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【摘要】This thesis analyzes the difference between vocabulary learning in China and aboard. In the same time, how to study English effective is the research too.
【關键词】Vocabulary Vocabulary-Learning Strategies
【中图分类号】G642【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）04-0078-02
1 Introduction
Research Background:With the development of the English education, the traditional English teaching which the teacher pay more attention on the textbook and ignore the cultural background of English is superseded by “education for all-round development”. English has assumed a more important role, and vocabulary, as some argue, plays the central role in learning a second language. （Lewis, 1993: 98）
In studying English, on the one hand, vocabulary is the base for language study. Vocabulary learning is playing a fundamentally important and active role in language study. Krashen said: “when students travel, they do not carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries.”（Lewis, 1993: 122）Wilkins had said, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”（Wilkins, 1972: 68）In a word, one’s English level mostly depends on the mastery of vocabulary: the more vocabulary one owns, the more easily is it possible for her/him to express better, so that to improve the ability of reading.
2 Literature Review on Learning Strategies
2.1 The Definition of Learning Strategy:The concept of strategy is a somewhat fuzzy one, and not easy to tie down. There we settled for a general definition a strategy consisted of mental or behavioral activity related to some specific stage in the overall process of language acquisition or language use.
It is useful to distinguish two types of learning strategy: language learning strategies and skill learning strategies. The language learning strategy defined by Tarone, are concerned with the learners’ attempts to master new linguistic and sociolinguistic information about the target language. The latter are concerned with the learners’ attempts to become skilled listeners, speakers, readers, or writers. Research on learning strategies has been inspired in cognitive psychology and second language acquisition. Learning strategies act significant roles in the acquisition of a language. The knowledge of learning strategies is important because it will facilitate language learning considerably. （Rod Ellis, 1994: 530）
2.2 The Current Situation of Vocabulary Learning:At present, researchers and teachers pay more attention on vocabulary learning. There are an increasing number of studies on it. However, vocabulary learning is still considered to be time-consuming and low effective, and there are still some misunderstandings in teaching and learning. One side, most of the students are lack of skills for judging the meaning of the strange words. On the other hand, the teacher teaches too much knowledge of words, but neglects putting them into practice, especially in vocabulary teaching. Many teachers just ask the students to recite and remember the strange words, and do not know how to organize students to use the strange words in writing, speaking and reading. So it is not easy for students to digest and absorb the words in time. The students’ attitude to vocabulary learning is greatly affected by their teachers. Thus they may not know how to learn outside classroom when they spend much of their time learning English. Badly, the students will forget the strange words very soon, while remembering them. Once they meet with the strange words, they always turn to the dictionary instead of judging the meaning according to the whole context or other common rules.
2.2.1 Studies of Vocabulary Learning Abroad:Research into the area of language strategies began in earnest in the 1970s at part of the movement away from a predominantly teaching oriented perspective, to one which included interest in how the actions of learners might affect their acquisition of language. Techniques, methods and strategies in vocabulary learning: such aspects of vocabulary are now attracting researchers’ attention. There are a large number of articles in this field. Allen in Guidelines for vocabulary teaching gave some useful method of vocabulary learning, such as: learning the usages of words in situation and context, encouraging students to guess words in context and make good use of their background knowledge. （Norbert Schmitt, 2002: 199）
2.2.2 Studies of Vocabulary Learning in China:Comparing with aboard, it has a shorter history in vocabulary learning. The researches do not have increasingly been done until the significance of vocabulary instruction has been accepted. Nowadays, vocabulary study is developing rapidly and vocabulary learning has been done into its own. Many aspects of vocabulary learning have effectively been concerned about. Techniques, methods and strategies in vocabulary learning: in recent years, more and more voice has come to this aspect of vocabulary. The neglect to vocabulary teaching and learning in the past and the dull methods in the English classrooms have made vocabulary learning time-consuming and less effective, thus lowering students’ interest in vocabulary learning and even in the English language. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to influence the English classroom in various, scientific and effective ways to promote students and teachers’ interest in vocabulary, thus have a better effect on language learning （Li Ying, 1998 Liang Xiaobo, 2002）
Vocabulary memorization and vocabulary learning: great attention is being paid to this well received aspect of vocabulary instruction. To learn vocabulary means to memorize it and use it. How can a large amount of vocabulary be learned, remembered, maintained and retrieved？ Why are learners always forgetting the words they have learned？ Is the rote memorization a usual and useful way to remember words？ Can words be obtained, maintained and retrieved in different ways and in various situations？ A large number of articles come to this most concerned topic, as the significance of vocabulary has been realized. （Hu Chundong, 1990: 152 Cheng Gong, 1990: 76）
In fact, the researchers emphasize that learning language without culture backgrounds means learning not its spirit but its appearance. Most of the words occur with the special context. A word has its special connotation in special contexts. In addition, more aspects of vocabulary have been concerned. Researchers are also given more attention on excises of vocabulary, principles, problems and issues, and mental processes involved in vocabulary.
3 Research on Vocabulary-Learning Strategies
3.1 Importance of Vocabulary Learning Strategies:When learning a language, learner needs to develop their own strategies. By choosing the most suitable ones, learners could learn more efficiently rather than being used individually. Individual learner’s learning differences are a crucial aspect in vocabulary learning strategies, as good learners in particular vary enormously in their choice of strategies and tend to use a wide variety of strategies in combination, which particular strategies are and used depends heavily on the learner’s type and individual differences in learning style （Heimbach, 1993: 116） Vocabulary learning strategies constitute a subclass of language learning strategies. Oxford, one of the learning researchers in the language learning strategies field, indicates that （1） strategies are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence （2） learners who have developed appropriate learning strategies have greater self-confidence and learn more effectively. （Oxford, 1990: 121）
3.2 Vocabulary learning in the academy college:College students, who have learned English for several years in junior high school, should have the studying method of their own they urgently hope to extend the English vocabulary, and to practice using what they have learned in listening, speaking, reading and writing as freely as they wish. They also want to work hard at growing of English vocabulary and be well prepared for the further study when they rise into the university years later. Zhu Jufen’s （2003） findings show that when students are asked to choose which item they have gained most in their English studies, the order is: “grammar” （39.83%）, “reading” （27.12%）, “listening” （14.41%）, “vocabulary” （11.2%）, “writing” （7.63%）. Beside, when students are asked to choose the most difficult item they faced with in current college English study, their answers are, “vocabulary” （67.8%）, “listening”（20.34%）, “reading” （8.47%）, “grammar”（2.94%）, “writing”（0.85%）.
4 The Factors Influencing the Strategies
4.1 Teachers’ Factor:In this program, what the teachers have done include the following aspects: explaining the importance of strategy and concept of the strategy giving lectures on each type of strategy use, modeling on how to employ each type of strategy. The teachers make students aware of the purpose of the strategy and how successful reader use it to actively monitor, regulate, and make sense out of the context, creating in students an awareness and a conscious realization of the function and utility of using the strategies.
4.2 Students’ Factor:Eventually, the students play the principal role and the teachers are only the instructors. Whether the students can make good use of these strategies effectively depends on greatly the students’ condition. Their habit of thinking takes an effect in the study of vocabulary. We can easily found that the low English level students do not concern about the strategies, they believe that it is useless to spend much time on research the strategies. On the contrary, the high level students have more vocabulary range and have a better understanding of the use of the strategies.
5 Conclusion
The long-neglected issue of vocabulary acquisition is currently receiving attention in the field of vocabulary learning, and it has become the heavy burden for senior high school students in their English study because most of them lack of the effective strategies in vocabulary acquisition. However, the students do not have a clear understanding of how to go about really learning vocabulary. The teacher can deal with these kinds of problem. Of course, to be the teacher, they should also need to hold different practice of the strategies in order to improve the English level of the students.
Bibliography
Heimbach, R. （1993）. The Effect of Interaction on the Acquisition of New Lexical Items. Kingdergarten E.S.L.Learners
Lewis, M. 1993. The Lexical Approach. Hove and London, English: Language Teaching Publications.
Nyikos, M. & Oxford, R. 1993. A Factor Analytic Study of Language-Learning Strategy Use: Interpretations from information - processing theory and social psychology. Modern Language Journal, 77/1:11-22.
Oxford, R. （1990）. Language Learning Strategies: What every teacher should know. Newbury House.
Rod Ellis, M. 1994. The Study of Second Language Acquisition.上海:上海外語教育出版社.
Stern, H. H. 1975. The Canadian Modern Language Review.31, 304-318.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Norbert Schmitt, N. & Michael McCarthy, M. 2002. Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. 上海:上海外语教育出版社.
Wilkins, DA. （1972）. Linguistic in Language Teaching. London: Edward Arnold.
程工.（1999）.语言共性论.上海：上海外语教育出版社.
胡春洞.（1990）.英语教学法.北京：高等教育出版社.
梁晓波.认知语言学对英语教学启示.外语与外语教学.2002,（2）35-39.
【關键词】Vocabulary Vocabulary-Learning Strategies
【中图分类号】G642【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128（2011）04-0078-02
1 Introduction
Research Background:With the development of the English education, the traditional English teaching which the teacher pay more attention on the textbook and ignore the cultural background of English is superseded by “education for all-round development”. English has assumed a more important role, and vocabulary, as some argue, plays the central role in learning a second language. （Lewis, 1993: 98）
In studying English, on the one hand, vocabulary is the base for language study. Vocabulary learning is playing a fundamentally important and active role in language study. Krashen said: “when students travel, they do not carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries.”（Lewis, 1993: 122）Wilkins had said, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”（Wilkins, 1972: 68）In a word, one’s English level mostly depends on the mastery of vocabulary: the more vocabulary one owns, the more easily is it possible for her/him to express better, so that to improve the ability of reading.
2 Literature Review on Learning Strategies
2.1 The Definition of Learning Strategy:The concept of strategy is a somewhat fuzzy one, and not easy to tie down. There we settled for a general definition a strategy consisted of mental or behavioral activity related to some specific stage in the overall process of language acquisition or language use.
It is useful to distinguish two types of learning strategy: language learning strategies and skill learning strategies. The language learning strategy defined by Tarone, are concerned with the learners’ attempts to master new linguistic and sociolinguistic information about the target language. The latter are concerned with the learners’ attempts to become skilled listeners, speakers, readers, or writers. Research on learning strategies has been inspired in cognitive psychology and second language acquisition. Learning strategies act significant roles in the acquisition of a language. The knowledge of learning strategies is important because it will facilitate language learning considerably. （Rod Ellis, 1994: 530）
2.2 The Current Situation of Vocabulary Learning:At present, researchers and teachers pay more attention on vocabulary learning. There are an increasing number of studies on it. However, vocabulary learning is still considered to be time-consuming and low effective, and there are still some misunderstandings in teaching and learning. One side, most of the students are lack of skills for judging the meaning of the strange words. On the other hand, the teacher teaches too much knowledge of words, but neglects putting them into practice, especially in vocabulary teaching. Many teachers just ask the students to recite and remember the strange words, and do not know how to organize students to use the strange words in writing, speaking and reading. So it is not easy for students to digest and absorb the words in time. The students’ attitude to vocabulary learning is greatly affected by their teachers. Thus they may not know how to learn outside classroom when they spend much of their time learning English. Badly, the students will forget the strange words very soon, while remembering them. Once they meet with the strange words, they always turn to the dictionary instead of judging the meaning according to the whole context or other common rules.
2.2.1 Studies of Vocabulary Learning Abroad:Research into the area of language strategies began in earnest in the 1970s at part of the movement away from a predominantly teaching oriented perspective, to one which included interest in how the actions of learners might affect their acquisition of language. Techniques, methods and strategies in vocabulary learning: such aspects of vocabulary are now attracting researchers’ attention. There are a large number of articles in this field. Allen in Guidelines for vocabulary teaching gave some useful method of vocabulary learning, such as: learning the usages of words in situation and context, encouraging students to guess words in context and make good use of their background knowledge. （Norbert Schmitt, 2002: 199）
2.2.2 Studies of Vocabulary Learning in China:Comparing with aboard, it has a shorter history in vocabulary learning. The researches do not have increasingly been done until the significance of vocabulary instruction has been accepted. Nowadays, vocabulary study is developing rapidly and vocabulary learning has been done into its own. Many aspects of vocabulary learning have effectively been concerned about. Techniques, methods and strategies in vocabulary learning: in recent years, more and more voice has come to this aspect of vocabulary. The neglect to vocabulary teaching and learning in the past and the dull methods in the English classrooms have made vocabulary learning time-consuming and less effective, thus lowering students’ interest in vocabulary learning and even in the English language. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to influence the English classroom in various, scientific and effective ways to promote students and teachers’ interest in vocabulary, thus have a better effect on language learning （Li Ying, 1998 Liang Xiaobo, 2002）
Vocabulary memorization and vocabulary learning: great attention is being paid to this well received aspect of vocabulary instruction. To learn vocabulary means to memorize it and use it. How can a large amount of vocabulary be learned, remembered, maintained and retrieved？ Why are learners always forgetting the words they have learned？ Is the rote memorization a usual and useful way to remember words？ Can words be obtained, maintained and retrieved in different ways and in various situations？ A large number of articles come to this most concerned topic, as the significance of vocabulary has been realized. （Hu Chundong, 1990: 152 Cheng Gong, 1990: 76）
In fact, the researchers emphasize that learning language without culture backgrounds means learning not its spirit but its appearance. Most of the words occur with the special context. A word has its special connotation in special contexts. In addition, more aspects of vocabulary have been concerned. Researchers are also given more attention on excises of vocabulary, principles, problems and issues, and mental processes involved in vocabulary.
3 Research on Vocabulary-Learning Strategies
3.1 Importance of Vocabulary Learning Strategies:When learning a language, learner needs to develop their own strategies. By choosing the most suitable ones, learners could learn more efficiently rather than being used individually. Individual learner’s learning differences are a crucial aspect in vocabulary learning strategies, as good learners in particular vary enormously in their choice of strategies and tend to use a wide variety of strategies in combination, which particular strategies are and used depends heavily on the learner’s type and individual differences in learning style （Heimbach, 1993: 116） Vocabulary learning strategies constitute a subclass of language learning strategies. Oxford, one of the learning researchers in the language learning strategies field, indicates that （1） strategies are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence （2） learners who have developed appropriate learning strategies have greater self-confidence and learn more effectively. （Oxford, 1990: 121）
3.2 Vocabulary learning in the academy college:College students, who have learned English for several years in junior high school, should have the studying method of their own they urgently hope to extend the English vocabulary, and to practice using what they have learned in listening, speaking, reading and writing as freely as they wish. They also want to work hard at growing of English vocabulary and be well prepared for the further study when they rise into the university years later. Zhu Jufen’s （2003） findings show that when students are asked to choose which item they have gained most in their English studies, the order is: “grammar” （39.83%）, “reading” （27.12%）, “listening” （14.41%）, “vocabulary” （11.2%）, “writing” （7.63%）. Beside, when students are asked to choose the most difficult item they faced with in current college English study, their answers are, “vocabulary” （67.8%）, “listening”（20.34%）, “reading” （8.47%）, “grammar”（2.94%）, “writing”（0.85%）.
4 The Factors Influencing the Strategies
4.1 Teachers’ Factor:In this program, what the teachers have done include the following aspects: explaining the importance of strategy and concept of the strategy giving lectures on each type of strategy use, modeling on how to employ each type of strategy. The teachers make students aware of the purpose of the strategy and how successful reader use it to actively monitor, regulate, and make sense out of the context, creating in students an awareness and a conscious realization of the function and utility of using the strategies.
4.2 Students’ Factor:Eventually, the students play the principal role and the teachers are only the instructors. Whether the students can make good use of these strategies effectively depends on greatly the students’ condition. Their habit of thinking takes an effect in the study of vocabulary. We can easily found that the low English level students do not concern about the strategies, they believe that it is useless to spend much time on research the strategies. On the contrary, the high level students have more vocabulary range and have a better understanding of the use of the strategies.
5 Conclusion
The long-neglected issue of vocabulary acquisition is currently receiving attention in the field of vocabulary learning, and it has become the heavy burden for senior high school students in their English study because most of them lack of the effective strategies in vocabulary acquisition. However, the students do not have a clear understanding of how to go about really learning vocabulary. The teacher can deal with these kinds of problem. Of course, to be the teacher, they should also need to hold different practice of the strategies in order to improve the English level of the students.
Bibliography
Heimbach, R. （1993）. The Effect of Interaction on the Acquisition of New Lexical Items. Kingdergarten E.S.L.Learners
Lewis, M. 1993. The Lexical Approach. Hove and London, English: Language Teaching Publications.
Nyikos, M. & Oxford, R. 1993. A Factor Analytic Study of Language-Learning Strategy Use: Interpretations from information - processing theory and social psychology. Modern Language Journal, 77/1:11-22.
Oxford, R. （1990）. Language Learning Strategies: What every teacher should know. Newbury House.
Rod Ellis, M. 1994. The Study of Second Language Acquisition.上海:上海外語教育出版社.
Stern, H. H. 1975. The Canadian Modern Language Review.31, 304-318.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Norbert Schmitt, N. & Michael McCarthy, M. 2002. Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy. 上海:上海外语教育出版社.
Wilkins, DA. （1972）. Linguistic in Language Teaching. London: Edward Arnold.
程工.（1999）.语言共性论.上海：上海外语教育出版社.
胡春洞.（1990）.英语教学法.北京：高等教育出版社.
梁晓波.认知语言学对英语教学启示.外语与外语教学.2002,（2）35-39.