StrategiesforEnglishVocabularyLearning.docx
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StrategiesforEnglishVocabularyLearning.docx
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StrategiesforEnglishVocabularyLearning
StrategiesforEnglishVocabularyLearning
1.Introduction
1.1Researchbackgroundandpurpose
Withtheopennesstotheworldafterdecadesofisolationandanexplosionincommercial,technological,andculturalexchangeswithWesterncountries,Chinaisexperiencingtransition.Moreover,withChina’sjoiningthemarket-basedglobaleconomy,itsfast-movingworldfinancialmarketsappealtomanyforeigncompanies.ThisfinancialgrowthhasgivenrisetoapressingdemandforlargenumbersofcompetentusersofEnglishinawiderangeofprofessionsandbusinesses.Suchrecentpolitical,economic,andsocialfactorswillhaveagreatimpactonEnglishlanguageteachingandlearninginChina.Hence,howtoimprovelearners’abilityoflearningEnglishinordertomeetnewdemandsseemsimperative.
Inthepast25years,thefieldofsecondlanguageacquisitionhasseenthereemergenceofinterestinoneareaoflanguagestudy,i.e.vocabulary,andtheappearanceofanewlyrecognizedaspectlearningstrategies.Vocabularyisafundamentallyimportantaspectoflanguagelearning.Learningalanguageisjustlikeconstructingabuilding,inwhichvocabulary,thebuildingmaterials,isessential.Vocabularyknowledgeenableslanguageuse,languageuseenablestheincreaseofvocabularyknowledge,andknowledgeoftheworldenablestheincreaseofvocabularyknowledgeandlanguageuseandsoon.Rubin&Thompsononcesaid,“Onecan’tspeak,understand,readorwriteaforeignlanguagewithoutknowingalotofwords.”Therefore,vocabularyisattheheartofmasteringaforeignlanguage.InChina,theimportanceofvocabularyinsecondlanguageacquisitionhasbeengreatlyrecognized.However,teachersputgreatemphasisonexplaininggrammaranddevelopingstudents’readingskill,leavingvocabularytostudentsthemselves.Tostudents,theybelieve,learningawordmeansknowingitspronunciation,spelling,andmeanings,whichcanbememorizeabsolutelybythemselvesiftheywantto.
However,studentscannotachieveahighlevelafterseveralyearsofendeavor,andvocabularyisthemostchallengeandthebiggestheadacheforthem.Hence,vocabularyisbecomingtheneckofabottleinlearningEnglish.AccordingtoNewCriteriaforEnglishCoursesforGeneralHighSchool,students’EnglishabilityafterhighschoolshouldpassGrade8withthedemandofvocabularyis3,500~4,000words,whichissimilartothatofacollegestudent.Facingtothecontradictionbetweenlow-efficiencyofvocabularylearningandhigherrequirementonvocabularysize,teachersshouldrealizethenecessityofvocabularylearningstrategiesandhelpstudentsemploymoreeffectivestrategies,whichwillempowerstudentstocontinuetoacquirevocabularyontheirown.Studentsunderstandtheadvantagesanddisadvantagesofvariousvocabularylearningstrategiesandmastertheeffectivevocabularylearningstrategiestoimprovetheirstudyefficiency.
Previousresearchhastypicallyassociatedhigherproficiencyinthesecondlanguagewithmorefrequent,appropriateandsuccessfuluseoflanguagelearningstrategies,choosingadultsorcollegelearnersasmainparticipants.Nowadays,however,fewstudieshavebeenconcernedspecificallywithmiddleschoolstudents’handlingofnewsecondlanguagevocabularyandhowthisrelatestovocabularyknowledge.StudentsinseniormiddleschoolsaredifferentfromthoseadultsincognitiveprocessesandEnglishproficiency,whichimpliestheymayhavetheirowncharacteristicsinvocabularylearningstrategiesuse.ThepresentpaperextendsexistingresearchbyfocusingonthestrategiesusedbyhighschoolstudentswhostudyEnglishastheirforeignlanguage.ItisexpectedtodrawaclearpictureofvocabularylearningstrategyuseinordertoimprovetheirlearningefficiencyandEnglishproficiency.
1.2Thestructureofthethesis
Theinvestigationofvocabularylearningstrategieshaveimplicationsforimprovingvocabularylearninginjuniormiddleschoolandcreatinginstructionaldesignsthatarestudent-centeredandfosterself-directedlearning.Thepaperwillhelpstudentshaveawarenessoftheirownvocabularylearningstrategieswhichtheyuse.Inaddition,studentswilllearnmoreabouttheirstrengthandweaknessinvocabularylearning.Thisarticleexposestomorestrategiesanddevelopsmoreeffectiveappropriatestrategies.Thewholepaperconsistsoffiveparts.Firstpartisabriefintroductionwhichstatesthebackgroundandthepurposeofthepresentpaper.Parttworeviewsthekeytermsonvocabularylearningstrategies,andalsoreviewsstudiesonfieldsathome.Italsogivessomerepresentativeclassificationofvocabularylearningstrategies.Thethirdparttellsusfivevocabularylearningstrategieswhicharemainlysuggestedinthearticle.Andthenextpartshowssomeothervocabularylearningstrategies.Thelastpartdiscussestheresultsofthestudy,concludesthemajorfindingsandsuggestingEnglishvocabularylearningstrategies.
2.Researchonvocabularylearningstrategies
2.1Definitionofvocabularylearningstrategies
Thedefinitionofvocabularylearningstrategiesderivesfromlanguagelearningstrategies.SchmitadoptsRubin’sdefinitionoflearningas“theprocessbywhichinformationisobtained,stored,retrieved,andusedandextendedtovocabularylearningstrategiesinthefollowingway”.Vocabularylearningstrategiescouldbeanywhichaffectthisratherbroadly-definedprocess.RosaMariaandJimenezCatalandescribeanelaborateworkingdefinitionforvocabularylearningstrategy:
knowledgeaboutthemechanisms(processes,strategies)usedinordertolearnvocabularyaswellasstepsoractionstakenbystudents(a)toretaintheminlong-termmemory,(b)tofindoutthemeaningofunknownwords,(c)torecallthematwill,and(d)tousetheminoralorwrittenmode.Itcanbeinferredthatvocabularylearningstrategiesconcernstechniques,approachesofdiscovery,consolidationandproductionofwords.
2.2Classificationofvocabularylearningstrategies
Anumberofattemptshavebeenmadetoclassifylearningstrategies.Rubin(1981)classifiedthestrategiesintotwoprimarygroups:
directandindirectlearningstrategies.Theformerreferstothosedirectlyaffectinglearningandthelatterconsistingofthosecontributingindirectlytolearn.Meanwhile,Naiman(1978)proposedfivebroadcategoriesoflearningstrategieswithnumeroussecondarycategories.Influencedstronglybythefindingsofcognitivepsychology,O’MalleyandChamot(2001)consideredlearningstrategiesascognitiveskills.Learningstrategieshavebeendifferentiatedintothreecategoriesdependingonthelevelortypeofprocessinginvolved.Theyaremeta-cognitivestrategies,cognitivestrategies,andsocial/affectivestrategies.Meta-cognitivestrategiesarehigherorderexecutiveskillsthatmayentailplanningfor,monitoring,orevaluatingthesuccessofalearningactivity.Cognitivestrategiesoperatedirectlyonincominginformation,manipulatingitinwaysthatenhancelearning.Social/affectivestrategiesrepresentabroadgroupingthatinvolveseitherinteractionwithanotherpersonorideationalcontroloveraffect.GuandJohnson(1996)establishedtwomaindimensionsofvocabularylearningstrategiesfortheirstudy,met-cognitiveregulationandcognitivestrategies,whichcoveredsixsubcategories:
guessing,usingadictionary,note-taking,rehearsal,encoding,andactivating,allofwhichwerefurthersubcategorized.Thetotalnumberofstrategiesintheirstudywas74.Cohenusedsecondlanguagelearnerstrategiestoencompassbothsecondlanguagelearningstrategiesandusestrategies.Hedefinedlearningstrategiesas“learningprocesseswhichareconsciouslyselectedbythelearners”.Languageusestrategiesarethoseusedinproducingthelanguage.Itincludesfoursubsets:
retrievalstrategies,rehearsalstrategies,coverstrategies,andcommunicationstrategies.
2.3StudiesonvocabularylearningstrategiesinChina
Western-basedresearchdoesnotinprincipletellusanythingaboutthelearningofEnglishvocabularybyChineselearners.ThispaperneedsresearchinaChineseculturalcontext.AndsomeresearchersengageingeneralizingvocabularylearningstrategiessuchasZhangye,XingminandZhouDajun.SomeresearchersspecializeinsomeparticularstrategieslikeFanLin,WangqinghuaandWuLilin.MoststudiesonvocabularylearningstrategiesinvestigatedthevocabularylearningstrategiesusedbyEnglishornon-Englishmajoruniversitystudentssuchasthoseresearchers:
Fan&Wang,2002;Gu,1994;Gu&Hu,2003;Gu&Johnson,1996;Wang,1998;Wu&Wang,1998;Zhang,2001.Therearefewstudiesinvestigatingvocabularylearningstrategiesusedbychildrenorhighschoolstudents.
AstudybyYao,WuandPanginvestigatedtheEnglishvocabularymemorizingstrategiesofjuniormiddleschoolstudents.134juniormiddleschoolstudentsinGradeThreeweregivenQuestionnaireofEnglishVocabularyMemorizingstrategiesandvocabularytestswithdifferentdegreesofdifficulty.Theresultsshowedthatroteandgeneralmemorizingstrategieswereusedprimarilyandthegoodstudentswerebetterthanthepoorinchoosingspecificstrategiesforvocabularymemorizingproperly.Thefrequencyandthenumberofstudentswereincreasinginusingmorekindsofstrategieswhenfacingdifficultvocabulary.
Thepreviousstudiesprofilesvocabularylearningstrategiesusedbynon-Englishmajoruniversitylearnersthrowsacomprehensiveinsightinvocabularyteachingandlearnsespeciallyinuniversities.However,fewpeopleconcernwithvocabularylearningstrategiesusedbyhighschoolstudents,somoreempiricalstudiesinhighschoolsareneeded.
3.Themainvocabularylearningstrategies
3.1M
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