Vocabulary learning strategies： Most frequently used strategies between English major students and non—English major studentsin China

徐衍潔

【Abstract】The purpose of this research was to compare vocabulary learning strategies （VLS） used by two groups of Chinese English learners， which are English major students and non-English major students，and systematically focused on three main strategy categories. The purpose was to investigate the different VLS using frequencies between two groups of English language learners.

【Keywords】vocabulary learning strategies （VLS）；English major student （EMS）； non-English major students （NEMS）

1 The background to the study

In the later half of the 1970s， an investigation found out that through the introduction of the strategies used by good learners， those poor language learners can improve their language learners learning. （Rubin， 1975； Naiman et al.， 1978） Although there is no clear definition on ‘good language learner or ‘bad language learner， Brown， Bransford， Ferrara.& Campione（ 1983） thought that a successful learner was in effect a learning theorist.

2 The analysis of vocabulary learning strategies data

The comparison of EMS and NEMSs using of VLS in general will present in this section.

2.1 Overall Vocabulary Learning Strategies and comparison between two groups

As introduced， the current study investigate the VLS differences between Chinese EMS and NEMS in Zhejiang University of Technology， differences between higher achievement students and lower achievement students within two groups. Unlike the earlier studies， this study chooses three main categories of VLS to research； they are note-taking strategies， repetition strategies， and memorization strategies. Besides， there are seven questions about the teaching of VLS. What follows is an overall description of how frequently the participants reported using forty-seven VLS and teaching of VLS included in the questionnaire， whose scale ranges from 0 to 4. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics in order to report the most and least frequently used individual strategies among both EMS and NEMS together and separately.

Generally speaking， EMS and NEMS appear to use the VLS not very often as expected， since the overall mean is 1.77964， which is below the middle of the 0-4 scale. Firstly， for the aspect of VLS， among 47 investigated strategies， 16 strategies are reported to have a mean score above 2， which is the middle rating scale that shows the learners use them more or less frequently. 21 strategies are rated below the overall mean.endprint

2.2 The most and least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies

Table 2.1 presents the ten most frequently used VLS by all the EMS and NEMS. Regardless of their different majors and language proficiencies， the most frequently used strategy is no.8 “I write down new words and their Chinese translation， which belongs to note-taking strategies”， however they also report writing the English definition of new words， （mean=1.7963） ， just above the overall mean. Among the ten most frequently used VLS， half of them are note-taking strategies （No.1， 8， 12， 15， 23）， three of them are repetition strategies， and two of them are memorization strategies. Interestingly， participants write down the pronunciation of L2 second most frequently. It is unlike the research result of Marins or Gus research， in order to found out the reason of high frequency use of writing down the pronunciation of L2 word， analysis on oral interviews provided some evidences. Question 3 “People have different styles of vocabulary learning. Some must see a word before it is remembered； others might prefer to hear the word. What is your personal style？” All six participants who received interview did not give a clear answer to this question， instead， they stated that it was easier to memorize if they could see and hear the word together， and strategy of writing down the spelling of the word is no.3 on top 10 list. So， it is not hard to explain the reason why participants in our study kept the pronunciation of the L2 word down in their notes. By doing so， they can “hear the word” in a written form. And another reason is because of the intension of learning new words for practical use.

Furthermore， repeating the word silently （as a mode of repetition） was ranked no.7 of the top ten： it showed that learners attempt to consolidate meaning by relying heavily on some sort of rote-repetition. In addition to this， other repetition strategies on the top ten list were saying aloud （rank no.10）， writing again and again （rank no.8）. Lastly， learners showed preference on taking notes in the margins of the textbook or where the word occurs （rank no.4）， and they are more likely to highlight the new words they met （rank no.5）， this was consistent with Schimitt （1997） and Jimenez-Catalan （2003） in that the note-taking strategies appear to be frequently used.

Table2.1 The ten-most-frequently used VLS

Rank No. and name

of VLS Minimum Maximum Mean Std.

Deviationendprint

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 8.new words and Chinese translation

12. pronunciation of the new word

32.spelling of the word

1.keep the notes in the margin

23.highlight the words

29.write down the word and translation

25.repeat silently

26.write the word several times

15.write down the new word's grammatical behavior/pattern

24.say the aloud several times 1.00

.00

.00

.00

.00

1.00

1.00

.00

.00

.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

3.5741

3.0556

2.9259

2.8889

2.8889

2.7407

2.7222

2.6111

2.5185

2.4444 .74230

1.08882

1.07899

1.05806

1.09315

.95533

.87775

1.15606

.98557

1.00314

Regarding to the ten least-used strategies， table 2.2 shows an interesting thing that 9 out of 10 are note-taking strategies. And the rest one is repetition strategy. It can be believed that the nature of the note-taking strategies rate relatively low might because of low use frequency of the strategies. From the table， the least frequently used VLS is no.11 “I write down the new word along with my own drawings or pictures”， it can be concluded that as the participants were all university students， they might need a clearer and more direct way other than drawing to keep the idea of a new word. Or may it also because that the sort of words they were learning were at the level which does not have meanings that you can draw a picture of， such as the word with more abstract meaning. The same tendency can be observed in the use of “I write down new words on wall charts， posters and small pieces of paper， which I stick somewhere at home.” Some strategies related to the organization of vocabulary notes are also included here such as no.19 “I classify new words into their grammatical category， （e.g. verbs in one section， nouns in another）”， no.20 I classify new words by meaning groups， （e.g. animals， verbs involving motion）.and no.21 “I organize new words by alphabetical order or sections， （i.e. words beginning with A in one section， with B etc）.”

Table.2.2 The ten-least frequently used VLS

Rank No. and name

of VLS Minimum Maximum Mean Std.endprint

Deviation

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 11.new words with own drawing pic

6. record new words on audio tape / mp3

5.write down new words on wall charts / posters / stickers

17. write down new word's contextual reference

21.organize by alphabetical order

4. cards / pieces of paper

20.classify by meaning groups

19. classify by grammatical category

7.keep notes in computer

27.listen to the words on tape .00

.00

.00

.00

.00

.00

.00

.00

.00

.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

3.00

4.00

4.00

3.00

4.00

4.00

4.00

.1296

.2037

.5370

.6481

.8148

.8519

.8519

.9259

.9630

.9630 .33905

.49065

.74512

.78084

.91268

.99825

.81048

1.06136

1.18103

.91038

In sum， more than half of the ten most frequently used VLS belong to note-taking strategies， and interestingly， the majority of the ten least frequently used VLS are under the category of note-taking too. Keeping notes about the new words and its Chinese translation， repeating silently and repeating the words and translation， these three strategies rated the minimum rate “1” instead of “0”. Meanwhile， in the ten least frequently used VLS list， the least used strategy writing down the new word along with own drawings or pictures got maximum rate is “1” and followed by the strategy of using audio tape/ MP3 to make a recording， which got the highest rate by 2 point. Half of the ten least frequently used VLS did not get the full mark （scale 4）.

3 Summary of the study

The results of comparison of the differences in VLS use between EMS and NEMS agreed with the hypothesis that EMS used more VLS in quantity and in frequency than NEMS did， especially in using of note-taking strategies. By contrast， NEMS applied some VLS more often than EMS like repeating the spelling of the word several times. Also， under the category of memorization association strategies， NEMS rated 80% of the strategies higher than EMS did. NEMS in research preferred key-word， association memorization better than EMS， while EMS relied on note-taking strategies more then the NEMS. The two groups did not show many differences on the use of repetition strategies.endprint