A Study On English Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The trend for the research into foreign language teaching has shifted from "how to teach" to "how to learn.That is,the focus is from "teacher-centered" to "student-centered". Our current foreign language teaching overemphasizes on developing lowlevel skills and neglects the cultivation of advanced-level skills such as learning approaches and learning strategies,etc.As a result,students do not know how to learn effectively and hence have a low learning efficiency.The researcher,as an English teacher for years in a middle school,deeply understand students' learning suffering (they can not understand the listening or reading comprehension,nor speak English or write in English)from lack of suitable vocabulary learning strategies.So the need of research on vocabulary learning strategies is urgent.In the past years,great attention has been paid to vocabulary learning strategies in home and abroad.Many researchers and teachers(such as Wen,1995;Wu and Wang,1998;Ma,1997) have studied university students and post-graduates (including English majors and non-Engiish majors).But few of the researches are concerning middle school students especially Junior Two middle school students.The research tries to investigate the strategy use of Junior Two middle school students.Subjects of the study include 152 Junior Two middle school students from 4 classes at Experimental School of Capital Normal University discussing the characteristics in their strategy use.The thesis also tries to know if there is some difference of strategy use between boarders and non-boarders.A vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire consisting three aspects(matecognitive,cognitive,and social/affective strategies) is the basic instrument in the research.The data is analyzed with the help of SPSS 11.0.The results show that the level of vocabulary strategy use by sampled students is only medium,average(2.72).Among the three categories investigated,cognitive strategies are the most frequently used,and social / affective strategies are the least frequently used.In metacognitivc strategies,two sub-strategies arc much more frequently used by non-boarders than by boarders.In cognitive strategies,four sub-strategies have significant difference.There is no big difference between them in social/affecfive strategies.An instructional experiment of English vocabulary learning is followed after the study.The post-test results show that vocabulary learning strategies are consciously used by sample students in their study.The means of sub-strategies are higher than pre-test period.There is no big difference between boarders and non-boarders except 6 sub-strategies.In the end,based on the research findings,suggestions are proposed.