A Study On English Vocabulary Learning Strategies Based On Cognitive Lexicology

Vocabulary teaching is an important part of English Teaching in Higher Vocational colleges. In recent years, scholars from at home and abroad have conducted a lot of research on the vocabulary learning strategies, which proves that the mastery of vocabulary learning strategies does help the vocabulary learning. Therefore, the correct choice of vocabulary learning strategies has a profound impact on the improvement of English proficiency. However, the higher vocational students generally have weaker foundations for English, thus it becomes one of the challenges for vocational colleges to enhance the student’s understanding and mastery of vocabulary. It is very important to study vocabulary learning strategies and apply it to the whole process of vocabulary teaching.Based on O ’ Malley and Chamot’s vocabulary learning strategy theory, this thesis attempts to guide vocational college English vocabulary learning strategies from the perspective of cognitive lexicology.This study was carried out around there major questions:1) Compared with traditional vocabulary teaching method, is the application of vocabulary learning strategies based on cognitive lexicology theory more effective?2) How can the application of cognitive lexicology theories to English vocabulary teaching enhance the vocabulary learning autonomy of higher vocational school students?3) How can we apply cognitive lexicology theory in English vocabulary teaching in higher vocational colleges to expand students’ vocabulary size and depth?Based on vocabulary learning strategy theory, the author designs a questionnaire about English vocabulary learning strategies of vocational college and made an investigation into the English vocabulary learning strategies of 83 students in JMI. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 12.0 software. The author probed into the existing problems in the way of reflections and summary. Then, an experimental research of 12 weeks was conducted with two parallel classes as its researching subjects,which were divided into an EC and a CC. Based on the comparison of pre-test and post-test, the thesis systematically studies the correlation between vocabulary strategies and vocabulary acquisition under the guidance of cognitive lexicology theory. The interview serves as explanation and supplement for the questionnaire, attempts to provide an empirical basis for the rational and effective use of vocabulary learning strategies for Vocational College students.The empirical findings are as follows:(1) After 12 weeks of empirical study, the results of the experimental class and the control class were significantly different. Compared with the traditional teaching methods, the improvement of the experimental class is more obvious, and it is proved that the vocabulary learning strategies under the guidance of cognitive lexicology are more effective for students.(2) By dividing vocabulary category practice, taking notes and doing after-class exercises,teacher develop students’ ability to use their own strategies autonomously. The author conducted questionnaire surveys before and after the experiment. The results demonstrated a remarkable fact that the students in the EC showed greater autonomy than those in the CC, which indicated that the integration of cognitive lexicology theories into the vocabulary learning can develop students’ autonomy for English vocabulary learning of higher vocational school students.(3) In the empirical teaching, teachers focus on the comprehensive application and demonstration of several strategies, such as using the basic category to understand the upper and lower categories, using prototype theory to enhance the ability to understand similar category words, using metaphor and metonymy to strengthen the understanding of polysemous words, etc.The statistical data of the pre-test and post-test shows that after a semester of English vocabulary learning, both the vocabulary quantity and quality of the two classes had been improved, but the experimental class represented a more obvious raise, which showed that the efficient application of cognitive lexicology theories to vocabulary learning can not only enlarge students’ vocabulary size but also enhance their vocabulary depth.All in all, vocabulary learning strategies based on the cognitive lexicology theories in this study can be applied and proved to be more effective by vocational school students on improvement of their English vocabulary acquisitionBased on the major finding, some implications have been proposed to suggest for English vocabulary learning. First of all, based on categorized prototype, teachers should offer more detailed explanation on the deep relationship among words. Secondly, teachers should help students to establish the vocabulary image schema thinking mode and construct the relationship between known knowledge and new words. Thirdly, teachers should cultivate students’ metaphorical thinking ability.Finally, the teacher should carry on the systematic vocabulary learning strategy training to the students,combine the memory strategy and the application strategy organically, improve the students’understanding and application of the breadth and depth of vocabulary.This thesis analyzes these findings respectively. On one hand, thesis enriches the theory of English vocabulary learning strategies, especially for higher vocational college students. On the other hand, it tries to give some pedagogical implication on how to teach and learn to the English teachers and English learners.