A Study Of Gender Differences In Successful Learners' Use Of EVLS

This thesis discusses the gender differences in English Vocabulary Learning Strategies(EVLS)use of the advanced postgraduates.Previous researchers have discussed the characteristics of successful learners in EVLS use,the differences between successful learners and unsuccessful learners' EVLS use,and the gender differences in EVLS use.Those studies proved that there were significant differences in EVLS use between boys and girls,but not significant differences between high-level learners and lower-level learners.In this thesis,the author continues to explore whether the differences are significant in EVLS use between boys and girls,between successful learners and unsuccessful learners,and then discusses whether boys and girls among the successful learners also have significant differences in their EVLS use or not.83 postgraduates in non-English majors(School of Physics and Electronics,School of Life Science,School of Chemistry)from Shanxi University firstly take part in the Vocabulary Size Test(VST)and a questionnaire online at the same time.Secondly,according to the distribution of vocabulary size,the author divides the 83 participants into three levels—higher,middle,and lower.Higher-level learners involve 26 subjects with a vocabulary size of 7,000 to16,000,28 middle-level subjects who master 3,000 to 7,000 words,and 29 lower-level postgraduates' vocabulary size is less than 3,000 words.Finally,6 subjects—3 boys and 3girls from the higher-level students are invited to have an interview.The results demonstrate that it is considered to be significant in EVLS use not only between boys and girls,but also between successful learners and unsuccessful learners.In the meanwhile,the differences are also significant between successful boys and girls in EVLS use.Above all,the study of successful learners' EVLS use provides some constructive suggestions for English teachers to individualized education and gives some feasible directions for unsuccessful learners in vocabulary learning.Aiming at the individual differences between successful boys and girls,teachers and students could select targeted teaching and training.On the one hand,when teaching boys,teachers could place emphasis on boys' preparation lessons,consolidation and check lessons.As for girls,teachers could focus on girls' co-curriculum with the help of dictionaries,reference books,and friends,teachers as well.On the other hand,students could try their best to bring their own superiority into full play.Meanwhile,unsuccessful learners would take example by successful boys and girls and introspect themselves to their final success in English learning.