Probing Into The English Vocabulary Learning Of University Students In China

The study investigates Chinese College Students' development of English Vocabulary by means of both qualitative and quantitative analyses.The whole research is divided into two parts. In the first part, the research aims to check the lexical knowledge (he or she has about a word) and lexical competence (he or she has developed) of the subjects through two questionnaires including responses from the subjects, data collection, and the data analysis of questionnaires. The second part focuses on the lexical performance, which includes a test of passive, controlled active and active vocabulary, data analyses of the test with the help of SPSS for windows and its discussion.The results show that passive vocabulary size (as measured by vocabulary Levels Test) progresses very well. Free active vocabulary (as measured by Lex30 Approach: an easy-to-administer test of free active vocabulary, more effectively than some other tests incurrent use) does not progress at all. Such quantitative perspective coincides with the results verified through the qualitative research (questionnaire). The gap between the passive vocabulary and the free active vocabulary increases in the more advanced group. Free active vocabulary does not correlate with the passive vocabulary.The results raise several questions about the nature of vocabulary knowledge (especially the fossilization of free active vocabulary), and the effect of instruction on vocabulary growth. A psycholinguistic model of vocabulary acquisition in a second language is constructed to solve the questions (the cause of the fossilization and its solution).