初中生英语词汇学习策略运用的调查与研究硕士论文.pdf

初中生英语词汇学习策略运用的调查与研究初中生英语词汇学习策略运用的调查与研究 2005 级教育硕士：唐珍玉 导师：李 晓 教授 中文摘要中文摘要 语言是交际的工具，而词汇是语言的基本建筑材料。词汇量的增加会为学生 的语言实践提供条件，促进学生语言运用能力的提高。 我国九年义务教育全 日制初级中学英语教学大纲 （2001）认为词汇教学是英语学习中很重要的一部 分，老师们应该有计划地教授一些词汇知识包括词汇学习策略。大纲还规定初中 生要求掌握至少 800 个包括日常生活、学习和交际中所需的词汇以及 400-500 的 认知词汇。 如何优化学习策略、 提高词汇学习效率和扩大词汇量， 逐渐成为 20 世纪 70 年代以来许多学者的研究焦点。 为了有效地了解初中生英语词汇学习策略的运用 情况，作者设计学生词汇学习策略调查问卷，该问卷包括元认知策略、认知策略 和交际/情感策略。通过调查，作者想弄清以下情况：1) 词汇学习策略的使用频 率；2）男女学生使用策略的区别；3）不同年级的学生使用策略的区别；4）学 习策略与学习成绩的关联性。 调查对象为广西师范大学附属外国语学校初中部三个年级的 265 名学生。 学 生问卷采用 likert scale 量表的方法。 调查数据采用 spss13.0 进行分析。 调查结 果显示：1）社交/情感策略的运用频率高于元认知和认知策略；2）女学生在元 认知，认知策略以及社交/情感策略的运用频率上都高于男生；3）不同年级在运 用元认知，认知策略以及社交/情感策略上没有什么区别；4）元认知和认知策略 的运用频率与学生学习成绩成正相关，而社交/情感策略除外。然后在此基础上 形成一些建议，以便教师帮助学生提高词汇学习效率。 英语词汇学习是一个复杂而又重要的过程。 在初中阶段对学生进行学习策略 的引导非常重要，也十分适时，它符合学生的学习需要和心理特征，是培养学生 自主学习能力，提高他们综合素质的重要方式。 关键词：关键词：初中生；词汇；学习策略；问卷调查 a study of the use of english vocabulary learning strategies for junior high school students postgraduate: tang zhenyu superviser: professor li xiao abstract language is the instrument of communication and vocabulary is the building material of a language. the increase of vocabulary will provide advantages for the students language practice and hence improve their language use. in china, the nine-year compulsory education english curriculum standards (2001) clearly argues that vocabulary teaching and learning is one of the important parts in english study and that teachers should teach students some vocabulary knowledge including vocabulary learning strategies in a planned way. junior high school students are required to master vocabulary of at least 800 words and recognize 400-500 of others while doing reading comprehension. since the 1970s, many scholars have focused their research on how to optimize learning strategies to improve vocabulary learning efficiency. by using a student questionnaire of vocabulary learning strategies including meta-cognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies, the writer conducts a survey and tries to find out 1) the frequency of vocabulary learning strategy use; 2) the differences in strategy use between boy students and girl students; 3) the differences in strategy use among the students in different grades; and 4) the correlation between strategy use and learning achievement. the subjects are 265 junior high school students from three grades in foreign language school attached to guangxi normal university. the questionnaire is designed by means of five-point scale. the analyses of the data are revealed by using spss 13.0. the data from the investigation illustrate the result as follows: 1) social/ affective strategies are used more than meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies. 2) girls use meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies more than boys. 3) there isnt much difference among the three grades concerning the use of meta-cognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies. 4) meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies have a positive correlation on students learning achievement while social/affective strategies dont. then some suggestions are given to the teachers on how to help the students improve vocabulary learning efficiency. english vocabulary learning is a complex but important process. therefore, it is vital and timely to offer junior high school students some instructions for vocabulary learning strategies because it meets junior high school students needs, conforms to their psychological characteristics, and develops students self-reliant ability and overall quality. key words: junior high school; vocabulary; learning strategies; questionnaire investigation acknowledgements first and foremost, i would like to show my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, prof. li xiao, a respectable and responsible scholar, for all of her encouragement and valuable guidance in doing the study and writing this thesis. without her help, the completion of this thesis would not be possible. i extend my thanks to all the teachers involved in the postgraduate program in the college of foreign studies of this university, who helped me develop the academic competence. great respect is shown to associate professor, zhou xiaoling, who is so kind that she has given me a great many suggestions on learning strategies and helped me to decide on this research direction. li dan and shi hongyan, two postgraduates in this university, offered me great help. li dan helped me with the pre-test of the questionnaire and shi hongyan helped me to analyze the data collected with spss 13.0. without their participation, the analysis would not be accurate. so, special thanks are shown to them from me. i am also grateful to all my colleagues and students who gave me a lot of help. last but not least, i have an enormous debt of gratitude to my family. my husband shares more of the housework and some teaching experience in training the students with learning strategies. my lovely daughter, a top second-year junior high student, feedbacks the thoughts and opinions regularly of the classmates about their english study, which provide me with inspiration in this study. with their love and support, i have had fewer difficulties in completing the three-year learning and research here. 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1 necessity of the research on vocabulary learning for junior high school students the teaching and learning of vocabulary plays a key role in the overall structure of the language teaching and learning program because of its basic functions in the language components. a heavy concentration on vocabulary acquisition, especially in the early stages of learning, is a prerequisite for later proficiency in the language. it may be the case that mastery of the grammar system depends on there being a critical mass of vocabulary to work with. and vocabulary learning will never stop, even long after the grammar system is firmly going for in place. moreover, a great increase of vocabulary in the new english textbook used in junior high school has made acquisition of vocabulary a more important role in english learning and teaching in junior high school. however, present vocabulary teaching and learning mostly follow the traditional pattern of word lists. vocabulary learning becomes the most difficult part for most language learners and hinders the improvement of other language skills. many junior high school students feel it is hard to learn and remember vocabulary. they often feel frustrated in an attempt to remember the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of english words. and they often forget the words quickly again despite considerable learning effort. in addition, even though they are able to remember some words, they often use them incorrectly or inappropriately. some even give up english learning because of the difficulty in learning vocabulary. why do students have problems with vocabulary learning? what vocabulary learning strategies are they using and are their strategies effective and appropriate? teachers should help students to be aware of the vocabulary learning strategies they are using and develop more suitable and effective vocabulary learning strategies. luckily, lots of high school english teachers as well as educational experts are trying their best to be aware of the variety of methods used by learners to cope with words in order to encourage learners to apply effective strategies, and to introduce some of these through teaching. however, teachers feel it painful to teach vocabulary well and students also think it hard to learn vocabulary well. so making efforts to improve learning strategies is one of the problems to be settled in junior high schools. only by making progress in learning strategies can the current conditions be changed, where students are involved in learning by rote and pattern training mechanically（jin ying, song guiyue, 2003）. faced with such situations, the writer, as an 2 english teacher for many years in a junior high school, began to self-reflect towards vocabulary teaching and learning. it appears that the students who are active in learning words are more self-reliant and responsible for their own learning. they use various methods to learn and make great progress in english. oxford believes that learners who have developed appropriate learning strategies have greater self-confidence and learn more effectively (cited in nunan, 2003: 172). cohen and aphek (cited in nunan, 2003:55) look at the effect of strategy training on vocabulary acquisition. they find that certain techniques do lead to successful acquisition and nation (1990: 174) indicates that among all the strategies used by learners independently of a teacher, ways of learning vocabulary are the most important. by mastering a few strategies, learners can cope with thousands of words. any time spent on these strategies is well repaid. su dingfang and zhuang zhixiang (1996) have also given a good answer to it. they hold the idea that learning strategies can be trained to improve. the teachers duty includes both teaching the student knowledge and how to gain the knowledge, that is, to develop learners learning strategy. in china, there is also an old saying expressing the same meaning: “if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for the lifetime.” it is therefore necessary and urgent to change our traditional teaching approaches and raise students awareness of adopting suitable learning strategies. to meet the needs for social and economic development as well as enhance english teaching effectiveness, chinese ministry of education has enacted the newly issued nine-year compulsory education english curriculum standards. the english curriculum standards claims that the students should be trained with language skills, language knowledge, emotional attitude, learning strategies and cultural awareness for their lifelong education. it also emphasizes that in english teaching, teachers are required to consciously help students develop their own learning strategies and adopt them constantly, which is also one of the important tasks in the english curriculum. based on such a background, attempting to enhance the junior high school students vocabulary learning competence, this paper mainly aims at finding out the vocabulary learning strategies employed by chinese junior high school students so that the teachers may try to help them in a proper way. so a sampling survey on vocabulary learning strategies has been conducted, taking the methods of a questionnaire. its hoped that this study will find out how often the vocabulary learning strategies are used by junior high school students and what relationship there is between the types of strategies used and the learning achievements. then some suggestions will be proposed for the teachers to improve 3 english vocabulary teaching. 1.2 relevant researches of vocabulary teaching and learning at home and abroad its quite clear that all second language learners and their teachers are sure of the fact that learning a second language involves the learning of a great amount of vocabulary. language is the instrument of communication and vocabulary is the building material of a language. a language is not conceivable without vocabulary. “without grammar people cant express too much; without vocabulary people cant express anything (wilkin, 1978:11)”. no matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully he masters the sounds of a second language, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in that language cannot happen in any meaningful way (mccarthy, 1990). many researchers now advocate that learners of english as a foreign language should initially be taught a large productive vocabulary of about 2,000 high-frequency words with the proper strategies to deal with the low- frequency words they meet. in china, the english curriculum standards(2001) gives emphasis to training the students with learning skills, knowledge, emotion, strategies and a synthetical development of culture qualities. it also clearly argues that vocabulary teaching is one of the important parts in english instruction and that teachers should teach students some vocabulary knowledge in a planned way. junior high school students are required to master at least 800 words, about 200 useful expressions and idioms and should have a expandable cognitive vocabulary of 400 to 500. nowadays more and more people in the world agree on the importance of mastering the basic learning skills. it is said that the new illiterate are those who dont know how to learn. recently china has advocated quality education that shifts the focus from teaching to learning in order to develop students learning ability, which is very important for students not only at school but also afterwards. it is simply because a teacher may not always be available to assist and learners need to be able to learn on their own. they do not always have access to the kind or amount of individual instruction they need in order to become proficient in their study. moreover, it is very important to prepare learners for a rapidly changing future in which mastery of the basic skills of learning will be vital for effective functioning in society. many learners consider an inadequate vocabulary to be the main contributor to reading comprehension, writing quality and fluency in speech. they are somewhat apprehensive when faced with the learning of large numbers of words. most of the learners have always shown a keen interest in finding out how words can be best learnt. 4 as the body of information, vocabulary is an important part of the english teaching and learning. however, during a very long time, researches about vocabulary teaching and learning had been ignored, especially during the grammar-translation method period and audio-lingual method period. charter (1987:1450) used to say that vocabulary was an ignored cinderella. only in the 1970s did researches emphasize second-language acquisition and second-language vocabulary learning. cohen (1990), nation (1990), nation secondly, language teachers are needed to teach ways to learn vocabulary in a variety of class activities, and thirdly, teachers need to design interactive and student-generated activities. not until the 1980s did chinese figures begin to research into language learning strategies. however, more and more chinese researchers have made striking contributions to the exploration of english vocabulary. for example, wen qiufang (1996), in her book on english learning strategies, expounds learning strategy system, the innate factors of the system as well as how to coordinate and control other factors affecting strategies selection. wang wenyu (1998) researches into chinese junior students english vocabulary learning strategies at nanjing university, using a questionnaire and a vocabulary test. from his result, he concludes that their vocabulary size is significantly associated with their vocabulary learning strategies. bai renli (1999) introduces several vocabulary acquisition issues explored in western countries. dai manchun (2000) researches on theoretical bases of l2 vocabulary acquisition and dong yanping (2001) deals with the direct and indirect l2 vocabulary learning in the communicative approach. wu xia (2003) researches into the relation between reading comprehension and vocabulary size in high school schools and urges to pay more attention to students vocabulary size. shen nan （2004）, based on the current teaching condition, puts forward five vocabulary teaching principles. at the same time, various useful approaches to english vocabulary teaching, such as 6 teaching words in natural and authentic environment, association, etc. are proposed by liu liqun (2004). ge wenshan claims that memory chunks are greatly connected with english vocabulary instruction (2005). song wenling (2006) examines the problems of inefficient reading comprehension with non-english major college students and tackles the problems with the teaching method of integrating grammatical information into lexical teaching. jin zhe (2006) argues about the connection between systematical vocabulary teaching and vocabulary learning strategies in the colleges, etc. in fact, early in 2000, yao meilin (2000) had a summary of current research trends in the teaching of foreign vocabulary learning strategies and divided them into three stages-its definition and classification, exploration of effective approaches to strategies teaching, and the establishment of models for teaching strategies. however, despite the increasing number of research in vocabulary learning, most of the previous related studies were conducted among the western learners, few dealing with the chinese learners. whats more, the subjects of their research in china are mainly college students. and the researches whose subjects are aimed to high school students mainly concentrate on vocabulary teaching techniques and learning methods, such as wang enqing (2002)，gan bingrong (2001), zhou hesong (2006), etc. as for studies of vocabulary learning and teaching strategies adopted by junior high school students, little has been considered. on the other hand, most of the current researches emphasize on theory analysis and only some of them deal with empirical research. to most of the chinese students, learning vocabulary is the main problem met in the process of english learning. the purpose of this study was to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies used by chinese junior high school learners and their relationship to learni