An Investigation Of Vocabulary Learning Strategies In Junior High School English Textbooks And Their Instruction

English learning in junior high school sets the foundation of Chinese English education and vocabulary learning is the cornerstone of language learning, so the training of vocabulary learning strategies in junior high school is particularly important. The overall objective of the Curriculum Standards of English Instruction for Compulsory Education (trial edition) emphasizes learners'comprehensive language proficiency, including learning strategy training. Teaching textbooks and teachers are the major ways learners expose to English, and learners' vocabulary learning strategies are learned mainly from them.This thesis analyzes and summarizes the vocabulary learning strategies in English textbooks of junior high school edited by People's Education Press (PEP) from vocabulary resource, cognitive, memory, use and metacognitive strategies. It is found that using a dictionary for lexical information is the most frequently used vocabulary resource strategy in textbooks; vocabulary cognitive strategies are reflected in every textbook in a balance, including using context, highlighting, guessing words/ meanings and so on; vocabulary memory strategies appear in textbooks in a high frequency, including grouping, placing new words into a context and using imagery; vocabulary use strategies are making sentences, doing descriptions, making conversation and writing; vocabulary metacognitive strategies regularly appear in textbooks with self-checking and establishing records.The instruction of vocabulary learning strategies by English teachers is investigated after the analysis of them in English textbooks. The investigation is composed of questionnaire and interviews, and altogether 30 junior high school English teachers from Chongqing and Zhengzhou took part in the questionnaire, among which five English teachers accepted interviews led by the researcher. The results show that the level of vocabulary strategy instruction by the 30 teachers is just medium; among the five types of vocabulary learning strategies (vocabulary resource, cognitive, memory, use and metacognitive strategies), the memory strategy is the most frequently instructed type, followed by cognitive, use and resource strategies, and the metacognitive strategy is the least frequently instructed category; six of the 39 strategies presented in the questionnaire are judged as the most frequently instructed ones, of which one cognitive strategy gets the highest score, and another five of the 39 strategies are reported as the least frequently instructed ones, of which three strategies belong to the metacognitive strategy.In the end, based on the research findings, pedagogical suggestions are proposed to promote teachers'vocabulary learning strategy instruction and students'vocabulary learning.