In the past two decades, researchers have never stopped studying on memory strategies, which is one of the most significant vocabulary teaching strategies. On the presupposition that good strategies for vocabulary retention will benefit language teaching in general. A study by Cohen and Aphek suggests that the use of association contributes to vocabulary teaching and learning. A number of studies come to a conclusion that more mechanical strategies are often favored over complex ones. Ahmed(1989) described different types of learners claimed that taking notes on vocabulary and writing notes in the margins of their books can help students’ learning of vocabulary.
The last decade witnessed great surge in researching vocabulary teaching strategies in Chinese, not only in breadth but also in depth. Some researchers engage in generalizing vocabulary learning strategies(Zhang Ye, Xing min and Zhou Dajun, 2003). Some researchers specialize in some particular strategies such as grouping(Fan Lin,Wang Qinghua,2002,Wu Lilin, 2001). Other studies attempt to find out evidence of the relationship between vocabulary teaching strategies and English proficiency or gender difference in strategies use (Zhang Ping,GaoZuxin and Liu Jingzhou, 2002).文献综述
Xu Xia and Wang Qiang asked 400 non-major university students to complete a questionnaire and a vocabulary knowledge test. They found that Chinese learners used many strategies including meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies to learn English words. Meanwhile, their vocabulary learning strategies provide a great relatively quality and quantity of their vocabulary knowledge relatively. They also pointed out that strategies used by low-proficiency learners are different from those by high-proficiency learners.