Chapter Two Literature Review

2。1 Vocabulary

2。1。1 Definition of Vocabulary

Sapir ( Sapir, 1921: 221 ) mentioned in his book, “language”, published in 1921: “word is the smallest and most complete satisfactory independent semantic point which is also the sentences that can be decomposed”。

Francis ( Francis, 2012: 180) also referred that learning vocabulary involves two aspects of the meaning of a word: its denotative meaning and connotative meaning。 The denotative meaning refers to the meaning in the dictionary, that is its literal meaning, which is also called referential meaning; While the connotative meaning refers to the cultural notions attached to a specific context。

2。1。2 Significance of Vocabulary 

Vocabulary is the cornerstone of building a language and the carrier of words’ meanings, it’s a bridge between the pronunciation and the grammar。 Language can not exist without vocabulary, and language points can not be learned without highly-efficient learning of vocabulary, other language skills such as training , listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation will also become a passive process。 In addition, The students can read and understand the text well only if they master enough vocabulary。 Therefore, there is no doubt that the vocabulary teaching plays an important role in English teaching and the formation of language skills can not be separated from the accumulation of vocabulary。 However, in practical teaching, it is still difficult to change the traditional mode of vocabulary teaching, let alone let students master and apply those new words。  文献综述

2。2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies

2。2。1 Definition of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

     Norbert Schmitt (Schmitt, 2002: 122) expressed that vocabulary learning strategies means specific actions, behaviors, steps, or direction taken by learners in the process of learning the target language vocabulary。 The learners' vocabulary learning strategies include vocabulary learning beliefs, meta cognitive management, guessing the meanings of words, looking up the dictionary, taking notes and repeating new words and so on。

2。2。2 Classification of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Francis (Francis, 2012: 181) have pided word learning strategies into five types, they are controlling strategies, resource strategies, memory strategies, cognitive strategies and strategies for organizing activities。 Controlling strategies include planning, implementing, reflecting, evaluating and adjusting, as well as the use of resources。 Resource strategies are the use of techniques and skills with extracurricular reading materials, Internet, audio-visual products, etc to help students increase their vocabulary。 Memory strategies refer to help students remember new words according to word formation, classification and contexts。 Cognitive strategies mean techniques which are adopted for finishing specific learning tasks, which includes guessing word meaning, using the context as a source of information and taking notes。 These methods are usually used in the consolidation stage。 While the strategies for organizing activities refer to using a word in a real or simulated language environment which is organized in class, some examples of which include storytelling and communicating with others through letters。 This method is mainly used in open practice stage。

Schmitt (1997:39) proposed two kinds of vocabulary learning strategies on the basis of classification of language learning strategy and specific vocabulary learning strategies: discovery strategy and consolidation strategy。 The former includes decision strategies and social strategies, the latter including social strategies, memory strategies, cognitive strategies and meta cognitive strategies。

 Ma Guanghui (1997:119) pided the text learning vocabulary learning strategies into four categories: (1) Mechanical memory, that is to read, write once and once again。 (2) Associative mnemonic approach。 (3) Independent memory, that is, only memorizing one word or to remember one meaning。 (4) Associative memory refers to memorize according to the whole text。