An Empirical Study Of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Training For Non-English Majors

In the field of English teaching and learning, vocabulary learning is the hot issue to both the learners and the teachers. The mastery of vocabulary is of vital importance to listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating as well as their ability of communication. Consequently, many researchers study how to teach students vocabulary to improve their vocabulary knowledge. In recent years, strategies related and strategies training related studies have been on the rise abroad, as well as in China. However, there is still a limited area concerning vocabulary learning strategies training. Despite the current situation, most researchers believe that vocabulary learning strategies training is the effective way to facilitate students' vocabulary knowledge and their English study.In the paper, based on the pervious studies and researches in terms of vocabulary teaching and learning, the researcher conducted three specific vocabulary learning strategies training with the students in the experimental class. In class, the researcher gives explicit guidance about the strategies to the students. In addition, the researcher encourages the students to plan, to monitor and to evaluate their learning by themselves.According to the classification summarized by Schmitt and the results of the background questionnaire, the researcher carefully selected three specific strategies: word part strategy, context strategy and grouping strategy.The subjects are 118 students majoring in electronics and telecommunication in Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. One class is randomly selected as the experimental class and the other the control group. And the researcher has done some pretests to ensure that the students in the two classes are not significantly different in terms of their vocabulary knowledge. In the training process, the researcher combined the three specific strategies with the learning of the teaching materials, explained the strategies in class and gave extra exercises to the experimental class. After the training for a whole semester, the researcher analyzed all the testing results and found that the three strategies training had effective influence on students' vocabulary learning. What is more, the students' reading abilities have greatly improved due to the training. In addition, according to the posttest questionnaire, most of the students showed their great enthusiasm to support the training and thought that the training helped them a lot with their vocabulary learning and English study.This research and the strategies-based vocabulary teaching in class give some implications and suggestions to the actual teaching for both teachers and learners. As to the problems occurring in the training process and in the research, the researcher also puts forward her own ideas and careful reflection. In teaching and learning English, the teacher should give students more instruction on strategy knowledge. Furthermore, more researches concerning vocabulary learning strategies training is needed to facilitate the students' learning in the future.