The Application Of Meta-cognitive Strategies To English Vocabulary Teaching And Learning In High School

Vocabulary plays a very important part in English learning. During the teaching practice in Haotou Middle School in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, the author finds it difficult for students to learn and master vocabulary. Therefore, to solve the problem, the author carried out a research, through which, the author thinks teachers should take the responsibility to help the students to master some vocabulary learning strategies in order to improve the effectiveness of vocabulary learning. This study applies the Meta-cognitive strategies to vocabulary learning to help students to learn to use planning strategy, monitoring and self-evaluation strategies. These strategies contribute to students" learning autonomy.The study tries to answer the following three questions:1) How do students use the vocabulary learning strategies and Meta-cognitive strategies?2) Can the application of the meta-cognitive strategies improve the students' vocabulary level and English proficiency?3) Can Meta-cognitive strategies arouse students'interest in English learning and improve their learning autonomy?Two research methods are used in the paper. A questionnaire is designed to investigate the students'use of meta-cognitive strategies in vocabulary learning and two tests are also adopted to find out their vocabulary performance and English level before and after experiment. Students from two classes of Senior 3 that the author teaches are selected as subjects, one class is experimental class, the other control class. The students in experimental class accept meta-cognitive strategy training. The date collected from the two questionnaires and tests is analyzed and compared to check the effects of the training on the meta-cognitive strategy use and vocabulary performance. The results reveal as follows:The use of meta-cognitive strategy can change students'vocabulary learning beliefs. Moreover, the employment of meta-cognitive strategies can increase the students' English proficiency and vocabulary level. Besides, the training is effective in the promotion of students'learner autonomy in their vocabulary learning process and arouse their English learning interest.The paper consists of six chapters. Chapter1 is introduction, including the background, purpose and significance of the study. Chapter 2 provides a review of the theoretical background of vocabulary learning strategies both at home and abroad. In Chapter 3, meta-cognition theories are stated briefly, covering its form, development and the relationship between meta-cognition theories and vocabulary learning. Chapter 4 applies the meta-cognitive strategies to vocabulary teaching and learning, involving students'meta-cognitive knowledge, training content and a case. In Chapter 5 an experiment has been done. The last Chapter is conclusion, in which the author presents the findings and suggestions. Results of the experiment prove that the use of meta-cognitive strategy can improve the students' level of English vocabulary.