英语专业毕业论文（设计）-中学生词汇学习策略研究.doc

滨滨江学院江学院 学位论文（设计）学位论文（设计） 题题 目目 中学生词汇学习策略研究中学生词汇学习策略研究 院院 系系_花旗营校区花旗营校区_ 专专 业业_英语英语_ 学生姓名学生姓名_某某某某某某_ 学学 号号_12345678_ 指导教师指导教师_贺莉君贺莉君_ 职职 称称_讲师讲师_ 2 二一二一 年年 三三 月月 二十二十 日日 contents 1. introduction - 2 - 2. the back ground of english vocabulary learning. . - 2 - 2.1 the situation of english strategies research. - 3 - 2.2 the meaning of the background. - 3 - 3. the purpose of research english vocabulary learning - 3 - 3.1 the importance of strategies research. - 4 - 3.2 the inspiration of the theory. - 5 - 4 middle school students vocabulary learning typical questions and solutions - 5- 4.1 the difference of middle school students vocabulary learning. - 5-. 4.2 the complex requirement of middle school students vocabulary learning - 6 - 5. strategies for the promotion of vocabulary learning capability. - 6 - 5.1 social strategies. - 6 - 5.2 memory strategies. - 7 - 5.2.1dictionary strategy - 7 - 5.2.2systematization strategy. - 7 - 5.2.3context strategy. - 8 - 5.2.4 grouping strategy. - 8 - 5.2.5conjecture strategy - 8 - 5.2.6 cognitive strategies. - 9 - 5.2.7metacognitive strategies - 9 - 6 .the relationship between strategies and vocabulary size. - 10 - 6.1 students with larger vocabulary size tend to use strategies more intentionally and effectively - 11 - 6.2the more effectively they use strategies, the larger their vocabulary size will be. - 12- 7 conclusions. -13 - references . -14 - 3 a study of middle school students english vocabulary learning jiang yuexing department of english school of language and culture nanjing university of information science without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.” wilkins vocabulary learning is an important aspect of language acquisition. however, it was not until 1970s that research into vocabulary learning began to receive attention and gain development in applied linguistics. laufer (1986) tells us “no text comprehension is possible, either in ones native language or in a foreign language, without understanding the texts vocabulary”. krashen and terell (1983) also clearly indicate that “vocabulary is of prime concern in l2 settings because it plays a dominant role in classroom success”. vocabulary plays a vital part in all aspects of language learning including listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation in my view vocabulary is the basic unit of the language in communication, it is essential for transferring information, and in language learning, it plays an important role in improving students“ language ability. without words there are no sentences, let alone languages. vocabulary learning lays the foundation for english acquisition. if a man has a small capability of vocabulary, he can hardly handle english well. according to the ministry of education, the requirement for middle school students is not low. they should not only know the basic meaning of words, but also can handle the language easily (such as: describe a substance or a concept). however, most students cant fit certain requirements vocabulary learning. some students even hate learning english words. if we highlight the importance of the strategies of middle school students vocabulary learning and take an in-depth study of it, we may help middle school students form some effective vocabulary learning strategies, enable them to have an ability to learn english by themselves. 2. the back ground of english vocabulary learning 2.1 the situation of english strategies research nowadays, most language practitioners hold that vocabulary plays a core role in the language learning. just like what lewis stated, “vocabulary acquisition is the center in the sl l, which plays the most important role.“ therefore, it is of great significance to teach students strategies and make them apply these strategies in vocabulary learning. the study in learning strategies began in 1970“s. many researchers found that learning strategies have positive effect on language 5 learning (rubbin, 1995; oxford, 1990). in china, some researchers and teachers also investigated learning strategies (wen qiu fang, 1995; ma guang hui, 1997; wu xia that is, they have focused on more proficient learners, college students and graduates. strategies used by the high school students are seldom studied. however, as oxford and hsiao (2002, p8) commented, “strategies used by learners at the early stage of their l2 development may somewhat different from those used when these learners are more proficient”. the strategies that high school students use are hypothesized to differ from that of adult learners due to their low language proficiency and cognitive immaturity. 2.2 the meaning of the background the research proves that the most strategies used by middle school students are memory strategies, cognitive strategies and met cognitive strategies. the three strategies have an obvious effect on students vocabulary learning. therefore, it is suggested that vocabulary learning strategies should be arranged into the middle school curriculum, and be taught in the middle english classroom. thus, knowing how high school students use vocabulary learning strategies can provide insights into vocabulary learning and help to promote the awareness of both strategy use and training. 6 3. the purpose of researching strategies of english vocabulary-learning 3.1 the importance of strategies research there is an old chinese saying “give a man a fish, you feed him a day. teach a man how to fish; you feed him for a lifetime”. in the methods of middle school english teaching, we should inspire the students to have their own strategies which are suitable for them deliberately. in a word, it is necessary that teachers should let their students grasp the strategies of learning english words. the gist of english teaching is let the leaner acquire the ability to take charge of his own learning, and acquire the whole language by himself without the help of his teacher. developing the strategies of english vocabulary learning can wider the usage of strategies, enable them to have more effective ways of learning and let them have the ability realization of planning or evaluate their studies. my study based on the research of the strategies of middle school students vocabulary learning is to changing the situation that middle school students feel hard to learn english words. middle school students are the new group of english learning. when they are learning english, their parents and teachers have a very strong influent on them. they learn english because they are curious about it, so they are very kind to accept their english teachers teaching methods and they have positive ideas of english learning. as the middle school students do not have a deep recognition of english learning, they often take the paradoxical choices as follows: some students agree that it is important to acquire a good knowledge of english based on their mother language. the present study, through evaluating learners vocabulary size and analyzing their vocabulary learning strategies, including social, memory, cognitive and met cognitive strategies, as displayed in the questionnaire, is in an attempt to investigate 1)what are the most frequently used and the least frequently used strategies among senior students; 2)how do these strategies affect their vocabulary size. the study thus aims to clarify what strategies are used by the students, and whats more important, how vocabulary learning strategies affect vocabulary size. with the analysis, the study also seeks the pedagogical implications for such language teaching programs as vocabulary instruction, vocabulary testing and material development as well, in hope of raising enough attention of language teachers and learners to vocabulary acquisition. 7 3.2 the inspiration of the theory according to the jean piagets theory, primary school students already know a few strategies of learning. while these are all simple strategies, they cant have a great effect on improving their studies. during the middle school period, the ability of cognizance developed fast and the cognition ways became wider than usual. in the cognitive domain, middle school students can form strategies spontaneously. they choose these strategies and adjust them during their studies, whereas most of them which are not advised by the teacher are useless strategies. such as learning everything by rote，copy their words again and again students spontaneous strategies can transmit into some habits or involuntary movements. if those useless strategies have formed, it is hard to get rid of it. the middle school students are in the prime time of learning strategies, so it is necessary that english teacher help and inspire their students to form the ability of developing their strategies of language learning. vocabulary is the core of english learning. all languages are based on the words, so every language teacher emphasizes most on words. just as d.a.wilkins says that without grammar you can express a few things, while without vocabulary you can express nothing. in some ways the mastery of english words will affect the developing of english reading writing and speaking. by the english curriculum revolution, more and more people know the importance of english strategies learning. in order to let the students acquire the words which they have learned, it is necessary to strengthen the english vocabulary teaching, and we should research on the effective ways to learn english words. hence the students in english learning can be doing half the work; and get double result. words need to be recited, but reciting words should use some effective strategies. 4. middle school students vocabulary learning typical questions and solutions 4.1 the difference of middle school students vocabulary learning compared with primary school students middle school students have a heavy burden of vocabulary learning, they should have the ability to use at least 2000 words. during the school time, they have only little hours to handle these new words. besides, students also have to learn other english course such as: reading, writing, gamma, and so on. therefore vocabulary learning can hardly be finished well if we rely on learning in the school time, the time after school is quite 8 important. after class, many students in order to finishing the target of reciting these words, most of them use the strategy of memorize words mechanically. while few of them memorize the new words depend on the context and connect the new words in their mind. the traditional english learning methods of learning mechanically have twisted the normal english learning belief, it must be changed. so it is practical to research the english vocabulary learning strategies, and to change their english learning mind from emphasizing words memorizing mechanically into communicating in english fluently. we should also reduce the mental burden of middle school students english vocabulary learning. the tough demand of english vocabulary learning and the requirement of college entrance exam form a heavy mental burden, which have a very strong negative effect to middle school students. the over tired study lives of middle school students, should be considered in the english vocabulary teaching. in order to form a positive english vocabulary learning strategy, we may not only consider their inner mind of learning but also let them blaze around in the class. 4.2 the complex requirement of middle school students vocabulary learning the way of vocabulary learning in middle school time is mainly formed by passage reading. it required capabilities of listening, reading, and speaking. learning in middle school is a comprehensive english learning. consequently, the high demand of english vocabulary learning ability make the students feel hard to fulfill their vocabulary learning course. the best way to solve this problem is to set up the right view of english learning belief “english learning belief”. the positive learning belief is the right cognition of learning english vocabulary. ones experience and living circumstance formed the various cognition of learning english vocabulary; we can only know this from his worlds and behaves. so when we want to give students a strategy of english learning vocabulary, we must know students belief of english vocabulary learning and explore the relation between english learning belief and their english academic record. many middle school teachers only emphasis on the teaching of vocabulary, while not helping their students forms the strategies of learning. their students do not know how to learn those large amounts of new words. in order to solve this problem, teach the students to form the modern management idea and the self-learning idea. this idea is the attitude to the learning; this attitude 9 affects our daily learning affairs. by giving students lectures and let them discuss the ideas as fellow: establishing learning aims, valuing english learning steps and judging the importance of the words which they have learned. 5. strategies for the promotion of vocabulary learning capability 5.1 social strategies besides the initial discovery of a word, group work can be used to learn or practice vocabulary (nation, 1977). dansereau (1988) lists some of the benefits various researchers have attributed to cooperative group learning: it promotes active processing of information and cross modeling imitation; the social context enhances motivation of the participants; cooperative learning can prepare the participants for team activities outside the classroom; and because there is less instructor intervention, students have more time to actually use and manipulate language in class. another social strategy, probably infrequently used, involves students enlisting teachers to check their work for accuracy (kramsch,1979), especially flash cards and word lists, since these are commonly used for independent learning outside of class. if input is a key element in language acquisition (krashen,1982), then it would seem that interacting with native speakers would be an excellent way to gain vocabulary. although it would be hard to prove this empirically, there is indirect evidence to support this intuitive assumption. milton and meara (1995) found that one group of non-native speakers enrolled in a british university (presuming a reasonably large amount of native-speaker interaction) averaged vocabulary gains of 1,325 words per six months, compared to an average 275 word gain previously in their home countries 5.2 memory strategies most memory strategies (traditionally known as mnemonics) involve relating the word to be retained with some previously learned knowledge, using some form of imagery or grouping. when a learner learns a new word meaning, he or she will have to keep the word meaning, with its spelling and sound together, in his or her own mind, i.e. to memorize it. there are mainly six kinds of memory strategies as following: 10 5.2.1dictionary strategy all the students should have an english-chinese dictionary in hand. teachers should teach their students how to consult the dictionary. when they have the ability of using dictionary, teachers should inspire them to learn new english by themselves. 5.2.2systematization strategy the developing of systematization strategy is mainly indicating students to systematic the news words, this will help them to remember new words. i take the fist lesson of text book oxfords english as an example. when the teacher asks their students” what does your father do?” he can quote other occupations as sequences. after finishing the lesson teacher can supply other words related to the jobs such as engineer，ceo，office worker，policeman，postman 和 factory，company，post office，police station and so on. teacher can also let their students use the sentence “what does your mother do?” to practice those new words. 5.2.3context strategy guessing an unknown words meaning from context has been widely promoted in the last two decades as it has been seen to fit in comfortably with the communicative approach. guessing from context most commonly refers to inferring a words meaning from the surrounding words in a written text. the considerable research on textual inference shows that it can be a major way of acquiring new vocabulary, but that it also has prerequisites. first, the learner must have a certain level of language proficiency in order to use this strategy, including the ability to decode accurately the orthographical form of new words. the learner must also have adequate background knowledge of the subject and the strategic knowledge of how too effectively go through the inference process. in addition, the context itself must be rich enough with clues to enable guessing, with the most easily utilizable being in close proximity to the target word 5.2.4 grouping strategy. grouping is an important way to aid recall, and people seem to organize words into groups naturally without prompting. in free-recall studies, ll. subjects were given lists of words to study and then recall in any order. typically, words belonging to each meaning category are recalled 11 together, for example, all animals first, before moving on to another category like names (bousfield, 1953).if the words are organized in some way before memorization, recall is improved (gofer, bruce, and reicher, 1966).the above l1 studies show grouping works for native-speakers, and there is no reason to believe it does not do the same for l2 learners. it may work better for more proficient learners, however, as they have been shown to favors grouping strategies more than beginners did. (chamot, 1984, citied in thompson, op. cit.). words can also be grouped spatially on a page in some sort of pattern. bellezza(1983) found that l1 words grouped on the page in the shape of rectan