Abstract—Vocabulary is the basic building block of language,
and the acquisition of a language relies on vocabulary. In
acquiring vocabulary, the adoption of vocabulary learning
strategies is an important affecting factor. The relationship
between vocabulary learning strategy and vocabulary
knowledge has been the focus of researchers. Motivation also
has a significant impact on language learning. The paper aims
to explore excellent English graduates’ English learning
motivation and vocabulary strategies. Two separate
questionnaires are used to investigate different motivations and
vocabulary learning strategies of English majors. In designing
the motivation questionnaire, Gao Yihong’s questionnaire is
used as a reference and in designing the vocabulary learning
questionnaire, the paper mainly follows O’Malley and
Chamot’s study. Through analysis, the study reveals the
following findings: Firstly, with the least mean value exceeded
2.4, all kinds of vocabulary learning strategies were adopted by
excellent English majors while learning vocabulary.
Meta-cognitive (M=3.614035088) strategies and cognitive
(M=3.633684211) strategies were preferred. Secondly, for the
situation of learning motivations, situational motivations
(M=3.858695652) were the highest. With the mean value of
3.432065217, instrumental motivations were the lowest
motivation among the three types of motivations. Especially
achievement motivation, it was the least held motivation by
excellent English majors.
Index Terms—Vocabulary, learning strategies, English
majors, motivation.
Jiali Wu and Jianguo Tian are with Northwestern Polytechnical
University, China (e-mail: echowujiali@foxmail.com,
tianjian@nwpu.edu.cn).
[PDF]
Cite:Jiali Wu and Jianguo Tian, "A Study on English Learning Motivation and Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Excellent English Graduates," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 177-181, 2021.