The Effect Of Vocabulary Learning Strategy Training On Non-English Majors’ English Vocabulary Learning

In the field of English teaching and learning, vocabulary learning has always been the most discussed issue. Since vocabulary learning is the foundation of second language acquisition, the mastery of vocabulary is of significance to students’listening, speaking, reading, writing and translating as well as their communicative ability. A survey of the relevant literature shows that the last decade has witnessed the great development in researches into vocabulary learning strategies both in China and abroad. And many language teachers have come to realize that the essence of teaching is to help learners to learn how to learn. The close link between the learning strategies and learners’autonomy is also emphasized by researchers and educators. Most researchers believe that vocabulary learning strategy training is an effective way to facilitate students’vocabulary knowledge and their English study. In China, the previous related study is limited to key university students, but less research has been conducted in local colleges. Based on previous study, the thesis tries to make a further research in the local college students.In this paper, the researcher conducted the vocabulary learning strategies training with the students in the experimental class. In class, the researcher gives explicit guidance in the strategies to the students. In addition, the researcher encourages the students to plan, to monitor and to evaluate their learning by themselves.O’Malley and Chamot’s (1990) classification of learning strategies was used in the study due to the importance of meta-cognitive and cognitive learning strategies. O’Malley and Chamot distinguished three major types of strategy:meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. The present study mainly selected some meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies, and focused on the effect on non-English students’vocabulary learning. In this study, eighty students of Taishan College took part in the survey of vocabulary learning strategy training. They are from two classes. One class is randomly chosen as the experimental class, and the other as the control class. The participants in the experimental class received the regular four-month strategies-based instructional treatment, while the comparison students did not receive the training. Both classes took a pre-test before the training and a post-test after the training, and the experimental class filled out two questionnaires on the vocabulary learning strategy before and after the training. Two questionnaires and two vocabulary tests were delivered to the students. One questionnaire (the vocabulary learning awareness questionnaire), which is based on the framework of O’Malley and Chamot (1990), is adapted from that of Gu and Johnson (1996). The other questionnaire is the vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire, which is based on Rebecca L. Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The two vocabulary tests are randomly selected from reference list of College English Vocabulary in College English Curriculum Requirements (2007) designed by College English Teaching Group.With the help of the statistical software SPSS13.0, the researcher analysed the data. The result shows that the vocabulary learning strategies training exerts positive influence on the participants. This research and the strategies-based vocabulary teaching in class give some implications and suggestions to the actual teaching for both teachers and learners. As to the problems occuring in the training process and in the research, the researcher also puts forward his own ideas and careful reflection. In teaching and learning English, the teacher should give students more instruction on strategy knowledge. Furthermore, more researches concerning vocabulary learning strategies training is needed to facilitate the students’learning in the future.