A Study Of Non-English Majors' Vocabulary Level And Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The importance of vocabulary can never be overestimated since it is the foundation of all language learning skills as listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation. In linguistic research, the teaching and learning of vocabulary was once ignored due to which it is called "Cinderella". Hence, some researchers and language learners bear some misconceptions toward vocabulary learning and teaching. However, the past decades witnessed the increasing systematic and principled researches about vocabulary learning and teaching, which has provided theoretical guidance and basis for practical vocabulary learning and teaching. The focus has shifted from "whether vocabulary should be taught" to "how vocabulary should be taught". By testing the vocabulary level and conducting a comprehensive questionnaire of vocabulary learning strategies the study aims to explore the general situation of non-English majors acquiring vocabulary so as to give implications to the practical teaching and learning.The subjects were 111 sophomores from North University of China. The results of vocabulary level tests and the questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS and the findings are as follows. The vocabulary level of most respondents is 2703 words, which is far below the basic requirement of 4,500 by College English Curriculum Requirements, not to mention the higher requirement of 6,500 words. Then, the statistics shows that most learners still prefer rote memorization. It is obvious that non-English majors are in urgent need to have a good command of vocabulary learning strategies so as to lighten the learning load.Some implications about vocabulary learning and teaching have been elicited. Firstly, strategies instruction is in need for the learners to lighten the load of learning words. More importantly, the learners should be encouraged to be independent learners. The emphasis should be placed on "how to learn" instead of "what to learn". Then, concerted effort should be made to incorporate new vocabulary or to review/recycle vocabulary in EVERY lesson by exercises, activities and tests. By doing exercises and activities, students learned the depth of words in addition to the breadth of those words. By tests, vocabulary can be incorporated into students' assessment. Since the statistics tells us the main hindrance of vocabulary acquisition comes from forgetting, it is necessary for the learners to know something about rules of human memory and how the mind works.Now there are many reasons to believe that the earlier neglect of vocabulary in theorizing and research is now being replaced by a vigorous interest. The more exciting area of vocabulary research is likely to be the research into quality of vocabulary knowledge which attempts to answer such questions as how can we tell a vocabulary item is grasped and what stages learners go through in truly mastering a vocabulary item.