1. 2. 1 Cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies “operate directly on incoming information, manipulating it in ways that enhance learning”[10] They are useful tools in assisting students in coping with English learning problems. Vocabulary acquisition are such problem-solving tasks. Vocabulary learning strategies are the skills that require direct analysis and acquisition of vocabulary. The following are some sub-cognitive strategies.
1) Word-building strategy
Word-building strategy is used when students try to increase their word power by analyzing and understanding how words are put together. The expansion of English vocabulary depends chiefly on word formation. Affixation, compounding and conversion are the most productive means. If students know the secrets of word building, they can figure out the meaning of the unfamiliar words by analyzing the word structure and enlarge their vocabulary storage. So it is necessary for students to remember a number of roots, prefixes, suffixes and have some other idea of word-formation, because by studying the parts of a word, it is possible to understand the meaning of the word. Here is an example: The word underpay, undervalue, undersurface, underground and undergrowth might confuse many students at first sight. But a brief analysis of their formation will show that they all have a common prefix “under” which means insufficient or beneath. With good illustration, students can soon infer the meaning of these words. In this way, students become aware of how words are formed and understand the meaning of the words. In the long run, students can learn to memorize vocabulary they encounter efficiently by themselves, and lay a good foundation for them to use English words correctly.
2) Contextualization strategy
Context is of great importance for the understanding of word-meaning because the meaning of a word will change in different cases. Context is used in different senses. In a narrow sense, it refers to the words, clauses, sentences in which a word appears. This is known as linguistic context or co-context, which may extend to embrace a paragraph, a whole chapter and even the entire book. In a broad sense, context includes the physical situation where a word is employed. This is called extra-linguistic or non-linguistic context, covering the participants, time, place, and even the whole cultural background [11]. Words are comprehend better in context than out of context. Students can understand the new word much better and commit it into longer-term memory if they meet the same word again and again in various context as different contexts endows different meanings of the word. Therefore, learning new words, phrases and idioms in the context is quite important. What’s more, context can speed up the understanding of the word meaning. Therefore, the students should be encouraged to learn words in the context. Meanwhile, this strategy can be used with the accompany of reading strategy as reading materials can provide meaningful language environment for the words.
3) Activation strategy
Students can really master a word by using it repeatedly and making it part of their own vocabulary. Actually, to know about English is one thing, but to be able to use it correctly is another. What is needed to bridge the gap is persistent practice. It is always effective to put the words learned into practice. It is recommended to write sentences, make up stories by using as many new words as possible, read articles that contain those new words, and purposely use them when talking with others. Through practice, students have chances to feel the extra-linguistic meaning for themselves which helps them to better understand the word. However, instead of learning and practicing all the English words blindly, it is suggested that students should be acute enough to distinguish productive words and receptive words. Productive command of a word involves being able to use it appropriately in speech and writing. Learning to do this can require knowing quite a lot about a word. It not only involves learning the basic meaning but also how it is used, what other meanings it has, what connotations it has, and other words with which it is used, how formal it is and even how frequently it is used. Students do not need to know all these information in order to begin to using a word in speech or writing, but they do need to know these other aspects of vocabulary exist, and that learning them is an important part of learning how to use words properly. A word needs to fit in its sentence and context in terms of meaning, usage, connotation, collocation, formality and frequency, and maybe amusing, unintelligible, or even offensive if it is not appropriate in these ways. Receptive command of a word involves being able to comprehend it, generally in context. It is better that receptive command does not involve as thorough a knowledge of usage, collection, and the other issues mentioned above as does productive command. In fact, even with a weak grasp of a word’s meaning, a student can often understand it when it appears in context (as most words do) [12]. In order to learn a language well, students should not only have enough productive words for speech and writing but also a much larger number of receptive vocabulary that they understand in context.
转贴于 酷文网-论文下载中心 http://www.coolwen.net
共10页: 上一页 [1] [2] 3 [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] 下一页
网摘收藏:
当前位置:
载入中...
-> 在百度中搜索：
-> 在Google中搜索：