A Study Of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of English Majors In Xinjiang University

In recent years, the role of vocabulary knowledge in second language learning has been increasingly valued. Among all the factors that may affect vocabulary learning outcomes, vocabulary learning strategy is the most important one. Many English learners spend lots of time and energy learning vocabulary, but they fail to learn effectively. Many researchers abroad and at home conducted related studies, but only a few of them made research from the aspect of English majors. Hence, knowing their existing problems and facilitating them to form effective vocabulary learning strategies are very helpful for their vocabulary learning and even for their future English study.The present study aims to explore learners'English vocabulary learning strategies and to find out the differences between males and females as well as freshmen and senior students in vocabulary learning strategies. The vocabulary learning strategies are divided into three categories in this study on the basis of O'Malley & Chamot'classification: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affect strategies. The subjects are 160 English majors in Xinjiang University and six of them are interviewed. The study uses a descriptive analysis method to investigate vocabulary learning strategies. The instrument is a questionnaire of vocabulary learning strategies, which is adopted from that of Gu & Johnson (1996). The collected data are analyzed and it is concluded:(1) In using of metacognitive strategies, English majors use selective attention strategies most frequently, but they are not good at using self-evaluation strategies. Cognitive strategies are widely used by them, among the cognitive strategies, word-formation, dictionary, note-taking, guessing are frequently used by the learners, while rote-memory is not frequently used by them. They do well in affective strategies but don't prefer social strategies.(2) Male students seldom adopt metacognitive strategies except selective attention, and there are significant differences between males and females in using self-management, self-monitoring and self-evaluation. Females use more cognitive strategies than males and use the strategies more effectively. They show no significant differences in using social/affective strategies and they don't prefer social strategies but performed well in affective strategies.(3) There are significant differences in using metacognitive strategies between freshmen and senior students in vocabulary learning. Freshmen are not good at using them while senior students can use these strategies to guide their study. Senior students employ cognitive strategies more frequently than freshmen, while freshmen use social/affect strategies more frequently than seniors and there are significant differences between them in using social/affective strategies.The findings of the present study suggest that students should employ a variety of strategies to regulate their vocabulary learning process and consciously apply the newly learned words. And it also suggests that teachers should help students realize the significance of strategy use in English vocabulary learning, introduce them the most frequently used strategies by the most proficient vocabulary learners and what's more important, encourage them to develop their own effective strategies in vocabulary learning.