A Study On English Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Many students who begin to learn English in junior middle school often feel frustrated in an attempt to learn and remember English words. In addition, even though they are able to remember some words, they often use them incorrectly or inappropriately. This thesis is concerned with the question: Why do junior middle school students have problems with vocabulary learning? The researcher tries to investigate the strategy use of first year students in junior middle school, discuss the characteristics in their strategy use and find the reason why they have problems with their vocabulary learning. The researcher also tries to get some information about vocabulary learning strategy use of junior middle school students in order to make some suggestions about vocabulary strategy training in junior middle school.The subjects under study included 88 first year junior middle school students at Wuhua Experimental Middle School. A vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire to inquire learners' use of vocabulary learning strategies was used. Detailed analysis of the quantitative data leads to the following findings: 1) First year junior middle school students seldom employ metacognitive or social strategies whereas they frequently use some of the determination strategies, cognitive strategies and memory strategies. 2) They use a limited number of strategies and some are ineffective for them. For example, they use more mechanical strategies than strategies involving deep level of processing and word network building, pay little attention to context, consider little about encounters with words when selecting strategies. 3) The defects that exist in the strategy use of the learners in the study will result in the problems that the learners have with their vocabulary learning. Implications of these and other findings are discussed and suggestions are made regarding the developing of vocabulary learning strategies in junior middle school.