A Comparative Study On English Vocabulary Learning Beliefs And Strategies For Junior High School Students With Different Language Proficiency

Many academic scholars and front-line teachers are involved in the research of English vocabulary learning,and the research subjects are initially English majors and non-English majors.Senior high school students‘ vocabulary learning tactics have received attention in recent years,but there has been little research on the usage of English vocabulary learning strategies by junior high school students.There are fewer comparative studies investigating the similarities and differences in the usage of vocabulary beliefs and strategies by junior high school students of various English levels.This study answers the following three questions through an inquiry and interview of vocabulary learning strategies used by junior high school students with various English levels:(1)What is the correlation between junior high school students‘overall beliefs of vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategies among different English level?(2)What are the characteristics of vocabulary learning concepts of junior high school students with different English levels? What are the similarities and differences?(3)What are the characteristics of vocabulary learning strategies of junior high school students with different English levels? What are the similarities and differences? The objects of the questionnaire survey were 331 students in grade seven and eight of a middle school.The interviewees are 15 junior high school students randomly selected,including 5 junior high school students with good English proficiency,5 junior high school students with moderate English skills,and 5 junior high school students with poor English skills.The results are as follows:(1)In terms of learning belief,there is a strong positive correlation between learning concept in junior high school students‘ English proficiency;that is,junior high school students who believe words should be learned in using have better English proficiency.In terms of learning strategies,meta-cognitive vocabulary learning strategies and cognitive vocabulary learning strategies have a significant positive correlation with junior high school students‘English proficiency;in other words,the more types of meta-cognitive vocabulary learning strategies and cognitive vocabulary learning strategies are used,the higher their English proficiency will be.The strategy of Selective attention,dictionary usage strategy,note-taking strategy,repetition strategy,and coding strategy are the ones that have the largest impact on junior high school students‘ English levels.However,using the guessing approach with junior middle school students is different.The results reveal that the guessing approach for junior middle school students has a detrimental impact on their English level.For students with high and middle English proficiency,guessing strategy can raise their English level,while for students with poor English levels,guessing strategy can cause their levels to decline.(2)There are differences in vocabulary learning concepts among junior high school students with different English levels,but the differences are not significant.That is,junior high school students with different English levels have the similar beliefs of vocabulary learning.(3)There are significant differences in the overall vocabulary learning strategies of junior high school students with different English levels.Specifically,there is no significant difference in the use of meta-cognitive vocabulary learning strategies,but significant difference in cognitive vocabulary learning strategies and social vocabulary learning strategies among junior high school students with different English levels.As to cognitive vocabulary learning strategies,junior high school students with good English proficiency use them at a high frequency level,while junior high school students with medium and poor English proficiency are at a medium frequency level.For social vocabulary learning strategies,junior high school students with good and medium English proficiency use the strategies at a high frequency level,while junior high school students with poor English proficiency use the strategies at a low level.Finally,based on the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(2011 edition)and researches conducted by former researchers,some implications on promoting students‘ effective vocabulary learning were put forward.