| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺北教育大學 === 兒童英語教育學系碩士班 === 92 === The purposes of the study were to explore if there was correlation between English proficiency and the use of vocabulary learning strategy, and to investigate similarities and differences in frequently-used learning strategies between more proficient and less proficient students in an elementary school in Taouyan. The participants were all the six graders, including 172 students from Taoyuan municipal Cheng-gong Primary school.
The first instrument used in this study was “The Semesters’ Assessment for Basic English Ability in Taoyuan Country for 2005” to classify the subjects into more proficient group and less proficient group. The second instrument was a structured self-report questionnaire, modeling Schmitt’s framework and Cook and Mayer’s framework, in which classified vocabulary learning activities were classified into two parts: (1) initially discovering the meaning of a word and (2) consolidating the words that have been encountered. For the first part, there were two categories, Determination Strategies and Social Strategies. For the second part, there were four categories, Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies and Social Strategies.
By conducting Pearson Correlation Test, the result showed that there was correlation between English proficiency and the use of vocabulary learning strategy ( t = 5.93). In addition, in discovering the meaning of a word, overall there was no significance in the use of Determination Strategies between more proficient and less proficient groups. However, there was significant strategy difference ( t = 1.376, p < 0.05 ) in the use of Social Strategies. The more proficient group used significantly more Social Strategies than the less proficient group ( p < 0.05). As to the consolidation Strategies, there were significance in the use of Memory Strategies ( t = 3.939), Cognitive Strategies ( t = 2.494 ), Metacognitive Strategies ( t = 2.494 ), and Social Strategies ( t = 3.185 ) between more proficient and less proficient groups.
As to the Consolidation Strategies, the most-frequently used strategies by the more proficient group in the descending order are Meta-cognitive Strategies, Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, and Social Strategies, listed in the order of frequency distribution, As for the less proficient group, the order is Meta-cognitive Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Memory Strategies and Social Strategies. Finally, based on the findings of this study, suggestions for the directions of future research on vocabulary learning strategies and other related issues were offered.
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