An Action Research On Effective English Vocabulary Learning Of Secondary Vocational School Students

Vocabulary is the basic and principal element of a language. It runs through the overall process of language learning. A certain vocabulary is the basis of listening, speaking, reading, writing, translation and some other language activities. Therefore English vocabulary learning becomes the foundation of English learning and English lexical competence will be an important manifestation of the language ability of English learners. Effective English vocabulary learning is a prerequisite of mastering English. Under the background of globalization, English has already been a required course for students in secondary vocational schools. English Teaching Syllabus for Secondary Vocational Schools(2009)has clear requirements for English vocabulary learning: Students are required to learn about 1900 words, at the same time they are required to make good use of 300 idioms, fixed phrases and collocations, which is really a big challenge for them. Vocabulary learning and teaching haven‘t been paid much attention to in secondary vocational schools. Teachers seldom mention vocabulary learning strategies in class. Nor do the students have any systematic knowledge of vocabulary learning strategies themselves. Thus, the majority of the students acquire vocabulary through rote memorization. Students‘ poor grasp of vocabulary and vocabulary learning strategies leads to their poor English level. Their vocabulary learning hasn‘t achieved any satisfying results. Neither can it meet the requirements of the English Teaching Syllabus for Secondary Vocational Schools.Action research is a very effective way for teachers to solve practical teaching problems. This thesis studied the English vocabulary learning situation in Yantai Advanced Normal School through action research and aimed at gradually improving the students’ English vocabulary learning effectiveness. The author carried out an action research, during which a questionnaire, language tests and an interview were used as means of instruments. 100 students of Grade 2012 the author is now teaching were chosen to participate in the study for ten months. A questionnaire was designed before the research to reveal the English vocabulary learning situation and help to determine the research questions as well as the research design. Then a pre-test was held to help the author get some information of the students‘ English learning and after the implementation of the action research, namely, after the training of cognitive and metacognitive vocabulary strategies, a post-test and an interview were conducted to get more information needed for further analysis. The data obtained before and after the research were analyzed by SPSS 19.0.After scientific analysis of the information and statistical data, the author got the following conclusions: first, it was the lack of vocabulary learning strategies that the students were hindered in English vocabulary learning. Second, vocabulary learning strategies play a great part in promoting students‘ learning vocabulary. And after being trained cognitive and metacognitive strategies, the students adopted them in the process of vocabulary learning and made great progress. Students will gradually develop into autonomous learners. At last, the training and scientific application of vocabulary learning strategies led to the students‘ progress in basic language learning skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. As a result, students‘ English language proficiency was enhanced and their English academic records were obviously improved.The study indicates that the training and scientific application of learning strategies can effectively improve students‘ vocabulary learning and their English academic records in the school the author is now teaching. This will be beneficial to vocabulary learning and teaching in the future. And action research, a good method to find and solve problems in teaching, should be widely used.