A Survey On English Vocabulary Learning In Junior Middle School Under New Curriculum Standards

Vocabulary is the basic unit in language learning. Without vocabulary verbal communication is equal to impossible. And a language learner with a poor vocabulary may find it difficult to read and write well, hard to understand what others speak and fail to speak correctly and idiomatically. However, English vocabulary learning is a difficult task for Chinese learners. Researches show that adequate and effective vocabulary learning strategies can facilitate vocabulary learning.The learners'knowledge of words is also very important in developing and improving their reading ability, in promoting and fostering listening comprehension. So learners should expand their knowledge of words as much as possible in order to communicate effectively in foreign language. It is necessary for teachers to help learners choose effective learning strategies in vocabulary learning.Since the 1990s, quite a few researchers have carried out studies on vocabulary learning strategies at home and abroad. But these studies are concerned with college students and graduates, few researches are concerned with middle school students, especially the junior middle school students.In order to study the overall pattern of vocabulary learning of the junior school students and help the students to get. suitable learning strategies, the author chose this theme. In this study, a questionnaire and interviews are adopted to investigate the junior school students'vocabulary learning use. 176 junior school students from three different schools in Yinan answered the questionnaire. The survey results showed: 1) Most subjects consider vocabulary learning as a monotonous, mechanical task, they get half the result with twice the effort and they can seldom get pleasure and sense of success. And they usually adopt cognitive and memorial strategies in learning vocabulary. Among the six strategies (including memorial, cognitive, compensation, meta-cognitive, social and affective strategies), cognitive strategies are the most frequently used, while meta-cognitive strategies are the least frequently used by the investigated learners. So it is necessary to help the students to accept suitable learning strategies. 2) Vocabulary learning strategies used by the students in the junior middle schools are very limited, especially guessing in context, imagery strategies and word-formation are seldom used. This may directly leads to their low effectiveness.In a word, it is necessary and important to train the junior middle school students on their vocabulary learning strategies. This study will be expected to shed some light on the instruction and give some suggestions for further studies in the future.