A Correlational Study On College English Teachers' Teaching And Non-Engligh Majous' Use Of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Vocabulary learning plays an important role in language learning, and it is the foundation of various language learning activities. However, vocabulary study has been neglected for a long time and became the"Cinderella"in the field of second language acquisition (SLA). In recent years, with the systematic and principled research about vocabulary acquisition, the study of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) has become a hot issue in SLA. Plentiful studies have been conducted abroad and at home. These studies mainly focus on the description, classification, effectiveness of specific strategy and factors affecting strategy use, etc. However, most of the empirical studies are conducted from the perspectives of students, rarely investigating how teachers'VLS teaching affects students'VLS use.This study is an empirical study of VLS teaching and use, which aims to investigate the situation of college English teachers'VLS teaching and non-English majors'VLS use, and the difference and correlation between the two. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are employed in the present study. Regarding the quantitative study, a survey was conducted with the participation of 30 college English teachers and 300 non-English sophomores from Shandong Agricultural University. Data for the study were collected by using questionnaires. With the help of SPSS11.5, descriptive statistics, independent sample T tests, and Pearson correlation analysis were computed with the target samples. Five teachers and fourteen students who participated in the questionnaire investigation answered the questions in semi-structured interview schedule. The main findings obtained from the quantitative study are summarized as follows: Firstly, non-English majors frequently employ VLS but the frequency is at the medium level. On the contrary, college English teachers teach most of the strategies quite frequently in their teaching practice, for the teaching frequencies of most strategies are above 3.5. Then, cognitive strategy is the most popular with students but it is the least frequently taught strategy by teachers. Students seldom employ social/affective strategy. On the contrary, they prefer to learn by themselves rather than cooperate with others. However, social/affective strategy is favored by teachers. Moreover, students do not like to use the strategies that can help words transform from receptive ones to productive ones, such as word using, productive mastery, word formation, reading, word-exercise, keyword.Secondly, descriptive analysis and independent sample T-test in this study show that there is significant difference between non-English majors'VLS use and college English teachers'VLS teaching, especially at the dimension of social/affective strategy. Of all the specific 21 strategies, there is significant variation at 16 ones. The result indicates that students have selectivity and autonomy toward teachers'teaching of VLS. The utilization of VLS is restricted with many factors, and teachers'teaching of VLS is not decisive.Thirdly, the correlation analysis displays that college English teachers'VLS teaching is positively correlated with non-English majors'VLS use at the dimension of metacognitive strategy. Of all the specific 21 strategies in the present study, there exist negative correlations at guessing strategy and word using strategy, while the relationships of the rest 19 strategies are found to be weak or meaningless.This thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter one introduces the research background, research purpose, research significance and the structure of the thesis.Chapter two reviews the relevant literature concerning definition, classification, factors affecting strategy choice, and effectiveness of specific strategies.Chapter three elaborates on the methodology. Attention is focused on describing research questions, sample subjects, instruments, procedures for data-collection and data analysis.Chapter four displays the results and discussion. Based on the 3 research questions, each specific result is displayed. Reasons underlying the difference between college English teachers'VLS teaching and non-English majors'VLS use and factors affecting strategy teaching and using are elaborated.Chapter five summarizes the major findings of the study. Then implications for vocabulary learning and teaching are proposed. Finally, limitations and suggestions for future study are given.