A Study Of Relationship Between Vocabulary Learning Strategies And Vocabulary Size Of Science And Engineering Postgraduates

Vocabulary is the basic building blocks of language. The present study aims to obtain an overall pattern of science and engineering postgraduates’ vocabulary learning strategies and the general state of their vocabulary size, and to explore the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size.Seventy-four first-year science and engineering postgraduates from Beijing Institute of Technology(BIT) took part in the study. Multiple research approaches were utilized in the study, including a vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire, a vocabulary size test and interviews. Seventy-four students participated in the questionnaire survey and the vocabulary size test, and four students were interviewed. The instruments included a vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire which was adopted by combining Gu and Johnson’s vocabulary learning questionnaire with O’Malley and Chamot’s classification of language learning strategies, and a vocabulary size test borrowed from Nation and Beglar’s Vocabulary Size Test. Another instrument was interview which was conducted after the data analysis of the questionnaire. Four participants were selected for the interview taking into account their vocabulary size.The major findings of the present study are as follows. First, with regard to the use frequency of the three major vocabulary learning strategies by science and engineering postgraduates in BIT, the sequence is cognitive strategies > metacognitive strategies > social/affective strategies. Second, the general state of vocabulary size of science and engineering postgraduates in BIT is larger than 7,000 word families, which is large enough for dealing with a large range of unsimplified written or spoken texts successfully. And finally, most of the vocabulary learning strategies are positively correlated with vocabulary size. All metacognitive strategies and social/affective strategies are positively correlated with vocabulary size. The majority of the cognitive strategies is positively correlated with vocabulary size, except visual repetition strategy and imagery strategy.The present study puts forward some pedagogical implications for vocabulary teaching and learning. As for the teachers, they are suggested to help students establish correct vocabulary learning beliefs and get into good vocabulary learning strategies. As for the students, they are advised to seize more opportunities to practice various vocabulary learning strategies in their learning process. At the end of the thesis, some limitations of the present study are pointed out and some suggestions for future research are put forward.