Forgetting Rules Of English Vocabulary Learned In Chinese Context And Its Linguistic Features

It is known that language attrition is a new area for language research and thus attracts many researchers'attention. A great number of researches in several aspects have been done in language attrition and receive valuable results since the conference held at the University of Pennsylvania in 1980 that was dedicated to the topic of Loss of Language Skills. However, in China, language attrition studies are just about introducing some theories; few are touched on empirical studies.Due to the significance of vocabulary to English learning, and with the fact on vocabulary attrition, this research plans to study the linguistic features of attrited words learned in Chinese context to help the retention of these words and at the same time verify two important related theories, namely Regression Hypothesis and selectivity theory. The research wants to study whether these two theories can be supported by the data obtained from the research on college students in China. Specifically speaking, there will be four questions in the research: (1) What will be the forgetting patterns of English vocabulary learned in Chinese context? (2) As the fact of language attrition, what are the linguistic features of attrited English vocabulary learned in Chinese context? (3) Is certain group of words much easier to be attrited? (4) Will Regression Hypothesis apply to the attrition of English vocabulary learned in Chinese context? (5) Is the number of attrited words has some relationship with the subjects' English proficiency?This research chooses two classes of non-English major college students in Shanxi Normal University as the subjects. The instrument mainly makes use of vocabulary test and after that analyze data got from the tests through software SPSS 15.0. The results show that: (1) words in attrited group are not definitely influenced by word class or word length, but are more synformic and girls did better than boys in the retention of foreign language vocabulary. Plus, if some items are often reinforced, then they are able to be preserved for a longer time. (2) Regression Hypothesis and selectivity theory are justified in the research of English vocabulary attrition. (3)There is certain relationship between the number of attrited words and the subjects'English proficiency.According to the results, there are some limitations and suggestions on English vocabulary learning and teaching. Both teachers and students should pay attention to language attrition in future:teachers are expected to introduce some learning strategies to consolidate students'knowledge about words. In addition, students are expected to form their own learning habits that help better retention and they should often review those old or new words to prevent vocabulary attrition.