The Application Of Root Learning Strategy To College English Vocabulary Teaching And Learning

Root is an important part of the English vocabulary. And its meaning is stable, being the main source of the vocabulary meaning. I.S.P Nation (1990) put in his monograph Teaching and Learning Vocabulary that root learning strategy is one of the most suitable English vocabulary learning strategies. Chinese scholar Li Pingwu (1984) elaborated the importance of concept and strategy of root to English vocabulary learning in his monograph English Roots and How to Use Them to Decipher Their Derivatives.With the analysis of the significance of roots learning, combining with Nation’s roots strategy, this research adopts the way of empirical research to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of the application of root learning strategy in college English vocabulary teaching and learning. The author and the teacher did an experiment with two classes of one Normal College’s sophomore students majoring in Chinese in four-month time. The author selected one as the experimental class and the other as the controlled class, taught by the same English teacher. During the experiment, the traditional vocabulary teaching method was used in the controlled class, and vocabulary teaching with root strategy was used in the experimental class. The data of experiment were collected by interview, pre-test and post-test, the tests data was analyzed by SPSS (18.0).The analysis of the pre-test and post-test data showed that after the four-month study with roots strategy, the vocabulary learning achievement of experimental class students was much better than that of the controlled class students. And the analysis of interview data showed the change of students’attitude towards vocabulary learning, turning from the original hate of remembering words to love of doing this. Through this study, the author came to the following conclusions:the root learning strategy is feasible to the college English vocabulary teaching and can effectively help college students in vocabulary learning. Root learning strategy could not only help improve students’ ability of correctly understanding and memorizing meanings of words, but also enhance students’interest in learning vocabulary.