A Study On English Vocabulary Learning Strategies In Senior High Schools

English vocabulary learning strategies,as a branch of English learning strategies,refer to the methods and techniques which the learners use in order to learn English vocabulary effectively,including rationalizing English vocabulary learning concepts,planning and managing English vocabulary learning process,and optimizing English vocabulary learning methods.In the past four decades,English vocabulary learning strategies have been widely studied by English teaching experts and researchers both at home and abroad,which has consequently produced fruitful results.However,literature review shows empirical studies on Chinese senior high school students are relatively inadequate.Therefore,it is necessary to do surveys on Chinese senior high school students' English vocabulary learning strategies,trying to find out the problems and improve English vocabulary teaching efficiency.By using questionnaire method,the author surveyed 201(111 boys and 90 girls)Grade Two senior high school students from Penglai.The author tries to answer the following questions in this study:(1)What is the general situation of English vocabulary learning concepts(in terms of rote learning,learning through use and learning in contexts)adopted by the senior high school students?(2)What is the general situation of English vocabulary learning strategies(in terms of meta-cognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and social strategies)used by the senior high school students?(3)What are the gender differences in terms of the vocabulary learning concepts and the vocabulary learning strategies?(4)What is the correlation between the English vocabulary learning strategies and the English learning achievements?Based on statistical analysis,the main findings are as follows:(1)Of the three concepts,“learning through use” is the most popular while “rote learning” is the least popular;(2)Of the three vocabulary learning strategies,they rank in terms of frequency of use from high to low is: cognitive strategies,meta-cognitive strategies and social strategies.Of the four meta-cognitive strategies,students like to use selective attention strategy best,followed by self-evaluating strategy,self-monitoring strategy and pre-planned strategy.Of the seven kinds of cognitive strategies,the most commonly used is guessing strategy,then association strategy,exercise strategy,dictionary strategy,contexts strategy,classification strategy and rote learning strategy.As for social strategies,asking-for-help strategy is frequently used.Cooperative learning strategy is the lowest;(3)T-test shows there are significant gender differences in the application of meta-cognitive strategies and social strategies,especially the latter.And also significant gender differences exist in pre-planned strategy,self-evaluating strategy,contexts strategy,exercise strategy,asking-for-help strategy and cooperative learning strategy;(4)There are significant differences in meta-cognitive strategies and cognitive strategies between high-grade groups and low-grade groups.It is the same with social strategies.In terms of specific concepts,high-grade groups are more inclined to learn through use and in contexts,and the differences are very significant.Low-grade groups are inclined to learn by rote,and the difference is also significant.Of the thirteen specific strategies,ten show significant differences.