Corpus-based Approach To Fostering The Ability Of Autonomous Vocabulary Learning Of Senior High Students: A Feasibility Study

In the past two decades, the concept of learner autonomy has been an ongoing concern of foreign language educators both at home and abroad. The New English Curriculum Standard states the main goal as "cultivate the students' ability of autonomous learning". Vocabulary learning as a weak part for senior high students in Chinese context, which is of vital importance to language learners, has been drawn great attention by many domestic researchers. In order to meet such requirements and get out of the predicament above, some scholars have proposed some approaches to fostering the ability of autonomous vocabulary learning.This thesis centers around the vocabulary learning in corpus-based contexts. Following the review of relevant studies on learner autonomy and autonomous vocabulary learning and a theoretical study on the features and potentials of corpus technology, the aspects in which corpus can be applied in vocabulary learning are investigated and illustrated to explore the feasibility of using corpus technology in assisting autonomous vocabulary learning through conducting the experiment, survey, interview and observation in vocabulary learning practice.The subjects in this study are 92 senior high students, who were randomly selected and divided into the control group and experimental group. The two groups use the same textbook and are instructed by the same teacher. The experiment lasts 4 weeks, during which the corpus-based approach was implemented in the experimental group while the traditional approach in the control group. For the present experiment, three instruments are mainly used: a questionnaire on students' attitudes towards corpus-based autonomous vocabulary learning, pre-experiment test and post-experiment test, and some interviews with the subjects. The result of experiment indicates that 1) the corpus-based approach can better enhance students' ability of autonomous vocabulary learning; 2) the corpus-based autonomous vocabulary learning can effectively improve students' vocabulary achievement.From the result, it can be inferred that the corpus-based approach is feasible in cultivating the students' ability of autonomous vocabulary learning. It should be pointed out that the study itself has its limitations. For example, the number of subjects and the period of experiment were limited. Therefore, more studies should be done in the future to further prove the proposition.