The Analysis of College Student’s Explicit English Vocabulary Acquisition and Strategies

【Abstract】Successful second language acquisition encompasses multi-processes concerning how different linguistic subsystems develop， such as morphology， grammar， vocabulary and semantics， among which vocabulary learning plays an essential role in second language learning.Despite of the importance， many students find it difficult to learn and remember English words. In this way， they cannot practice other language skills effectively and feel demotivated. There is no doubt learners will go through different vocabulary learning phrases and adopt different strategies in order to fulfill various needs during their language learning processes. This paper will focus on the initial phrase of vocabulary acquisition： explicit vocabulary learning ，and analyze two strategies that are suitable for college students who are at this phrase. The aim is to help teachers and students have a better understanding of vocabulary learning and to give some suggestion.

【Key words】English Vocabulary Acquisition； Explicit learning； Strategies

1. Introduction

In the past decades， many researchers emphasize the importance of lexical knowledge and they believe that vocabulary as the building blocks can lay a solid foundation for the following language proficiency improvement （Maley 1986； Grabe & Stroller， 1997）. Four basic language skills （listening， reading， writing and speaking） can be effectively developed only the learner has gained a certain member of vocabulary. In this regard， the lack of word knowledge may impede students ability to function in L2 and success in the classroom and workplace. According to Furnham & Petrides （2003）， increasing a students word knowledge can positively influence his or her world knowledge， comprehension ability， even the willingness and happiness to further language learning. One possible reason for vocabulary knowledges contribution to ones emotion is that language learners may feel secure and comfortable when they are doing language learning tasks or activities if they have equipped themselves with “sufficient words” （ sufficient here is a kind of psychological suggestion， learners will feel relaxed and actively communicate with others when they get this hint from themselves）. From this perspective， vocabulary knowledge has a large impact on learners ability to communicate， this interactive ability is not only constrained to oral communication with other speakers， but also interaction with texts.

Given the importance of vocabulary to the efficacy of SLA process， it is worthwhile for language teachers and SLA researchers to explore how to teach vocabulary efficiently and effectively. During the exploring process， scholars different points of view as to some questions raise a hot debate. Some of them believe it is difficult to teach vocabulary in a separate way since words are not isolated items with other aspects of a language， students can gain vocabulary when they are using other language skills. Someone thinks teachers can teach students the vocabulary knowledge， but students themselves should be responsible for word retention. Others may argue that although students can monitor the establishment and development of their mental lexicons， teachers should be facilitators by giving vocabulary learning instructions and strategies， which may help students gain word knowledge in an effective way.

Thus， in order to better understand how college students go through the initial phase of vocabulary learning， their explicit word learning and two learning and teaching strategies are going to be analyzed.

2. Explicit Vocabulary Acquisition

Students， one of the essential stakeholders of curriculum ，are eager to gain word knowledge in order to achieve a satisfactory performance in their English test of college Entrance Examination and College English Examination （CET-4 CET6）. The students needs largely influence the syllabus and teachers choosing of material and their teaching methodologies. Take the first-year university students as an example， the textbook that they used in the first year of contains several units with each unit focusing on one topic， and the difficulty level of each units topic increases gradually. Each unit begin has a bilingual vocabulary list embracing 30- 50 words that help students prepare for the comprehension of text. For learners with low language proficiency ， they were in the Beginners Paradox （coady， 1997） because the effective way to learn vocabulary is through reading but they do not have sufficient word knowledge to understand those reading materials. In this regard， teaching those words， as a kind of pre-reading activity should be conducted explicitly. For beginning learners， intentional learning with explicit instructions was the best way to gain fundamental word knowledge.

According to Hulstijn （2006）， intentional vocabulary learning is a mode in which learners are given instructions or aware of the learning process they are going to involve in， their understanding and retention of a particular dimension of knowledge will be tested afterward. This kind of learning may be highly motivated and they are more willing to strive for the objective of vocabulary gaining since they may concentrate on particular information that they are informed by instructors in advance and not be distracted. In addition， “knowing a word” is a complex issue. Folse （2004） believes that a word knowledge has seven dimensions： polysemy， which means that a word may have various meanings； denotation and connotation， which refers to basic L2 translation and implied meaning； pronunciation and spelling； frequency； part of speech， usage， and collocation. A learner should know all seven aspects of a word， otherwise， we cannot say he/she gains this word. As early as 1989， Gass put forward that lexical knowledge includes multiple components， indicating that vocabulary teaching and learning should make a careful decision as to focusing on all aspects or selecting part of the knowledge. When teaching low-intermediate level students， it is reasonable for teacher to simplify and only teach simple aspects of the word knowledge because the difficulty level of this knowledge is suitable and what students are taught really match their needs at specific point. However， the long-term efficacy of vocabulary learning to some extent is sacrificed if this type of vocabulary teaching is adopted， as students may form a stereotype that it is enough to learn that particular vocabulary knowledge. As a consequence， other important components like usage of words may be neglected and the lack of ability to use words can greatly impede students language acquisition process. In some college English classes， students do not realize that a lot of knowledge concerning vocabulary can be found by themselves through looking up the dictionary. Even though they may use a dictionary as a learning tool， their focus is mainly on L2 translation and they take for granted that they know the word. But they actually put our eye only on the short-term word recognition instead of word use.

After knowing college students explicit vocabulary leaning， two learning strategies introduced may effectively facilitate their word learning.

3. Two Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Teachers and students can adopt some strategies . There are basically two types of learning strategies： cognitive and metacognitive strategies （Wenden & Rubin 1987： 23）. Cognitive strategies that require translation memorization and direct analysis are usually adopted by learners at the beginning level. During vocabulary learning for non-English major college students， memorization and practice are two most frequently used strategies. They spent time in memorizing the limited part of lexical knowledge， such as L2 translation， word class， then the teacher gave specific practice which helps check the storage and retrieval of the knowledge. The practice focusing on accuracy was mechanically conducted in the form of multiple choices， blank filling. One strategy paying attention to accuracy that they can use to memorize the word is word cards， through which they can learn the form of a word and link the meaning with the form. Even though learning in this decontextualized way is somewhat boring and inefficient， it is a good way to remember and recall word meaning.

Another word formation learning strategy was of great efficacy， which provides us with an easy way to remember words. According to internal architecture theory， internally complex items can be divided into various chunks， some of these chunks can be shared with other words （Aitchison， 2003： 126）.Affixes are chunks that can be added to stems to form new words and a majority of content words in English can be changed into different forms through adding affix （Nation 2001： 164）. Instead of introducing such abstract concepts like an affix， teacher can ask students to find all words ended in -tion， -ness，-ly in word lists， then find the shared feature on those words part of speech. Teacher should also guide us to find the effect of some prefixes like un- on the meaning of the word. It is not only a useful strategy that helps establish the link between different words， but also a good clue when they guess the meaning of a new word.

4. Conclusion

Explicit learning for English Vocabulary for college students and two teaching strategies are analyzed in the essay， which can provide a relatively overall view of how college students acquire English words in an explicit way. Explicit learning for vocabulary is to some extent not efficient enough but is really necessary for students who do not have high language ability. After all， it is the initial phrase of English vocabulary learning. In order to have a deeper understanding， the analysis of other phases should be conducted subsequently， which may help to identify whether or not there exist other factors influencing the effectiveness of vocabulary learning.

References：

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作者簡介：高雪薇（1992.12-），女，漢族，陜西咸陽人，碩士，西安航空學院外國語學院，助教，研究方向：外語教學法 語言教育。