5。2 Word chain 11

5。3 Odd man out 11

5。4 Label 12

6。 Conclusion 12

Works Cited 14

1。 Introduction

Vocabulary is playing a critically significant role in L2 acquisition because it is the essence of an inpidual language。 Without vocabulary, there  would be no  sentence, no  text and no meaning。 A large number of research articles produced in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s demonstrate that researchers have strongly emphasized the high position  of lexical competence in the language communicatio n。 Wilkin (1972: 77) has stated his famous remarks: “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed。” Effective  communication in L2  is primarily based on learners’ vocabulary knowledge of  the target language。 However, at present, many students often complain that they cannot remember words, which results in slow progress in English learning，although they all agree that memorizing  words  is  the  most crucial part  in their English study and communication  is来自优W尔Y论W文C网WWw.YoueRw.com 加QQ7520,18766 A

virtually impossible without an access to a relevant and fully wide range of vocabulary。  Most of them think that there is no shortcut but memorizing words mechanically according to the alphabet of the lexical book, but we know vocabulary cannot be learnt by rote。 Mnemonic skills are very important and necessary in vocabulary learning。 Therefore, the thesis offers several practical, interesting and efficient strategies of vocabulary learning, which will stimulate students’ imagination and interests in English learning and finally enlarge their vocabulary。

2。 Literature Review

2。1 Previous  studies  on vocabulary knowledge and  development

Over the past years, the research into word knowledge has developed several criteria for explaining what is involved in knowing a word。 Cronbach’s (1942) in his article discussing vocabulary testing proposed five types of behavior involved in understanding a word : generalization which refers to the ability to define a word; application referring to using it in context appropriately; breadth of meaning indicating the ability of remembering different meanings of a word; precision of meaning showing using a word appropriately in a variety  of

contexts or registers; and availability referring to using a word productively。 This research mentions both the  meaning aspect of word knowledge and the  various levels of  accessibility

to the knowledge, but it excludes such aspect as morphological or syntactical form。（Ma 11）论文网

Anderson & Freebody (1981:91-92) revealed that vocabulary knowledge  consists of two dimensions in terms of quantitative and qualitative aspects。 The first aspect is referring to vocabulary size or the number of words a learner can provide with the basic meaning and the second aspect is the depth of understanding a word。 Richard (1976) and Nation (1990) conducted relevant research mainly based on classroom observations and personal intuition of language teachers, which is not empirical in nature。 Meara & Schimitt (1997, 1998) have attempted to set up a hierarchy that could delineate the route followed by learners in L2 vocabulary acquisition based on quantitative and qualitative data collected from L2 learners。 Several frameworks for word knowledge studies or lexical competence have been  proposed by researchers, among whom are  Richard  (1976),  Nation (1990, 2001),  Laufer (2002),  and