An Empirical Study On The Relationship Between Middle Vocational School Students’ English Vocabulary And Reading Comprehension

Vocabulary is the foundation of language, and reading is an important skill in language learning. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are the four important parts of English teaching and learning. Vocabulary knowledge runs through these four parts. And reading is very difficult for most English learners, especially for the middle vocational school (MVS) students. So this brings the field for teachers to research vocabulary, reading and the relationship between them. Both at home and abroad, there have been many researches about vocabulary, reading and the relationship between them. But most of subjects in studies were university students or middle school students. The studies on middle vocational school students were few. Therefore, this present study aims to explore the relationship between middle vocational school students’ (non-English major) vocabulary knowledge and their reading comprehension.This empirical study mainly seeks to answer the following two questions:(1) How do the breadth and depth of English vocabulary knowledge affect MVS students’reading comprehension?(2) To what extent do the breadth and depth of English vocabulary knowledge predict MVS students’ reading comprehension?The subjects of the present study are 56 first-year non-English majors from Anhui Electrical Engineering School. Three tests, a questionnaire and an interview are the research instruments. Three tests are conducted among all the subjects:Breadth of English Vocabulary Knowledge Test, Depth of English Vocabulary Knowledge Test and English Reading Comprehension Test. The three tests’ scores are chosen as the original data. The two vocabulary knowledge tests are treated as the independent variable, while the reading comprehension test is the dependent variable. The research employs software package SPSS 18.0 for analyzing the research questions. Besides tests, the present study also adopts a questionnaire and an interview. The questionnaire is designed based on the form of Senior High School Students’ English Reading Comprehension Questionnaires. The interview questions are designed by the author. Six students from all subjects are chosen to complete the question of this interview.Major results of this present study indicate:(1) The breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are both positively and highly correlated with reading comprehension, and the correlation coefficient between vocabulary knowledge depth and reading comprehension is a little higher than that between vocabulary knowledge breadth and reading comprehension. The relativity between meaning, which is a sub-component of vocabulary knowledge depth, and reading comprehension is marked. Collocation, another sub-component of vocabulary knowledge depth, is also positively correlated with reading comprehension, but the relativity is a little weaker.(2) Both the breadth of vocabulary knowledge and the depth of vocabulary knowledge can predict reading comprehension, but the depth of vocabulary knowledge is more powerful in predicting reading comprehension than the breadth of vocabulary knowledge.The present study assesses the important role of middle vocational school students’vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension. The learners should not just attempt to increase their vocabulary size or master the superficial and basic meanings of words. They should learn to master all aspects of vocabulary. Vocabulary teaching plays a very important role in teaching English, but meanwhile the others factors which affect reading comprehension should not be ignored.