English Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of Chinese Adult Learners

Foreign/second language learning strategies play a significant role in the process of foreign/second language learning. Linguists have been doing a lot of research in this regard. As one of the important subclasses of foreign/second language learning strategies, English vocabulary learning strategies are attractive to many researchers, such as Nation (1990), Stoffer (1995) and Schmitt (1997), who make great effort in defining and classifying vocabulary learning strategies.Although there are millions of English learners in China, a little research on English vocabulary learning has been conducted. Within the research, the researchersvpay much attention to English teaming strategies rather than English vocabulary learning strategies, and the focus of the research is often on English teaching rather than English learning. Such as Weng Qiufang(1995) conducts a research on English learning strategies which studies the influence of English learning strategies on English learning results. However in her research there is only a small part that touches upon English vocabulary learning strategies. Yao Meilin(2000), in his dissertation entitled "The trend of current teaching research on foreign language vocabulary learning strategies", conducts a study on English vocabulary learning strategies. However the research focuses on English teaching rather than English learning, and it does not involve in specific English vocabulary learning strategies. This dissertation focuses on English vocabulary learning strategies and aims to reveal the English vocabulary learning strategies utilized by Chinese adult learners and study the relationship between English vocabulary learning strategies and English learning results of Chinese adult learners.The research on English vocabulary learning strategies of Chinese adult learners in this dissertation is based on O'Mallev & Chamot(1990)and Oxford's(1990) classification of foreign/second language learning strategies since English vocabulary learning strategy is one of the subclasses of foreign/second language learning strategies. According to O'Mai ley & Chamot, foreign/second language learning strategies are divided into three groups: Meta-Cognitive Strategies, Cognitive Strategies and Social/affective Strategies. However this trichotomy is over-generalized and it is not proper to put social strategies and affective strategies into one category. Compared with O'Malley & Chamot's classification, Oxford's dichotomy of Direct Strategies and Indirect Strategies is much more exhaustive however it is too detailed. Combining both O'Malley & Chamot's trichotomy and Oxford's dichotomy, this dissertation classifies the English vocabulary learning strategies into four categories, that is, Meta-Cognitive Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Cognitive Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Social Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Affective Vocabulary Learning Strategies.The research methodologies utilized in this dissertation are a questionnaire, observations and interviews. The questionnaire is adapted and designed according to Schmitt's taxonomy (1997) and delivered to 200 adult English learners working in Changchun city. From the feedback of the questionnaire, some English vocabulary learning strategies are presented and the feedback of the questionnaire also shows that (1) English vocabulary learning strategies and English learning results are positively related; (2) English vocabulary learning strategies are acquisitive; and (3) the employment of English vocabulary learning strategies could be influenced by motivation. In order to further investigate the English vocabulary learning strategies utilized by Chinese adult English vocabulary learners and prove the above-mentioned conclusions, two of the 200 subjects are randomly selected for detailed observations and interviews. The research lasts for one year and finally the author summarizes a group of English vocabulary learning strategies utilized by Chinese adult learnersand proves the three conclusions.At the end of the disser...