A Study on Vocabulary Learning Strategies by Chinese EFL Vocational Undergraduate Learners

This paper attempts to explore the overall pattern of English vocabulary learning strategies used by some Chinese vocational undergraduate students. In addition, both similarities and differences in English vocabulary strategies used between the good language learners and the poor language learners, and both similarities and differences in English vocabulary strategies used between students of arts and students of sciences are explored as well. 105 non-English-majored vocational undergraduate sophomores from Yangtze University participated in a vocabulary test, band3 test and a questionnaire. The results show: (1) Chinese vocational undergraduate students used a variety of English vocabulary learning strategies in vocabulary learning, including metacognitive, cognitive and social/affective strategies. (2) There are significant differences in using EVLS at metacognitive, cognitive levels between GL and PL. (3) Some of the same EVLS are used by students of the arts and students of the sciences, but there is no significant difference in using EVLS between two group.