A Research On The Situation Of Vocabulary Learning Strategies In Secondary Vocational Schools

Nowadays it is very important for language learners to grasp learning strategies. They can help students to learn autonomously and thus promote their learning. Many foreign language teachers have devoted themselves to the study of learning strategy. But most of the studies are about middle schools and universities,while very few of them are from secondary vocational schools. And vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition since it is the fundamental element to every aspect of the target language acquisition. Vocabulary strategies used by vocational school students haven't been fully researched yet. The present research attempts to explore the situation of English vocabulary learning strategies used by some vocational students, and to investigate the different vocabulary strategies used by efficient learners and less efficient learners. A questionnaire, adapted from several experts, is administered to 47 students in a secondary vocational school. Students'vocabulary learning strategies are investigated at meta-cognitive, cognitive and social/affective levels. The results indicated that the overall pattern of strategies use in learning vocabulary, most students underestimated the meta-cognitive strategies in learning vocabulary. And efficient learners used vocabulary learning strategies significantly more often than less efficient learners. The implications can be drawn from this study were that by understanding students'vocabulary learning characteristic, English teachers may develop strategy-based teaching methods to promote students'English vocabulary learning.