Vocabulary Learning Of English Majors:Its Development And Strategies

Vocabulary acquisition is a step-by-step process. Passive vocabulary (also called receptive vocabulary) and active vocabulary (also called productive vocabulary or the words in practical use) are the two dimensions of vocabulary proficiency. The vocabulary proficiency is, to a large degree, determined by vocabulary learning strategy.In order to study the development and strategies of the vocabulary learning of English majors, we selected three hundred and sixty-eight English majors admitted in2007,2008,2009and2010from Hainan University as the participants and aim to answer the following questions:(1)What vocabulary size (active&passive) do English majors in different grades have?(2)How do English majors’ active&passive vocabulary develop?(3)What are differences in vocabulary learning strategies employed by students in Grade One and in Grade Three?(4)What are the differences of vocabulary learning strategies employed by proficient and less proficient vocabulary learners? This study includes the following steps:(1) Instruments:Words were chosen from the new Teaching Syllabus for English Majors, and were categorized in five bands, namely2000,4000,6000,8000, and8001-13000. There were130questions from the Passive Vocabulary Tests, which comprised130English-Chinese word-translation items. The Active Vocabulary Test were designed by referring to Nation (2001)’s format and comprised80spelling items, provided with context, initial letters and Chinese translation. The Vocabulary Learning Strategy Questionnaire was designed by referring to Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire, version5(VLQ5) of Gu and Johnson (1996).(2) Procedures:The vocabulary tests (including active vocabulary and passive vocabulary) consisted of two parts:one was conducted cross-sectionally among students from Grade One to Grade Four, and the other was conducted longitudinally among students of2009at the end of first, second and third semester. Vocabulary Learning Strategies Survey was conducted among the first and third graders.The results of the present research indicate that (1) there are significant differences among the four grades in terms of passive and active vocabulary size:the freshmen possessing the smallest size, while the seniors having the largest size;(2) English majors’active and passive vocabulary is on gradual rise in the four-year study;(3) the participants’size of passive vocabulary generally fails to meet the requirement specified in English Syllabus for English Majors (2000) and the deviation enlarges with the rise of grades. However, the size of active vocabulary is basically in agreement with the Syllabus requirement;(4) the freshmen study harder than the juniors:they have greater motivation and stronger belief, and are more likely to use strategies;(5) there is no significant difference between the proficient vocabulary learners and the less proficient ones in terms of vocabulary learning strategies except the strategies like meaning-oriented note-taking, use of words list and auditory encoding strategies, dictionary strategies for comprehension.Finally, it is suggested that in the teaching of English vocabulary to English majors, strict rules should be made in the four-year teaching, especially on the cultivation of their study persistency. Besides, opportunities to use English should be provided to force them to guess the meaning of a word, look up dictionary, and take notes, which will efficiently improve their active and passive vocabulary. Systematic training of vocabulary learning strategies will significantly promote vocabulary proficiency.