An Empirical Study On English Vocabulary Knowledge And Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of Non-english Major Postgraduates

Since 1980s, the study of vocabulary acquisition has been increasing with each passing day. A handful of studies have been done in this field both at home and abroad, which has provide a reliable and scientific foundation to get an insight into the current situation and development of second language (L2) learner's vocabulary knowledge. Despite those achievements, empirical studies on the vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary knowledge of non-English major postgraduates in institutes of science and technology are relatively weak and far from satisfactory.In this empirical study, non-English major postgraduates from Shandong University of Science and Technology are investigated to explore the following research questions:1) What is the overall level of the subjects' vocabulary knowledge? 2) What are the specific usages of English vocabulary learning strategies employed by the subjects? 3) Do vocabulary learning strategies employed by the subjects correlate with their vocabulary knowledge? Based on the O'Malley and Chamot's (1990) classification of learning strategies and Ma Guanghui's Vocabulary Proficiency Test (2004), we conduct a questionnaire, a vocabulary proficiency test and individual interviews to answer the above questions.After the qualitative and quantitative analysis of this study, the results are listed as follows:1) Based on the vocabulary proficiency test, we find that according to the English Teaching Synopsis for Non-English Major Postgraduate Students (2007), the breadth of vocabulary knowledge proficiency of non-English major postgraduates is far from the requirement of 1313 words during their postgraduate study and the depth of vocabulary knowledge proficiency is also quite low. The overall real situation of vocabulary knowledge at both dimensions (breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge) of the subjects needs great improvement.2) Generally, the subjects have formed relatively scientific vocabulary learning beliefs and employ a variety of vocabulary learning strategies with cognitive strategies as the most frequently used one, metacognitive strategy the less frequently used one, and finally social/affective strategy the least frequently used one. In addition, we find that differences are shown on the usage of learning strategies between HG and LG students, but the differences have not reached to the significant level. In terms of the application of each specific strategy, students in HG not only employ more strategies, but also use them more frequently than those in LG.3) As to the correlation between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary knowledge proficiency, the planning and self-monitoring strategies under metacognitive dimension are found to have significant correlations with vocabulary knowledge.Under cognitive strategies, grouping, practice and guessing strategies are significantly correlated with vocabulary knowledge, while other strategies do not show significant correlations with vocabulary knowledge. For social/affective strategies, the correlations are positive with breadth of vocabulary knowledge (BVK) and negative with depth of vocabulary knowledge (DVK), but both have not reached to the significant level.Based on the findings of the study, the author hopes that the present study can bring some implications to English vocabulary learning and teaching. For all the efforts in the study, limitations still exist in the study and there is still much room for further improvement, which will contribute more to this important area.