英语本科生期末课程论文-我的英语词汇记忆困难和策略.doc

英语本科生期末课程论文论文题目：my english vocabulary memorizing problems and strategies 我的英语词汇记忆困难和策略 课程名称： 英语学习策略 学生姓名： 学号： 院 系： 初 阳 学 院英 语 试 验 班 班 级： 英语113班 序号： 06 任课教师： 职称： 副教授 提交时间： 2011 年 1 月 5 日 成 绩： 目 录abstract11. introduction22. problem i meet in vocabulary learning32.1 failing to memorize english words by a vocabulary book32.2 confused in so many words33. learning a certain amount of vocabulary34. root, stem, base45. affixation45.1 prefixation55.1.1 negative prefixes55.1.2 reversative or privative prefixes65.1.3 pejorative prefixes65.1.4 prefixes of degree or size65.1.5 prefixes of orientation and attitude65.1.6 locative prefixes75.1.7 prefixes of time and order75.1.8 number prefixes75.1.9 conversion prefixes75.1.10 miscellaneous prefixes75.2 suffixation85.2.1 denominal noun suffixes85.2.2 deverbal nouns suffixes85.2.3 de-adjective nouns suffixes95.2.4 noun and adjective suffixes95.2.5 adjective suffixes96. strategies and skills in vocabulary memorizing96.1 organize vocabulary106.2 remembering words by morphological structure106.3 schematic learning106.4 word sets and word associations106.5 learning by lexical phrases116.6 read as much as i can116.7 make vocabulary cards126.8 carry a pocket dictionary126.9 guess the words meaning137.conclusion13works cited14my english vocabulary memorizing problems and strategies lai huaabstract: with the high-speed development of society, english has already become a universal language and learning english is the basic requirement to college students, especially for us english-major students. because vocabulary learning is one of the key factors in english learning, almost every student, including me, face with difficulties in vocabulary learning. and i am always worried and anxious about enlarging my vocabulary, so this paper focuses on my problems and primarily the strategies in vocabulary learning.key words: english vocabulary, memorize16my english vocabulary memorizing problems and strategies cy 2011 (03) (english) lai hua1. introductionall the words in a language make up what is generally known as its vocabulary. the term vocabulary is used in different senses. not only can it refer to the total number of the words in a language, but it can stand for all the words used in a particular historical period, e.g. old english vocabulary, middle english vocabulary and modern english vocabulary. we also use it refer to all the words of a given dialect, a given book, a given discipline and the words possessed by an individual person. english is one of the worlds highly developed languages. naturally the vocabulary is one of the largest and richest. the general estimate of the vocabulary is over one million words.vocabulary is one of the three key factors on language learning. it is the basic to make sentences and express thoughts and meanings, and a key requirement of language communication, so a big amount of stable vocabulary of my own is significant and essential. famous learner wilkin (1972) said that without grammar, very litter can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. lexist mccarthy (1990) said that no matter how well the student learns the grammar, no matter how successfully he masters the sounds of the second language, without words to express a wide range of meanings communication in that language cant happen in any meaningful way.as english major, i really feel the significance of vocabulary learning in language. i am eager to learn english well, so i study hard and try my best to command the language. but i feel puzzled by the big amount of english vocabulary and feel the high pressure of commanding so many words at the first class when i enter zhejiang normal university. english majors are asked to pass tem-4, that is, we must have at least 13,000-16,000 words before we graduate, or, we will not be allowed graduating. but when i took the college entrance exam, i only know about 2000 words, only 1200 of which are high frequency words. there will be great efforts to pay in my way of vocabulary memorizing. in order to solve these problems, many learners and researchers studied very hard, so now there are many achievements solving these problems now. but every english learner has to know which ways that suits him and which method he should adopt in particular period. so many learning and teaching strategies have been written, and it seems impossible for teachers and students to know and use all of them. probably all of them can not work in all contexts. in fact, good language learners use the very same strategies as bad language learners. but know when to use them and its purpose. however, some may work better in efl context than in efl (english as second language) context, and students who need to prepare themselves for academic work but not for those who need english for survival skills. some may work in both contexts. in this section, vocabulary-learning strategies will be explored.2. problem i meet in vocabulary learningin practical learning, college students will meet a lot of problems, for we know that after we enter our universities, one of the main tasks of english learning is commanding large amount of vocabulary. for we know english major ought to know 8,000 words when we are sophomore. others should know at least 4,000 words when they graduate, so the vocabulary memorizing becomes the biggest problem in english learning. it is really a big problem for me to memorize english words. 2.1 failing to memorize english words by a vocabulary booki used to carry a vocabulary book everywhere i went and tried to remember fifteen words every day. but because of the classes, heavy homework and many activities, i didnt manage to fulfill my promise. after this failure, i think that my strategies and skills to command english vocabulary.2.2 confused in so many wordsi think that i know a lot of words. in fact, i didnt really command them, because i dont know how to use them, use them in what kinds of contexts. usually i want to recite a lot of words before exams, they dont analyze them, just try to remember how to spell and what their meanings are as more as i can, but these words will escape from my memory soon. so i cant say that i have already mastered them.3. learning a certain amount of vocabularyalthough the amount of english vocabulary is very big, very few of them are used in native english speakers daily life. like other words in the basic word stock, native ones are most frequently used in everyday speech and writing. its use is perhaps just the opposite of its number. native words in use run usually as high as from 70 to 90 percent. for these high-frequency words, only knowing their literal meaning is not enough, we should master them. what is mastering a word?learning vocabulary is a very complex process. in learning a word, the learner develops the native-speaker-like ability to:(1)understand the word both in written and spoken form;(2)recall it when needed;(3)use it with the correct meaning;(4)use it in the appropriate grammatical form, for example, the rules of verbs, the countable and uncountable of nouns;(5)pronounce it correctly;(6)use it in correct collocations, for example, we all know that “tremble” and “quiver” have the same meanings, but we usually say that tremble with fear and quiver with excitement;(7)spell it correctly;(8)use it at the appropriate level of formality, e.g. workworker, working, workable, workman, workbook and so on(9)know its positive or negative associations,(10) know its culture and its origin, e.g. pen means feather, and for feather we used to write at time.of course, this list is an idealization. in actual efl learning situation, particularly in the case of chinese adult learners, not all the points are essential to everybody, considering their various commitments, time-investment, context, and most important of all, real needs. so we should consider some techniques and strategies appropriate to autonomous vocabulary development. the learner will identify needs, define objectives, obtain materials, select-techniques and evaluate progress. the college students only need to master a certain amount of vocabulary in specific periods and its workable analysis.4. root, stem, basebefore we begin our actual discussion of word-discussion of word-building processes, there are some basic concepts that need clarifying. the process of derivation and compounding involve different word-forming elements affixes and root or stem or base. indeed, some people use root or stem indiscriminatingly on all occasions. but these three terms are not the same, and they denote to a greater or lesser degree different concepts despite the semantic overlapping between them.a root is the basic forms of a word which cant be further analyzed without total loss of identify (crystal 1985).a stem may consist of a single root morpheme as in iron or of two root morphemes as in a compound like handcuff. it can be a root morpheme plus one or more affixational morphemes as in mouthful, understatement. a base is used in this book as an all-purpose term, referring to a form to which affixes of any kind (both derivational and inflectional) can be added.5. affixationaffixation is generally defined as the formation of words by adding word-forming or derivation affixes to bases.5.1 prefixationprefixation is the formation of new words by adding prefixes to bases. prefixes do not generally change the word-class of the base but only modify its meaning. at the same time, for ease of access, the affixes in each set are arranged in alphabetical.5.1.1 negative prefixesa- meaning not, without, opposite to as in apolitical, asexual, atypical, asocial, amoraldis- meaning not, the converse of as in disobey, discredit, disloyal, disorder, disuse, disagreein- (il-, ir-, im-) same meaning as for dis- as in inaudible, injustice, illiterate, illegitimate, irresistible, irresponsibility, improbable, immaturenon- meaning not, a productive affix expressing the idea that a person or thing does not have the qualities or characteristics referred to, as in non-classical, non-smoker, non-violence, non-virtue 5.1.2 reversative or privative prefixesde- meaning reversing the action, depriving of, productive affixes, as in decentralize, demystify, dehumanize, deforestation. it can be fixed to nouns to form verbs, a characteristic absent from most prefixes as in deice, defeater, debug, and decaldis- meaning reversing the action, with verbs as in disallow, dispossess, disunite; also meaning lacking, with adjectives, e.g. disinterested, discoloredun- same meaning as for de- with verbs as in unplug, unlock, unwrap; but meaning depriving of, releasing from in limited use with nouns to make verbs, e.g. unseat, unhorse, unmask5.1.3 pejorative prefixesmal- meaning badly, bad added to verbs, participles, adjectives, and abstract nouns, e.g. maltreatmis- meaning wrongly, astray, added to verbs, participles, and abstract nouns, e.g. misinterpret pseudo- meaning false, imitation, e.g. pseudo-scientific 5.1.4 prefixes of degree or sizearch- meaning supreme, most, with human nouns, e.g. archbishopco- meaning jointly, on equal footing, e.g. cohabitextra- meaning very, e.g. extra-brighthyper- meaning extreme, e.g. hyperactivemacro- meaning large, e.g. macrocosmmicro- meaning very small, e.g. microwavemini- meaning little, e.g. mini-marketout- meaning surpassing, e.g. outliveover- meaning excessive e.g. over-anxioussub- meaning secondary, less important, e.g. sub-headingsuper- meaning more than, beyond, very special, e.g. superhumansur- meaning over and above, e.g. surpassultra- meaning extreme, e.g. ultra-feminineunder- meaning insufficient, beneath, e.g. underpay5.1.5 prefixes of orientation and attitudeanti- meaning against, opposed to, e.g. anti-abortioncontra- meaning opposite, contrasting, e.g. contradistinctioncounter- meaning against, in opposition to, e.g. counter-offerpro- meaning for, on the side of, e.g. pro-student5.1.6 locative prefixesextra- meaning outside, e.g. extra-curricularfore- meaning front part of, e.g. forearminter- meaning between, among, e.g. inter-cityintra- meaning within, e.g. intra-classsuper- meaning above, e.g. superscripttele- meaning distant, e.g. telescopetrans - meaning across, from one place to another, e.g. transatlantic5.1.6 prefixes of time and orderex- meaning former, e.g. ex-husbandfore- meaning before, e.g. fore-wordpost- meaning after, e.g. post-electionpre- meaning before, in advance, e.g. pre-trialre- meaning again, back, e.g. remarriage5.1.7 number prefixesbi-, di- meaning two as in bicyclemulti-, poly- meaning many as in multi-purpose, polytechnicsemi-, demi-, hemi- meaning half as in semi-naked, demigod, hemispheretri- meaning three as in triangleuni-, mono- meaning one as in unisex, monorail5.1.8 conversion prefixesa- added to verbs to produce predicative adjectives, e.g. asleepbe- with nouns to form transitive verbs, e.g. befrienden- (em-) chiefly with nouns or adjectives to create transitive verbs, em- occurring to words beginning with / p, b, m /, e.g. endanger, embitter5.1.9 miscellaneous prefixesauto- meaning self with nouns and adjectives, e.g. autosuggestionneo- meaning new, revived, e.g. neo-nazipan- meaning all, the whole of, e.g. pan-continentalproto- meaning first, original, e.g. proto-horsevice- meaning deputy, e.g. vice-provost5.2 suffixationsuffixation is the formation of new words by adding suffixes to bases. unlike prefixes which primarily effect a semantic modification of the base, suffixes have only a small semantic role, their primary function being to change the grammatical function of the base, i.e. the change of the word class with a slight modification of meaning.5.2.1 denominal noun suffixesconcrete: the suffixes of this group are added to noun bases to produce concrete nouns.-eer meaning skilled in, engaged in, e.g. profiteer-er meaning having as dominant characteristic, denizen of, e.g. teenager-ess meaning female as in empress-ette meaning compact as in kitchenette-let meaning small, unimportant as in droplet-ster meaning involved in as in trickster abstract: the following suffixes come at the end of noun bases to form abstract nouns.-age meaning measure of, process or state, e.g. mileage -dom meaning state, condition, e.g. martyrdom-ery, -ry meaning condition or behavior associated with as in slavery-ful meaning amount contained in, productive, e.g. mouthful-hood meaning state, condition, e.g. adulthood-ing meaning the material of as in tubing-ism meaning doctrine of, practice of as in absenteeism-ship meaning occupation, position, e.g. ambassadorship5.2.2 deverbal nouns suffixesthe following suffixes combine with verb bases to yield largely agential nouns.-ant meaning occupations and participation, e.g. assistant-ee meaning receiver of the action as in addressee-ent meaning a person or thing, e.g. respondent-er, -or meaning doer of the action, e.g. commander, elevator-age meaning action of, instance of as in spillage-al meaning the process or state of as in dismissal-ance meaning action, process, state, e.g. performance-ation, -ition, -tion, -ion meaning process or state of or product of, institution produced by, e.g. realization-ence meaning action, process, state, e.g. adherence-ing meaning action of as in christening; also producing concrete nouns, e.g. building-ment meaning result of as in assessment5.2.3 de-adjective nouns suffixes-ity meaning state or condition, e.g. productivity-ness meaning state or quantity, e.g. roughness5.2.4 noun and adjective suffixes-ese meaning member of, language of, e.g. chinese -an, -ian meaning citizen and language of as in australian-ist meaning adherent to beliefs and behavior, e.g. bassist-ite meaning adherent to, member of, e.g. chomskyite5.2.5 adjective suffixes-ed added to those noun (adj) plus-noun compounds, e.g. pear-shaped-ful meaning full of, providing, e.g. merciful-ish meaning somewhat like, approximately, e.g. snobbish-less meaning without, e.g. nameless-like meaning like, e.g. animal-like-ly meaning having the quantities of, e.g. deathly-y meaning somewhat like, characterized by, e.g. smoky6. strategies and skills in vocabulary memorizingaccording to my problems in vocabulary memorizing, through the research and my own opinions, i found some strategies and skills. the following may be suitable for me. 6.1 organize vocabulary we can also organize vocabulary in connection with grammatical categories ad collocations. take health symptoms for example. this semantic field includes words and expressions like: headache, backache, stomachache, toothache, earache, sore throat, cough, temperature; pain in the chest/leg; sick, ill, faint, dizzy, etc. these word associations will facilitate retention. 6.2 remembering words by morphological structureremembering words by morphological structure is very helpful as well. if one sees the word friend, she/he may try, by association, to make a list like: friendly, friendliness, unfriendly, unfriendliness, friendless, friendlessly, friendship. these different forms are derived from the s