A Study On The Cognitive Frameworks Of Students’ Vocabulary Learning Strategies In Senior High Schools

Vocabulary learning and teaching has not been paid much attention to by scholars and researchers until late 1970s. The later-on mushrooming researches on vocabulary haven’t brought about the resurgence of vocabulary learning and teaching in some way in our real English classrooms, either. Grammar is still on its day especially in senior high schools in China. Thus how to improve students’ vocabulary competence is what our teaching and learning should focus on. Taking account of the unsatisfactory status quo of our English vocabulary teaching and learning, we are in sore need of exploring vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) profoundly for our English vocabulary teaching and learning.Researches on VLS mainly concentrate on its definition, classification as well as training. Few studies are pertaining to students’ cognitive frameworks of VLS. Based on the information processing theory, the thesis aims to construct cognitive frameworks of students’ VLS in senior high schools. The investigation in this thesis was carried out among first-grade students to answer the following questions:1. What are the differences of VLS between good learners and poor ones?2. Is there correlation between VLS and vocabulary competence?3. What are the causes of students’strategy use?4. How can the cognitive frameworks of VLS assist vocabulary learning?According to the research, there is a positive correlation between VLS and students’ vocabulary competence. In addition, good learners have a better command of their VLS, while the poor ones lack successful experiences of strategy use. A multi-causes mode is often employed by good learners and a relatively single-cause mode of poor ones. The author then tries to explore the cognitive frameworks of students’VLS to explain such findings and to explore effective ways of improving students’vocabulary competence and autonomous learning.