A Study Of Chinese High School Students' Learning Strategies For English Vocabulary

In the new era of knowledge-based economy and globalization, learning to study and lifelong learning ability are indispensable for human beings to survive and develop. It is urgent and necessary for researchers and educators to study how the Chinese English learners'learning autonomy and lifelong ability can be cultivated. Many studies have shown that language learning strategies are the prerequisite to the improvement of learning effectiveness and development of autonomous learning ability. Appropriate learning strategies can motivate learners'interests, help them actively participate in learning activities and encourage them to learn effectively so as to lay a good foundation for lifelong learning ability. Therefore, researchers acknowledge the importance of learning strategies for language learning and are paying more attention to language learning strategies.At present, the major problem most Chinese English learners encounter is how to remember a large amount of vocabulary and learn it effectively. The cultivation of students'good learning habits and their mastery of effective vocabulary learning strategies are becoming more and more important. However, the current English vocabulary learning situation of high school students is not promising. Most students still adopt mechanical memorizing in English vocabulary learning. The newly issued High School English Curriculum Standards (Trial Edition) (2003) has put forward higher requirements for vocabulary capacity that high school students should achieve. Based on the above reasons, this paper makes a thorough and complete research on the vocabulary learning strategies used by Chinese high school students sampled from three high schools in Zaozhuang, Shandong. This study aims to identify problems existing in the students'vocabulary learning and explore effective strategies so as to lay a good foundation for autonomous consciousness and lifelong learning.The investigation of high school students'vocabulary learning strategies is conducted with reference to the vocabulary learning beliefs questionnaire and vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire respectively developed by Gu & Johnson (1996) and Li Songhao (2003) with some appropriate modification. The classification framework of learning strategies and the requirements of vocabulary for high school students by the English curriculum standards also provides a reference for the present study. This study attempts to explore: (1) the general beliefs about vocabulary learning held by Chinese high school students; (2) the current situation of English vocabulary learning strategies, and specific strategies used in vocabulary learning; (3) the gender-based differences in vocabulary learning strategies; (4) whether vocabulary learning strategies are correlated with vocabulary size; (5) the differences in vocabulary learning strategies between high and low achievers.The obtained data is analyzed with SPSS 16.0 statistical software. The results indicate that: (1) Chinese high school students give priority to the beliefs that"words should be acquired in context and"words should be learned through use". (2) The overall level of vocabulary learning strategies is not very high. High school students use cognitive strategies most frequently, activation strategies the least frequently, and the other four kinds of strategies in between. (3) Female students use metacognitve strategies, resource strategies, cognitive strategies and memory strategies more frequently, which suggests that vocabulary learning strategies used by females are more diversified than the ones used by males. (4) There is a positive correlation between 45 specific strategies used by the students and their vocabulary size. 19 specific strategies are significantly correlated with vocabulary size at the level of 0.01 or 0.05. (5) There are significant differences of vocabulary learning strategies between high achievers and low achievers in the use of 20 strategies. High achievers use much more strategies than low achievers.This study gives enlightments to English vocabulary teaching and learning in Chinese high schools and is helpful for raising students'and teachers'awareness of vocabulary learning strategies so that the students'good learning habits can be developed and learner autonomy can be substantially fostered.