A Study On English Vocabulary Learning And Teaching Strategies Of Senior Students In Yulin No.10Middle School

In the last40years, studies in the field of language teaching and learning strategies have been booming. Specifically speaking, some researchers emphasized grammar, some paid attention to vocabulary and others studied writing and reading. However, as a basic element of a language, vocabulary has been drawing more and more attention since1970s. Its importance has been pointed out by Wilkins (1972):"Were it not grammar, a lot of things can’t be expressed; However, if there were no words, we couldn’t express anything." The reason why vocabulary teaching and learning arouse the author’s interest is that she finds small vocabulary size is really a bottleneck in senior students’English study during her internship in Yulin No.10Middle School. Therefore, conducting a study on the vocabulary teaching and learning strategies has theoretical and practical significance.This study, by reviewing the relevant studies on language learning strategies, vocabulary learning strategies and second language acquisition theories, investigates students on their application of vocabulary learning strategies in Yulin No.10Middle School, according to which some effective, practical vocabulary teaching strategies will be put forward. The author chooses two classes in Senior2(one liberal art class, one science class) with101students as samples. Through questionnaire, the study attempts to explore:1) Students’vocabulary learning beliefs;2) Their application of vocabulary learning strategies;3) Some problems in students’vocabulary learning. Research statistics are analyzed with the help of SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science). The author finds that students’small vocabulary size is indeed a bottleneck in their English learning. They feel helpless and are very dependent on English teachers. Although they think vocabulary should be acquired through practice, they still use very traditional vocabulary learning strategies. By combining requirements of New Curriculum and second language acquisition theories, the author puts forward some vocabulary teaching strategies in five aspects. Hopefully, they can shed some lights on vocabulary teaching and learning in middle school.The study consists of six chapters. Chapter one is an introduction about significance of the research and its construction. Chapter two states theories on language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies as well as second language acquisition theories. Chapter three talks about purpose of research, research questions, objects and procedure. In Chapter four, the author tries to analyze the research results based on the statistics. Chapter five puts forward some effective vocabulary teaching strategies in order to improve the current situation of vocabulary teaching and learning in Yulin No.10Middle School. Chapter six is a conclusion which generalizes major findings, and summarizes the limitations.