An Investigation Into Students' Awareness Of Lexical Learning Strategies In SLA

Words are the building materials of a language and they are essential for successful language use. Without a sufficient quantity of vocabulary, meaningful communication is not possible. The last three decades saw the reemergence of interest in vocabulary learning and much research has been done in this field. Vocabulary learning strategies are one of the most important components in learning strategies. Chamot (1987) conducted a research into language learning strategies in different aspects and drew the conclusion that when students learn vocabulary, the number of strategies they adopt is the largest.This paper introduces the theoretical basis of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies, and then surveys the college students'lexical learning strategies.This study on English vocabulary learning strategies of non-English majors is based on O'Malley and Chamot's (1990) classification of language learning strategies. According to O'Malley and Chamot, language learning strategies are divided into three groups: metacognitive strategy, cognitive strategy and social/affective strategy. This study is designed primarily to investigate and identify the vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) used by Chinese university students learning English as a foreign language. The subjects of this study are 156 students from China University of Petroleum (East of China). The researcher has collected the data by the following means: vocabulary test and questionnaire.Results generated from the research are the following: (1) Chinese university EFL learners commonly believe that vocabulary learning is a mechanical, monotonous work. (2) Generally speaking, they employ a variety of vocabulary learning strategies ranging from metacognitive strategies to social/affective strategies. (3) Cognitive strategies are the most frequently employed followed by social/affective strategies while metacognitive strategies are the least employed. (4) In the correlation analysis, there are significant correlations between the vocabulary learning beliefs and the three groups of vocabulary learning strategies, the memorization strategies and the vocabulary level, the affective control strategies and the vocabulary level. (5) It is found that there is a significant difference between the successful and less successful vocabulary learners in strategy use. The successful learners use more grouping, contextualization, and affective control strategies than the less successful students. (6) In the regression analysis, it is proved that the vocabulary learning strategy use can predict the vocabulary level.Based on the analyses of the data, the researcher draws some implications: Chinese university students of non-English majors should be introduced to various effective strategies; and teacher should pay more attention to training in vocabulary learning strategies.This thesis consists of five chapters as follows:Chapter One is a brief introduction about the research and it introduces the background and significance of the research.Chapter Two reviews the relevant literature of the research on learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies. It introduces the theoretical basis of learning strategies: its definition, classification, relative research, characteristics, the importance of language learning strategies in language learning and teaching, effectiveness and orchestration of L2 learning strategies and methods used to investigate strategies. It also introduces strategies for lexical learning, such as the importance of vocabulary learning, classification of vocabulary learning strategies---cognitive, metacognitive, social/affective, and relative strategies on vocabulary learning strategies.Chapter Three describes the design of the research. It introduces a survey of the college students'vocabulary learning strategies---its research questions, subjects, instruments, and procedures.Chapter Four presents the collected data and a detailed analysis of the data in terms of the different aspects of vocabulary learning strategies. It includes the investigated students'overall pattern of English vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies, correlation study between vocabulary learning beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies, vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary learning achievement, differences of vocabulary learning beliefs and strategy use between high score group and low score group and a multiple regression analysis between the vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary level.Chapter Five is a conclusion about this paper. It leads to the conclusion of the whole research. And it sums up the findings and gives a general discussion. Moreover, it gives some pedagogical suggestions and recommendations on vocabulary teaching and learning, and discusses the limitations and recommendations.