A Study On Vocabulary Learning Strategies Of Senior High School Students

With the widespread development of English learning in China,many English learners have significantly improved their overall English usage skills,but the lack of English vocabulary is still one of the common problems faced by senior high school students.Despite the fact that they are conscious of the significance of vocabulary learning,they are unable to find appropriate learning strategies to meet the basic need of expanding their vocabulary.In this study,101 students in two classes in the third year of a senior high school in Panjin,Liaoning were selected as the subjects to analyze the main factors affecting their English vocabulary learning and to try to find suitable vocabulary learning strategies.The specific three research questions are as follows.1.What are the main English vocabulary learning strategies that senior high school students use in their daily English learning?2.Which vocabulary learning strategies are more effective in comparison with others?3.How can students be taught to use appropriate vocabulary learning strategies?Through analyzing the results of the questionnaire and the interview in this study,we found that: Senior high school students are still in the stage of vocabulary expansion,and they have gradually accumulated a number of learning strategies in the process of memorizing vocabulary,and they can use cognitive strategies such as management,repetition,word lists,association and context in a timely and effective way.However,they do not use enough English vocabulary learning strategies to expand their vocabulary effectively,and they cannot use multiple strategies for vocabulary learning.The frequency and variety of vocabulary strategies used by students differed by vocabulary size.Vocabulary size is positively correlated with students’ use of vocabulary strategies.To address the above phenomenon,this study proposes effective vocabulary learning strategies,namely: note-taking strategy,dictionary strategy,guessing strategy,mechanical memory strategy,word formation strategy,association strategy,context strategy,and consolidation strategy.Finally,in order to effectively improve the quality of English vocabulary teaching and eventually accomplish the goal of enlarging the English vocabulary and preparing senior high school students to acquire the comprehensive English language skills,students should be trained to apply the appropriate vocabulary learning strategies.English teachers should teach students how to learn from a practical point of view,teach them to use a variety of vocabulary learning strategies and to use them efficiently according to their own characteristics and circumstances.