A Study On Adult’s English Vocabulary Learning Strategies Based On Vocabulary Acquisition Of Second Language

Vocabulary, which is fundamental in second language acquisition, plays a crucial role inthe process of English learning. However, learners always come across some problems in theprocess of vocabulary learning. Studies indicate that English vocabulary learning strategies canhelp for learners to master a great number of vocabularies. In recent years, scholars from athome and abroad have conducted a lot of researches on the vocabulary learning strategies,which further proves that the mastery of vocabulary learning strategies does help thevocabulary study. It is a pity that most researches have directed at the students at colleges oruniversities and students of elementary education. And researchers pay little attention to thestudy of adult students. Thus, according to the theory of vocabulary learning strategies ofO’Malley and Chamot, the thesis mainly investigates the following two questions, focusing onthe adult students as subjects of study:(1) What is the overall pattern of the adult students’ application of the EVLS?(2) How does the mastery of EVLS relate to the vocabulary learning?The main research instruments in the thesis are questionnaire and vocabulary tests. Thequestionnaire is administered to80adult students in Jinan Radio and Television University andthey are divided into two groups, experimental group and control group. In the beginning, thequestionnaire is designed to identify the overall pattern of the application of the EVLS, thefrequency of the English vocabulary learning strategies used by the adult students. At the sametime, the vocabulary pretest is done by the students in both the experimental and control group.After the pretest, the adult students in the experimental group receive a two months’ EVLStraining. After the training, a vocabulary posttest is carried out in both two groups. Then acomparison can be made between the products of vocabulary pretest and posttest.By using SPSS, the results of the questionnaire shows that among the three dimensions ofvocabulary learning strategies, cognitive strategies are used more frequently than themetacognitive and social/affective strategies. The application of metacognitive strategies rankssecond. And the social/affective strategies are used least frequently among the three dimensions.In general, the adult students tend to repeat the words so that they can learn them by heart. When they come across new words, they primarily try to guess the meaning first. If the strategyof guessing fails, the adult learners will then refer to the dictionary. Adult students try tointegrate the task of vocabulary learning with daily life. Their vocabulary learning extends fromthe classroom to the daily life. The comparison between the experimental and control groupbefore and after the training reveals that there is a positive correlation between the mastery ofEVLS and the vocabulary learning. Thus, we can conclude that the mastery of Englishvocabulary learning strategies does benefit the English vocabulary learning.This thesis analyzes these findings respectively. On one hand, thesis enriches the theory ofEnglish Vocabulary Learning Strategies, especially for adult students. On the other hand, it triesto give some pedagogical implications on how to teach and learn to the English teachers andadult students in Jinan Radio and Television University.