A Study On Relationship Of Middle School Students' Tolerance Of Ambiguity In Vocabulary Learning With Vocabulary Learning Strategy And Vocabulary Size

Ambiguity is one of the main features of foreign language learning process,during which learners will inevitably face the novel,foreign,unstructured or vague linguistic and cultural phenomenon.Tolerance of Ambiguity(TOA)is one of the most important learner differences which will predict the language learning outcomes to some extent.Meanwhile,for Chinese students,vocabulary learning is a basic step to learn English well.But as English is a totally different language system,some of students always behave nervous or puzzled when meeting new words or ambiguous words,which may negatively influence their English vocabulary learning.According to the previous researches,appropriate choice of vocabulary learning strategy is a good way to help students to alleviate their anxious feeling in vocabulary learning and vocabulary size is one of the central criteria for evaluating one's vocabulary level.So,seeing that the research in this area is relatively rare until recently,this study is to explore the relationship of middle school students' TOA in vocabulary learning with vocabulary strategy use and vocabulary size.And if vocabulary learning strategy has the mediating effect on TOA in vocabulary learning and vocabulary size,students with different levels of TOA can choose appropriate vocabulary learning strategies for enlarging their vocabulary size thus improving their vocabulary level.Therefore,the research questions of the present study are as follows: 1)What is the general situation of middle school students' TOA in vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategy? 2)What is the relationship of middle school students' TOA in vocabulary learning with vocabulary learning strategy and vocabulary size? 3)Does vocabulary learning strategy mediate between middle school students' TOA in vocabulary learning and vocabulary size?To explore the above three research questions,this study chose 226 students from a middle school in Nanchang as the research subjects.Adapted Ely's(2002)Second Language Tolerance of Ambiguity Scale(abbreviated as SLTAS)which only focused on vocabulary learning and O'Malley and Chamot's(1990)Vocabulary Learning Strategy Scale was carried out to investigate students' TOA in vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategy respectively.In the meantime,Schmitt's(2001)vocabulary level test was used to measure the degree of middle schoolstudents' English vocabulary sizes.All these quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS19.0.Furthermore,the semi-interview was applied as a supplementary research instrument with the purpose to have a further understanding of students' opinion on TOA in vocabulary learning,vocabulary learning strategy and vocabulary size.The major findings are presented as follows: 1)Most of middle school students have moderate TOA levels in vocabulary learning and use cognitive strategies more frequently in vocabulary learning.Middle school students with different levels of TOA in vocabulary learning have significant difference in the choice of vocabulary learning strategies and the degree of vocabulary size.2)TOA in vocabulary learning is positively correlated with all dimension of vocabulary learning strategy.Meanwhile,there is a significant positive relationship between TOA in vocabulary learning and vocabulary sizes.3)A partial mediating process happens among TOA in vocabulary learning,vocabulary learning strategy and vocabulary size,which means part of influential effect of TOA in vocabulary learning on vocabulary size is achieved through vocabulary learning strategy,especially cognitive strategy.Middle school students can choose appropriate vocabulary learning strategies to improve their TOA and enlarge vocabulary sizes.Based on the findings of the present study,some implications and suggestions are proposed for vocabulary teaching in middle schools.On the one hand,teachers should nurture learners' optimal level of TOA and cultivate students' awareness-raising of TOA to facilitate their vocabulary learning process.On the other hand,teachers should also provide strategy training for students according to their different TOA levels in daily vocabulary teaching.