Beliefs, Strategies And Vocabulary Retention By Non-english Majors

Chinese non-English majors'beliefs about and strategies in vocabulary learning were investigated in an exploratory study with 200 sophomores from three universities. A questionnaire and a vocabulary test were delivered to the students, who were asked to indicate, among other things, the beliefs they hold in vocabulary learning, the metacognitive and cognitive strategies they usually use in vocabulary learning. Chinese non-English majors commonly believe that vocabulary should be learned by rote-rehearsal, in context, and by practice; they adopt different types of learning strategies frequently in their task of vocabulary learning. Analyses were also conducted to determine a possible relationship between strategy use and achievement level in a vocabulary test. Results suggest that strategy use correlates with levels of achievement. More frequent and elaborate use of metacognitive strategies and certain cognitive strategies is associated with higher levels of achievement in a vocabulary test.