A Survey On Non-English Majors’ Current English Vocabulary Level And Vocabulary Learning Strategies At Inner Mongolia Normal University

Vocabulary learning is a hot issue in the study of second languageacquisition. Many studies have been conducted into this issue home andabroad. The studies mainly focus on the classifications of vocabularylearning strategies, the description of strategies used by a particular groupof learners or the effectiveness of particular strategies etc. However, thestudies abroad cannot describe the true situations as to how Chinesestudents use vocabulary learning strategies in their learning. And somestudies in china are not in agreement with each other owing to differentobjectives, participants, methodologies, and classifications of vocabularylearning strategies. In addition, the learning conditions varies from regionto region, so none of these results of studies could be directly borrowed toconduct the teaching and learning practice of Inner Mongolia NormalUniversity in which most of the non-English majors have a comparativelylower English competence.The present study attempts to investigate the overall pattern ofEnglish vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies used by some non-English majors in Inner Mongolia Normal University, and further studythe correlation between students’ vocabulary learning beliefs, vocabularylearning strategies and the scores on a vocabulary size test with thepurpose of knowing the current vocabulary learning situation and thecondition of vocabulary learning strategies used by these students,therefore, the teachers could better conduct the vocabulary teachingpractice. There are three instruments used to gather data for this study:Nation’s Vocabulary Level Test (1990) and a questionnaire on vocabularylearning strategies adapted from O’ Malley and Chamot(1990). Thevocabulary level test and the questionnaire are administered to collegestudents majoring in Geographical science and Politic and Law fromInner Mongolia Normal University. From the results of Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis, we know that the vocabulary level ofmost respondents is2802words, which is far below the basic requirementof4,500by college English Curriculum Requirements, let alone thehigher requirement of6,500words. The results also show that most of thestudents prefer rote memorization. It is obvious that non-English majorsare in urgent need to have a good command of vocabulary learningstrategies so as to lighten the learning load.Some implications about vocabulary learning and teaching havebeen elicited. Firstly, strategies instruction is in need for the learners tolighten the load of learning words and the anxiety of learning English.Secondly, the learners should be encouraged to be independent learners.The emphasis should be placed on “how to learn” and the teachers shouldknow “what to teach”. Thirdly, great effort should be made to incorporatenew vocabulary or to review vocabulary in every lesson by exercises,activities and tests. Finally, it is of great importance for the learners toknow something about rules of human memory and how the mind works.Because from the results of the statistics we know that the main obstacleof vocabulary acquisition comes from forgetting.In the end of the paper, the author points out the limitations of thepresent study and provide some tentative suggestions for further research.