A Study Of Senior High School Students' English Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Many researchers who study in the field of second language acquisition have turned their focuses from teaching to learning since the 1970 s.Due to this change,many researchers both at home and abroad started to focus their study on language learning strategies(LLS).Vocabulary,as an essential part of language,has aroused many researchers' attention.So most researchers have already studied vocabulary learning strategies(VLS)since the 1970 s.In the last three decades,the researchers studied more on the language learning strategies in senior high schools.They made investigations on the students in senior high schools to understand how they made use of vocabulary learning strategies.This thesis carries out an investigation of vocabulary learning strategies of some students in a senior high school of Anqing,Anhui Province owing to the fact that there is a gap in the studies on vocabulary learning strategies among learners of different levels.Especially there is a lack of studies on selection and using of vocabulary learning strategies among senior high school students in China.This thesis intends to explore the following two questions.One is to discover the overall situation of English vocabulary learning strategies used by certain senior high school students.The other is to discuss the suitable vocabulary learning strategies for students in different language levels.The thesis mainly discusses the problems through questionnaires,interview and vocabulary test.The thesis makes out two kinds of questionnaires.One is about the overall learning situation of English learning for senior high school students.The other is related to the learning situation of vocabulary.The students participated in this investigation are from No.2 Middle School in Anqing City in Anhui Province.The thesis can see the situation of using VLS for the students and differences between the students in different language levels.The thesis has some findings.Firstly,many students think that the words should be learned by studying and using.Secondly,the students like to use different kinds of vocabulary learning memorizing strategies according to their different language levels.But most of the students use traditional methods.They mainly use dictionaries,guessing,rehearsal and images to remember English words.Thirdly,the students in different language levels choose various vocabulary learning strategies.Based on the above findings,the thesis presents some implications.Firstly,the teacher should help students to recognize the necessities of using various vocabulary learning strategies and learn to make use of different vocabulary strategies according to their learning contents.These strategies can improve the students' English learning and change their bad habits of rote learning.Secondly,English teachers should not only teach the students the pronunciation and definitions of vocabulary,but also teach students the kinds of vocabulary learning strategies.It can foster their autonomous learning abilities.