An Experimental Research On Metacognitive Strategies For Promoting English Vocabulary Learning Of Rural Junior High School Students

Phonetics,vocabulary and grammar are the three most important parts of all language systems.Relatively speaking,vocabulary is more complicated and abundan than the other two.For most of the domestic middle school English learners,vocabulary learning is also considered "laborious,time-consuming,inefficient".So solving the problem of vocabulary learning is of great significance to English learning.To students with heavy pressure,they need master vocabulary learning strategies and cognitive strategies which can regulate vocabulary learning strategies.Importantly,junior high school students are in the initial stage of English learning,so arousing interest and improving self-learning ability are important.Meta-cognitive strategies include planning,selective attention,self-supervision and self-evaluation these four sub-strategies.So as a strategy of controlling learning and self-regulated learning management,metacognitive strategy can play a key role in vocabulary learning.To learn what problems students may have and verify whether meta-cognitive strategy has a promoting effect on vocabulary learning,this study tests on two classes,90 students of Grade 8 in rural school of Zhejiang province.Before the experiment,the two classes are trained about the lexical strategies,and training time lasts about a week.Then they are investigated about the use of the meta-cognitive strategies in vocabulary learning.According to questionnaire survey and interviews,we find that the students of this strategy is rarely used.Then,the two classes are tested on the vocabulary level of the pre-test.The experimental class have learned the metacognitive stragey for about 4 months in vocabulary learning.The form of training is arranged in each class.After the experiment,we get the following conclusions:(1)The use of meta-cognitive strategies can help improve students vocabulary levels effectively.(2)The use of meta-cognitive strategies can arouse students’ interests in English learning and students’ academic efficacy.(3)There’s no difference in English learning between boys and girlsFinally,I also get some elicitation from the experiment.Before metacognitive strategies are trained,the lexical strategies should be trained.And the metacognitive strategies are not only used in vocabulary teaching,but also it’s put to use in other subjects.We’re supposed to make students aquire the wide use of metacognitive strategies and make it serve themselves for the lifelong learning.