摘要
词汇作为学生英语学习中的一个非常重要的方面,已经越来越受到中外学者、语言研究者的普遍关注。如何有效的学习英语词汇也成为广大英语学习者关心的热点。因此,近年来,语言学家们对词汇学习观念和策略进行了一系列研究,取得了可喜的成果。
本文的目的在于调查并分析医学专业研究生的词汇学习策略,以70名医学专业的研究生为调查对象,就以下问题进行了较深入地探讨:1)医学专业研究生词汇学习观念和使用词汇学习策略的总体情况如何;2)被调查者是如何运用一些具体词汇学习策略的;3)成绩好的学生与成绩差的学生词汇策略运用的差异;4)男生和女生在词汇策略使用上的不同。笔者参考了Gu & Johnson的词汇策略分类,通过调查问卷、词汇测试收集数据,应用社会统计分析软件SPSS11.5对数据进行处理,然后进行了系统的分析。对于成绩好的学生和成绩差的学生的词汇学习策略的对比,笔者根据受试研究生的研究生入学考试的英语分数和与调查问卷同时发放的一份词汇测试的分数作为基准,并把所有学生按分数排列,从而选出了成绩好的和成绩差的学生各10人,并对其进行了比较。男生和女生的对比也分别随机选取了10名同学,并对其进行了分析和对比。
词汇学习观念包括三部分:重复记忆,从上下文记忆以及在使用中记忆。词汇策略也分为三类:元认知策略,认知策略和社会情感策略。三类策略之间又存在着密切的联系,并互相影响。本文得出的结论为:
1.在词汇学习观念上,受试学生更多的倾向于在使用中记忆单词,然后是上下文,最后是重复观念。总的来说,受试学生采用多种词汇学习策略,包括元认知策略,认知策略和社会情感策略,而以认知策略应用最为广泛,其次是元认知策略,最后是社会情感策略。
2.在对具体词汇运用策略进行分析后,笔者发现词典的运用是学生们应用最多的词汇学习策略,其次是猜测策略,再次是记笔记策略。
3.成绩好的学生应用学习策略普遍多于成绩差的学生,比如认知策略。
4.男生和女生在词汇策略使用上存在一定的差异,具体词汇策略的运用也不尽相同。
综上所述,本文发现词汇学习观念与词汇学习效果之间存在着密切的联系。使用更多的策略有助于学生词汇的记忆和发展,策略的使用也会影响学生的词汇学习成绩甚至英语学习效果。当然,不能否认,并不是策略使用越多学习成绩就越好或词汇量就越大,关键要看这种策略是否适合单个的学习者。对于医学专业的研究生来说,英语词汇的学习对他们非常重要,因此本文也为他们的英语词汇学习提供了一些建设性意见,同时也供广大英语教师和学习者们作为参考。
Vocabulary, as one of the vital part of students’English language learning, has attracted the attention of more and more researchers from both home and abroad. It is high time to explore the question of how to learn English vocabulary efficiently and effectively. Therefore, in recent years, linguists have done a series of researches on vocabulary learning beliefs and strategies, and their efforts have borne fruits.
This thesis aims to investigate and analyze vocabulary learning strategies employed by non-English major graduate students. The subjects are 70 graduate students from Hebei Medical University specialized in medicine. The research questions are listed as follows: 1) What is the overall pattern of graduate students’vocabulary learning beliefs and preferred learning strategies? 2) How do the investigated students use some specific vocabulary learning strategies? 3) What are the differences of strategies used by good and poor students? 4) What are the differences of strategies used by male and female students? The classification of vocabulary learning strategies is adopted from that of Gu & Johnson, then through a questionnaire and a vocabulary test to collect data. All the data is processed by the Statistics Package for Social Science (SPSS11.5), and then analyzed systematically. As for the comparison of the strategies used by good and poor students, the representative samples are chosen according to their English scores of national entrance examination for graduates and a vocabulary test designed by the author. The top ten and the bottom ten are chosen to be compared. Concerning the choice of male and female students, the representatives are chosen randomly.
There are three parts in vocabulary belief, namely: repetition, context and use. Regarding vocabulary learning strategies, there are also three types: metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. The three kinds of strategies correlate with and influence each other. The results of this thesis are listed as follows:
1. As for learning beliefs, the investigated students prefer use, then context, and repetition comes last. Generally speaking, the students employ many kinds of vocabulary learning strategies, including metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social/affective strategies. Cognitive strategies are the most frequently used one, and then come metacognitive strategy, social/affective strategy.
2. After analyzing some specific vocabulary learning strategies, the author finds out that dictionary use is the most frequently used strategy, next comes guessing and note taking ranks the third.
3. In general, good students employ more strategies than poor students, such as cognitive strategies.
4. There are differences between male students and female students with regard to the strategies used.
To sum up, this thesis finds that there is close relationship between vocabulary beliefs and learners’learning results. Employing more strategies can help with students’vocabulary memory and development, and the use of strategies will influence students’test scores, or even English learning success. Of course, it does not mean that the more strategies one use, the better one will learn. Instead, the key point here is to see whether the strategies used are suitable for the individual learner. To the graduate students specializing in medicine, it is extremely important for them to master certain amount of English vocabulary and grasp some strategies to facilitate their learning. Therefore, this thesis puts forward some constructive suggestions on vocabulary learning strategies for English teachers and learners to draw on.
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