A Contrastive Research On English Vocabulary Learning Strategies Between High-Achievers And Low-Achievers In Grade One Of Senior Middle School

Vocabulary learning is a very important part of English learning and also the key to learning English well.For senior middle school students,to master the vocabulary that syllabus required can lay a solid foundation to learn English well,however,the large amount of vocabulary has become their obstacle to learn English,how to cultivate students to use a variety of effective vocabulary learning strategies is also a difficult problem that a lot of English teachers encountered in their daily teaching.Mastering effective vocabulary learning strategies can not only improve students’ vocabulary learning efficiency,but also help cultivate students’ independent learning ability.In recent years,many scholars and front-line teachers have investigated the relationship between the use of vocabulary learning strategies and students’ English achievement,the use of English vocabulary learning strategies by high-achievers and low-achievers.However,there are few contrastive studies on English vocabulary learning strategies between high-achievers and low-achievers in Grade One of senior middle school.Different scholars have classified vocabulary learning strategies differently,and this study adopted the classification of O’Mal1ey & Chamot(1990),which mainly includes meta-cognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and social strategies.This paper focuses on middle school students at the basic stage of English learning.Through the investigation and analysis of vocabulary learning strategies of high-achievers and low-achievers in Linfen No.7Middle School,this paper hopes to answer the following three questions:(1)What is a correlation between VLS and English achievement?(2)What is the overall tendency of VLS in Grade One of Linfen No.7 Middle School?(3)What are the similarities and differences between high-achievers and low-achievers in using vocabulary learning strategies?The subjects of this survey are 191 Grade One students from three classes in Linfen No.7 Middle School.It aims to explore the correlation between vocabulary learning strategies and students’ academic achievements,the top 25% and the bottom 25% students in the three classes are chosen as high-achievers and low-achievers,and takes these students as the subjects of comparative study.In this thesis,vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire and interviews were used,and the SPSS23.0 was carried on the statistical analysis to the collected data.The analysis process includes correlation analysis,descriptive analysis and independent sample t-test.The results show that there is a strong positive correlation between Englishlearning strategies and English achievements.The frequency of use in VLS on Grade One students of Linfen No.7 Middle School is at a moderate level;the most frequently used vocabulary learning strategies were note-taking strategies;and the least frequently used strategies were mechanical memory strategies.The high-achievers have better use of meta-cognitive strategies,and the frequency of the other two strategies are not low;the low-achievers prefer to use cognitive strategies,while the use of meta-cognitive strategies and social affective strategies are relatively less;more specifically,high-achievers often use selective attention strategies,contextual strategies and cooperation strategies,while low-achievers like to use mechanical memory strategies and mother tongue strategies;neither of them are good at using self-regulation strategies,classification strategies and help-seeking strategies.According to the results of the survey,this study offers suggestions to teachers from three aspects.Firstly,teachers should use some teaching measures to help students establish good habits of using strategies,learn to make plans and monitor their vocabulary learning;Secondly,teachers should design various teaching activities to train students to use contextual,associative,word-guessing and classification strategies,etc;Thirdly,teachers should encourage students to cooperate and communicate with each other,and pay attention to cultivating students’ initiative in vocabulary learning.