word， which may fill and perfect his/her understanding of the word.
　　3 Teaching implications and conclusion
　　In practicality， for example， students could be asked to make a sentence using the words which they have guessed the meanings correctly. In this way， learners will definitely need to infer meanings from context at first， because they need to know which words will they make sentences upon. For this stage， a practical strategy of getting word meanings from context has been made clear by Carter （1998， p. 210）， which teachers could utilize as an example for learners. And then students can make new contexts by themselves， which could reinforce their understanding. Moreover， as Nelson （2008， p. 34-35） illustrates， to make the context-based vocabulary learning effective， teachers not only need to engage students to get the meanings of words from texts， but also have to encourage students to repeatedly use those words in diverse context. There can be an after module practice for each module， which is a good chance for teachers to involve students to review words they have learnt through texts. One example could be， asking students to give any real-life use that they have noticed of the words they have learnt from the readings. 　　This issue is quite typical when considering the Chinese ESL/EFL classrooms context. It should be paid attention to as soon as possible with the corresponding solutions being applied in an appropriate way. And more could be analyzed if more classroom observation are carried out in the future.
　　Reference list
　　[1] Carter， R. （1998）. Vocabulary： Applied Linguistic Perspectives. Retrieved from https：//ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liverpool/detail.action？docID=169244
　　[2] Nash， H.， & Snowling， M. （2005）. ‘Teaching new words to children with poor existing vocabulary knowledge： a controlled evaluation of the definition and context methods’， INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION DISORDERS， 41（3）， pp. 335-354.
　　[3] Nelson， D. L. （2008）. ‘A Context-Based Strategy for Teaching Vocabulary’， The English Journal， 97（4）， pp. 33-37.
　　[4] Sigafoos， J. （2007）. ‘Context-based teaching of new vocabulary is associated with greater durability than a definition-based method’， EVIDENCE BASED COMMUNICATION ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION， （1）， pp. 20-21.
　　作者簡介：丁若芷（1994.4—），女，汉，湖南株洲，助教，文学硕士，研究方向为英语教育。