On The English Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of High School Students

Vocabulary is the architectural material of a language. Foreign language teaching does not work without vocabulary teaching. Vocabulary learning is a difficult yet vital part of English learning for Chinese students. The English Curriculum for Full-time Compulsory Education at Senior High School (testing manuscript) issued by Ministry of Education puts forward a fairly high requirement on students' vocabulary learning. On the one hand, it demands a larger vocabulary of high school students; on the other hand, it requires the application of vocabulary learning strategies, emphasizing the need of learning vocabulary by applying them. Currently, linguists and educators at home and abroad generally believe that the effect of vocabulary learning strategies is the most evident among all the controllable elements upon language achievement. During the process of language learning, one can achieve noticeable improvement once one knows how to effectively apply learning strategies. But there is not much study on the different effects of successful and unsuccessful application of learning strategies, especially, on the senior high school students. Therefore, the author took a survey on this topic.The study attempts to answer the questions as follows:1. What is the general situation concerning senior high school students' knowledge of vocabulary learning strategies and their application?2. What are the differences between the different genders of senior high school students in terms of their knowledge of vocabulary learning strategies and their application?3. What is the relation between the application of vocabulary learning strategies and the achievement of English learning in senior high school? What are the differences between students with good achievement and bad achievement in English vocabulary learning in terms of the knowledge and application of vocabulary learning strategies?The author analyzes the situation of high school students' knowledge of vocabulary learning strategies through questionnaires and interviews. By employing the software SPSS, the author examines the results of questionnaires according to the different genders and different levels of achievement and finds out the different knowledge and application of vocabulary learning strategies between male students and female students, and between students of good achievement and bad achievement. Thus, the study is intended to offer some suggestions and advices for successful teaching and training of vocabulary learning strategies, and finally to help improve English vocabulary learning in senior high school.