An Investigation Of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used By Junior High School Students

Vocabulary is the basic component of language, and a fundamentally important aspect of language development. One language depends on its vocabulary to make into meaningful passages according to definite grammar rules. Vocabulary is so important; Wilkins (1972, cited in Schmitt, 2002) stated that "without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed".Vocabulary is the building material of language, and vocabulary study is therefore the most important in any language learning. One of the biggest problems English teachers complain about in the practice of the new curriculum criteria is vocabulary. The vocabulary now in the new curriculum doubles than that of the past, raising the difficulty of vocabulary teaching. Vocabulary is the most important of a language. Researches on vocabulary learning strategies have been carried for nearly 30 years and a lot have been achieved. However, the researches which have been done on vocabulary learning strategies have tended to deal with college students and senior high school students, with very few studies looking at junior high school students. In a sense, vocabulary teaching and learning has long been comparatively undervalued in junior high school English teaching in China.New Criteria for English Courses for General Middle School requires that teachers should help students develop effective leaning strategies. Do students in junior middle schools in Dongsheng, Erdos, Inner-Mongolia use vocabulary learning strategies? If they do, what strategies do they now use in vocabulary learning?Donglian Junior Middle School has good performance in English proficiency competition and examinations. Do students in Donglian Junior Middle School use different strategies in their vocabulary learning? To answer these questions, an investigation of English vocabulary learning strategy was carried in two junior middle schools. 200 questionnaires were distributed in the schools, and a data statistic software of SPSS was employed. From data analysis, we see middle school students in Dongsheng do use vocabulary learning strategies; from comparison, students in Donglian Junior Middle School generally use strategies better than students in No. 2 Middle School in Dongsheng.There are five chapters in the thesis: Chapter One, the introduction, states the importance of vocabulary; Chapter Two explains the design and procedures of the study, also discusses the definitions, classifications and achievements on researches of vocabulary learning strategies; Chapter Three is about the design and the process of the research; Chapter Four is about data analysis and comparison. Chapter Five is the concluding remarks.