A Study Of EFL Vocabulary Learning Strategies-A Case Study In Grade Two In Beijing

Vocabulary is one of the three elements (phonology, grammar, and vocabulary) of a language. Just as D.A.Willkins stated" Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed".(cited in Wang , 2002) Vocabulary acquisition is the main task of learning a second language. The study aims to explore the vocabulary learning strategies used by the sampled students and shows the differences in vocabulary learning strategies between High-scoring group students and Low-scoring group, and also provides strategy use profiles for the Junior English teachers who are interested in strategy training.The instrument in the study is a vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire. It is mainly developed from O'Malley&Chamot's framework of learning strategies, in which metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies are included. The data is analyzed with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) 13.0 for Window.The major findings of this research are as follows:First, on the students' beliefs in vocabulary learning, the most popular vocabulary learning belief is Rote-learning instead of Context and Application.Second, Junior Two students attempt to use a variety of strategies in actual vocabulary acquisition. They use cognitive strategies most and use social/affective strategies least.Third, differences do exist in vocabulary learning strategies between the high-scoring group and the low-scoring group. Compared with low-scoring group students, high-scoring group students prefer to use context, guessing, reading to acquire the vocabulary.Fourth, most of the vocabulary learning strategies employed by the subjects are positively correlated with English achievements.From the above findings, the paper put forwards some pedagogical implication. First, it is necessary for teachers to help learners to form the right beliefs on vocabulary learning. Second, teachers should do some vocabulary learning training such as planning, evaluating of vocabulary learning. In this way, learners can employ effective vocabulary learning strategies to improve their vocabulary autonomous learning.