A Research Into The Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of Chinese Senior High School Students

Words are the construction materials of a language. Without words, there is no language itself. So vocabulary learning is playing an important role in the system of the language learning. But senior high school students find it rather difficult to learn English vocabulary, while the New Curriculum Standards requires senior high students to master far more words than before. So it is worthwhile to explore vocabulary learning strategies used by Chinese senior high school students. Based on such a background, this research investigates the using and the overall trend of vocabulary learning strategies of senior high school students by questionnaires and interviews. The participants are 187 students of a certain senior high school in Zhejiang Province.The major findings of the research are as follows: although senior high school students have used kinds of vocabulary learning strategies, the average use of each strategy is lower than 4, the use rate of metacognitive strategies (except the choosing attention strategy) and social/affection strategies being relatively low. Besides, the use of strategies of senior 3 is lower than that of senior 1. What's more, there is a difference in the use of vocabulary learning strategies between the group of excellent learners and poor learners. The group of excellent learners use strategies more often. Girls use more strategies often than boys. Based on the findings of the research, some suggestions have been proposed on the basic training principles and methods of English vocabulary learning strategies.The research holds considerable pedagogical implications. As for the students, they should have a plan and management over their vocabulary learning. It is better to use a variety of learning strategies for the retention of vocabulary. As for the English teachers, it is high time that they help students to form their suitable vocabulary learning strategies and provide a wealth of activities to improve their ability to employ strategies appropriately and effectively.