Abstract:
This study explores the application of the semantic field theory in English vocabulary instruction. It first investigates ways of constructing various semantic relations, including paradigmatic relations of synonymy, antonymy, polysemy and hyponymy, syntagmatic relations of collocation and metaphorical meaning. Then, it presents a synthetically pedagogical procedure of vocabulary instruction with the application of the semantic field theory. The study is of pedagogical significance in that it helps to enlarge learners’ vocabulary by constructing paradigmatic relations of new items and to deepen learners’ mastery of vocabulary, mainly connotation and collocation, by constructing syntagmatic relations of the new items.
