An Empirical Study On The Effects Of Metacognitive Strategy Training On English Vocabulary Learning Of Junior High School Students

An important part of language is vocabulary,which can directly affect or restrict the ability to listen,speak,read,write,and translate.As stated in the English Curriculum Standard for Compulsory Education（2022 Edition）,vocabulary is an essential component of English instruction,noting that teachers should focus on developing students’ learning strategies in vocabulary teaching.Therefore,how to integrate learning strategies into English vocabulary teaching is an issue that deserves to be studied.Using qualitative and quantitative surveys,the present study aims at exploring the effects of training in metacognitive strategy on junior high school English vocabulary teaching by the following three research questions:（1）What is the overall use of metacognitive strategies in English vocabulary learning among junior high school students?（2）What impact does metacognitive strategy training have on students’ using frequency of different strategies in English vocabulary learning?（3）What impact does the application of metacognitive strategies have on students’ English vocabulary test performance?To research the above questions,the researcher conducted a questionnaire on the use of metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning by a total of 269 Grade Seven students in Guangzhou NO.113 Middle School,Guangdong Province.On this basis,a14-week metacognitive strategy training was carried out in two parallel classes of Grade One students.The experimental class used a metacognitive strategy training to teach vocabulary,whereas the control class adopted a traditional method.Before the experiment,the pre-questionnaires and vocabulary pre-tests were taken by the students in experimental and control classes,and six students from the experimental class were randomly selected for interviews.After the experiment,the post-questionnaires and vocabulary post-tests were conducted in both classes,and the six students were interviewed again.All data were analyzed by SPSS 26.0 for the following findings: 1)the overall use frequency of metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning is at a low level,with the selective attention strategy being the most frequently used by students,followed by the evaluation strategy,monitoring strategy and planning strategy.2)Metacognitive strategy training improved the using frequency of different strategies in English vocabulary learning of EC.3)The application of metacognitive strategies contributes to improving students’ English vocabulary test performance.This study further confirms the important role of metacognitive strategy training in English vocabulary instruction,providing relevant pedagogical implications for improving English vocabulary teaching in terms of the use of metacognitive strategy.However,there are also limitations in the study,including a short period of experimentation,no delayed tests,and a small experimental sample size.