An Experimental Study On English Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of Junior School Students

In recent years, Language learning strategies have been playing anincreasingly important role in the learners’ language study, and greatachievements have been made at home and abroad in this field. However, inChina, the previous related studies, especially vocabulary studies, are stilllimited. Few researches have been done on the vocabulary learning of juniormiddle school students. So, to help students to master vocabulary effectively,a survey has been made among100students of NO.49Middle School ofBaotou, Inner Mongolia, on their use of vocabulary learning strategies.The data has been collected by the following instrumentsquestionnaires, interviews and two tests (pre-test and post-test). The Datawas collected and processed with SPSS. Finally, based on an experiment,the author tried to answer the following questions:(1)What specific strategies do the students use in vocabulary learningprocess?(2)What are the vocabulary learning strategies frequently used betweenhigh-achievers and low-achievers?(3)Is there any improvement in the students’ English learning after theyhave been given particular training of some vocabulary learning strategies?The main findings of the research are as follows: a) Junior schoolstudents can use few meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies andsocial/affective strategies to learn vocabulary; b)There are obviousdifferences in use of four aspects of vocabulary learning strategies(note-taking, guessing, association and dictionary use) betweenhigh-achievers and low-achievers; c) Students’ scores have been improvedobviously after the training of vocabulary learning strategies.The researcher draws some implications: middle school students should be introduced to various effective strategies, and teachers should pay moreattention to training in vocabulary learning strategies.