中学生英语词汇学习策略研究.pdf

首都师范大学 硕士学位论文 中学生英语词汇学习策略研究 摘要词汇学习是落言学习中的环节，许多外语学习者想通过有效的方法学习目的 语中的词汇。所以，近几年来，语言学家们对词汇学习观念和词汇学习策略进行 了研究。然而，国外的不少研究都局限于对某一种记忆方法的有效性进行探讨；国内的关于词汇学习观念和策略的实证性研究比较少，而且大多以非英语专业的 大学生作为研究对象。本文旨在探索词汇学习策略在中国中学生英语学习中的运用，以及初中生和 高中生在英语词汇学习策略使用上存在的差异。受试者为来自三所中学的315 名学生。他们参与了一份问卷调查，该问卷是参考了 Gu and Johnson(1996)的 问卷改编而成，详细调查了学生在元认知，认知以及情感/社交三个层面上的使 用英语词汇学习的情况。(1)采用SPSS软件分析数据，结果表明参与调查的学 生认为词汇学习是一种单调机械的活动，从中感觉不到学习词汇的乐趣或成就 感；总的来说，他们采用的策略包括认知策略，元认知策略和社交/情感策略在 内的多种词汇学习策略。在三大词汇学习策略应用中，认知策略被较频繁使用，其次是元认知策略，最不常用的是社交/情感策略。(2)初中生和高中生运用了 许多相类似的词汇策略，但其中也有很大差别。如认知策略中的计划和选择注 意策略；记忆策略中的记笔记，查字典，猜测等策略。本文针对以上研究结果逐一分析了原因，并提出了本研究对英语词汇教学的 启发意义。关键词：学习策略，英语词汇学习策略，初中生，高中生，差异AbstractVocabulary is one of the most basic elements of a language.A foreign language learner often tries to find efficient ways of learning vocabulary of a target language.Vxabulary strategies have been studied for decades,with focus either on the overall pattern of vocabulary learning strategy use or on the effectiveness of certain strategies.The present study was a survey study which attempted to explore the overall pattern of English vocabulary learning strategies used by high school students in Handan,Hebei province and their beliefs concerning vocabulary learning.The major goal of this study was to gain a general profile of English vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies adopted by Chinese high school students.A questionnaire,adapted from Gu and Johnson(1996),was administered to 315 high school students from three schools.Students vocabulary learning strategies were investigated at metacognitive,cognitive and social/affective levels.By using SPSS,the analyses of the data revealed the following findings:(1)The analysis of the research data suggests that most high school students tend to view vocabulary learning as a kind of monotonous,mechanical task from which they derive little pleasure and sense of success.(2)The research results indicate that Chinese high school EFL learners tend to employ a variety of vocabulary learning strategies.However,among the three broad categories of vocabulary learning strategies,cognitive strategies seem to be the most frequently used,whereas social/affective strategies seem to be the least frequently used.Metacognitive strategies fall in between.(3)The T-test results suggest that Chinese students in junior and senior high schools share both similarities and differences in how and to what extent they used vocabulary learning strategies.Both groups of investigated students used some similar vocabulary-learning strategies,especially cognitive strategies such as repetition,association,grouping and practicing.And both groups of students used social/affective vocabulary learning strategies less frequently such as communicating with other people,and they seldom used learner autonomy or self-monitoring strategies at metacognitive level.However,compared with junior high school students,senior high school students reported to have employed more metacognitive strategies such as planning and selective-attention and cognitive strategies such as contextualization,guessing,dictionary use and note-taking.This paper analyzes these findings respectively,and suggests some pedagogical implications of the research.Key words:learning strategies,English vocabulary learning strategies,junior high school students,senior high school students,differencesAcknowledgementThe dissertation owes much to all the teachers and professors in the College of Foreign L anguages,Capital Nonnal University,who have helped me with my academic development.Fiistly,my special thanks go to Professor Chen Hong,my supervisor,for all the trouble she has taken in helping me complete the dissertation.Her profound insights and valuable suggestions have guaranteed the reliability of the research and applicability of the findings.The dissertation could not be completed without her patience,valuable advice and careful instruction.Secondly,my thanks should also be given to Professor Wang X iaoping and L iu Beili for their constructive advice and valuable suggestions and persistent encouragement during the preparation of this thesis.Thirdly,my thanks will also go to my husband and my daughter,as well as my parents,without their understanding and help,1 cant complete my study.Finally,my thanks will go to all the students who take part in the research,andto all the authors whose books I have cnsulted in writing this thesis.Chapter One Introduction1.1 Significance of vocabulary learning strategy researchMany second language acquisition researchers recognize vocabulary as central to any language acquisition process,native or non-native.Wilkins claims that“while without grammar very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing can be conveyedM(quoted in Simensen 1998.p227).According to Vermeer(1992.p 147),knowing words is the key to understanding and being understood.The bulk of learning a new language consists of learning new words.From the above remarks,we can see vocabulary plays a key role in the whole process of the second language acquisition and is of critical importance to the second language learners.Harmer(1983)states that language structures make up the skeleton of language,but vocabulary provides the vital organs and the flesh for language.An ability to manipulate grammatical structure does not have any potential for expressing meaning unless words are used.”(Hammer,1983,pl53)Therefore,vocabulary teaching and learning should be a very important component of language teaching and learning and one of the primary tasks in language learning.Vacabulary is also well known for its large quantity in a language.And it is a very active part of a language.It is in a constant state of flux as new words flow in and old words disappear.The mastery of vocabulary not only takes place in classrooms or schools.It is a lifelong process of language learning and people cant learn all the vocabulary of any language.What a language learner can do is to grasp certain strategies to learn the new words.It is noticed that there are great disparities in different language-learners in their strategies of enlarging their vocabularies.So,learners vocabulary learning strategies(VL S)become an increasing topic of discussion fbr researchers,teachers,curriculum designers as well as those who are involved in the second language learning.Most of these studies either fbcuse on the overall pattern of vocabulary learning strategies or the effectiveness of certain strategies.However,they are mostly conducted with undergraduate students or graduate students.There is a lack of empirical study in this area with the students at earlier age.As Oxford and Hsiao(2002,p.8)once commented,“strategies used by learners at the early stage of the L 2 development may somewhat be different from those used when these learners are more proficient.”Thus,this study was conducted to investigate the use of vocabulary learning strategies by Chinese high school students,the students at an earlier stage in EFL learning.A survey was conducted in three high schools in Handan,Hebei Province involving 315 students as the subjects.The research attempted to address the following questions:1 What are the Chinese high school students*beliefs about vocabulary learning?2 What vocabulary learning strategies do they employ in their English learning?3.What are the similarities and differences between junior and senior high school students in the use of vocabulary learning strategies?After finishing investigating these three questions,we can gain a general profile of English vocabulary beliefs and strategies adopted by Chinese high school students.Knowing the similarities and differences between junior and senior high school students,we can make different plans with different students and grades,facilitating our English vocabulary teaching and learning.2IN The layout of the paperThe whole paper consists of six chapters.Chapter One is the introduction of the current research.Chapter Io provides the background of the research.It introduces the related theories and gives a review of the research on vocabulary learning strategies.Following the literature review,Chapter Three introduces the design of the authors research on vocabulary learning strategies.Chapter Four reports and analyses the results of the study.Chapter Five presents the findings and discussion.The last chapter offers the conclusion,the implications and limitations of the research,and proposes some suggestions for the future research.3Chapter Two Literature ReviewThis Chapter provides the background of the study.It will first present the definitions and taxonomies of language learning strategies(L L S)and then highlight the research on the vocabulary learning strategies.2.1 L anguage learning strategiesL earning strategies play significant roles in acquisition of a language.Oxford(1990)indicates that:(1)Strategies are tools for active,self-dirccted involvement,which is essential for developing communicative competence;(2)L earners who have developed appropriate learning strategies have great self-confidence and learn more effectively.Therefore,the knowledge of learning strategies is important because it will facilitate language learning considerably.Most of the early studies of language learning strategies focused on the general approach and specific actions/techniques that the Mgood language learner used to improve his progress in developing L2 skills(for example,R ubin,1975 and 1981;Stem,1975).L ater research tried to systemize findings by grouping the strategies that had been identified into broad classes.2.1.1 DefinitionsAlthough the history of the research on language learning strategies is more than 30 years,there is no agreed definition of L L S.As Dansereau indicated,learning strategies have been broadly defined as any set of operations or steps used by a learner that will facilitate the 4acquisition,storage,retrieval,or use of information(1988).Ellis cites a sample of definitions of language learning strategies(see tablel)as follows.(cited in Ellis,1994,p.531)Table 1 Definitions of language learning strategiesR esourcesDefinitionsStem,1983Strategies are“best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner,leaving techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning behavior.”Weinstein and Mayer,1986“L earning strategies are the behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the learners encoding process.*Chamot,1987“L earning strategies are techniques,approaches or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning,recall of both linguistic and content area information.R ubin,1987“L earning strategies are strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affect learning directly.”Oxford,1989“L anguage learning strategies arebehaviours or actions that learners use to5make language learning more successful,self-directed and enjoyable.”Scholars described a basic framework of strategies from their own research field in these above definitions.However,many of the definitions in Table 1 avoid addressing this issue whether learning strategies are to be seen as conscious and intentional or as subconscious.But Chamot(1987)refers to them as deliberate actions.,Seliger distinguishes ustrategiesM from“tactics”.He defines the former as basic abstract categories of processing by which infonnation perceived in the outside world is organized and categorized into cognitive structures as part of conceptual network“。984,p4)In contrast,“tactics”are variable and idiosyncratic learning activities,which learners use to organize a learning situation,respond to the learning environments,or copy with input or output demands.These descriptions and definitions of learning strategies provide us a rough understanding.In order to understand them more systematically,the characteristics of language learning strategies would be briefly introduced.2.1.2 Characteristics of language learning strategiesAlthough the terminology of learning strategy is not consistent,there are a great number of basic characteristics in the generally accepted view of L L S(OMalley and Chamot,1990;Chamot and OMalley,1994;Oxford,1990 and 1996).First,L L S are learner-generated;they are steps taken by language learners.Second,L L S enhance language learning and help develop language competence,as reflected in the learners skills in listening,speaking,reading,or writing the L 2 or FL.Third,L L S may be visible(behaviors,steps,techniques,etc.)or unseen(thoughts,mental processes).Fourth,L L S involve information and memory(vocabulary knowledge,grammar rules,etc).Although Oxford(1990)reports that strategies are usually employed consciously,she does not highlight consciousness in her deflnition because strategies also can be used unconsciously.Oxford summarizes her view of L L S by listing twelve key features as follows:1 contributing to the main goal,communicative competence;2 allowing learners to become more self-directed;3 expanding the role of the teachers;4 being problem-oriented;5 being specific actions taken by the learner;6 involving many aspects of the learner,not just the cognitive;7 supporting learning both directly and indirectly;8 not always being observable;9 being often conscious;10 being able to be taught;11 being flexible;12 being influenced by a variety of factors(p.9)2.13 Classification of language learning strategiesIn order to understand the L L S more systematically,the classification of learning strategies is necessary.Classification of language learning strategies deserves our attention,for an appropriate classification is the key premise of a valid investigation into the learning strategies.A number of researchers have attempted to develop a classification scheme of language learning strategies(R ubin,1987;Cohen,1990;Oxford,1990).There are literally hundreds of different classifications on L L S.Skehan(1989)identifies three areas common to the early different taxonomies,one is the learners capacity to impose himself on the learning situations examples of how to use a word or an expression.The second general area concerns the learner,s technical predispositions*(such as making judicious use of cross-lingual comparisons,analyzing the target language).The third general area involves the learners capacity to evaluate the information such as correcting errors,testing out guesses.The most representative ones are the systems put forward by OMalley and Chamot(1985),Oxford(1990)and Cohen(1998)(cited in U Junying,2002).2.13.1 OMalley and Chamot、FrameworkIn OMalley and Chamot,s framework(1990),three major types of strategies are distinguished in accordance with the information-processing model:metacognitive strategies,cognitive strategies and social/effective strategies,each of which includes some sub-strategies r such as rehearsal,organization,