Effectiveness Of VMA Based On MALL On College English Vocabulary Learning

Considered as one of the three major factors of language, vocabulary plays an irreplaceable role in communication. Since the day that English was designated as a compulsory course, Chinese students have been perplexed by vocabulary learning. And there is no wonder that this puzzle has become the key concern in scholars and educators’ researches, meanwhile teaching staff devotes sedulously to exploring efficient methods of English vocabulary learning time and again through actual teaching process. At the same time, the omnipresent coverage of network and extensive popularity of mobile devices create a mobile learning model of learning anywhere and anytime to students. It is the favorable conditions mentioned above drive the MobileAssisted- Language-Learning(MALL)to be a hit field in research of EFL teaching and learning.However, there is a lack of empirical studies in mobile vocabulary learning at home, based on theories of vocabulary learning and interactive learning as well as qualitative and quantitative analysis, the paper aims to investigate the following three questions:(1) What are the general views of students about VMA based on MALL?(2) Is the method of learning English vocabulary by VMA based on MALL more effective than traditional vocabulary learning?(3) What is the correlation between the adoption of VMA based on MALL and learning achievement?To answer the above questions, the author chose two classes(a total of 100 participants) with similar proficiency level of English from a university in Henan Province, in order to reduce experimental error. Quantitative data is gathered from scores of pre-test, post-test and delayed-test as well as some questions in the questionnaire, aimed at finding answers to the latter two research questions; while qualitative data is gathered from open-ended questions in the questionnaire and is used to analyze students’ general view of vocabulary memorization applications based on MALL.The results indicate that most of the participants in the experimental group hold a positive attitude toward VMA, and they are willing to make use of VMA as an auxiliary tool to acquire vocabulary in spare time. Nevertheless, they point out the disadvantages of the application and give advices on the improvement. Moreover, the method of learning vocabulary by VMA based on MALL is more effective than traditional vocabulary learning and there is a positive correlation between the adoption of VMA and learning achievement.The research has some implications for college English vocabulary teaching and learning: firstly, teachers should learn from the various learning modes of VMAs to animate the class and inspire vocabulary learning motivation of students. Besides, teachers should adopt situational teaching method to teach vocabulary and instill the idea of learning anywhere and anytime into students’ minds. Secondly, students should make reasonable use of fragmented time to acquire vocabulary and combine the adoption of VMAs with reading materials in vocabulary learning. Moreover, students should make a vocabulary learning plan consisted of daily workload to reduce memorizing pressure.