This study looks at English as a Second Language (ESL) students• use of vocabulary learning strategies and whether use of specific strategies is related to success in vocabulary recall and comprehension tests. The primary part of the study focuses on the hypothesis that phonological practice with new words will aid long-term recall and comprehension of these words. An empirical experiment with an experimental and control group was designed to test this hypothesis. The secondary section of the study discusses how often subjects reported using the vocabulary learning strategies categorized by Rebecca Oxford in Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. In addition, it researches possible correlations between use of these strategies, and scores on subsequent vocabulary recall and comprehension tests. Finally, this study describes how a representative group of students actually apply specific strategies to their vocabulary learning.

For Chinese EFL learners, the skill of vocabulary learning is one of the most essential elements in their English learning process. Many Chinese students transfer their familiar character-learning strategies, which include shape identification and rote memorization, in their English word-learning process. As a result, they may spend time and effort associating the shape, the sound, and the meaning of an English word before they learn and memorize it. Since they do not take advantage of the correspondence between the print and the sound, their vocabulary-learning process seems to be less effective.

This study investigates whether or not instruction of English graphophonic correspondences, i.e., the link between letters and sounds, will help Chinese students in learning English vocabulary. Following other related research, I assume that Chinese students can benefit from instruction of English grapheme-phoneme correspondences in learning English words. If this assumption is true, there should be a statistically significant difference between students who have instruction of English graphophonic correspondences for learning English words and students who do not. 1. Chinese students who have been given lessons in both pronunciation and grapheme-phoneme correspondences will recall more English words on a short-term vocabulary test immediately after a vocabulary learning session than will the students who have been given only the lessons in pronunciation. 2. Chinese students who have been given lessons in both pronunciation and grapheme-phoneme correspondences will also recall more English words on a long-term vocabulary test two weeks after a vocabulary learning session than will the students who have been given ~ the lessons in pronunciation. Two groups of students who are in their second year of a junior college in Taiwan participated in this study. The control group was given the normal English course and pronunciation course which did not include the instruction of any letter-sound relationships. The experimental group was given not only the normal English course and pronunciation practice but also instruction in English graphophonic correspondences. This research examined whether or not the students given explicit instruction in English graphophonic correspondences had better performance on both short-term and long-term vocabulary recall tests after the special instruction. The experimental group recalled more words on both short-term and long-term vocabulary recall tests. Moreover, they behaved differently across time depending on which group they were in: The experimental group's performance continued to progress over time while the control group's performance fluctuated across time. The data collected during the experiment support both hypotheses.

快速構形學習（fast orthographic learning）是指在閱讀中遇到一個生字或生詞少數幾次後，這個字或詞的構形表征就能初步形成。目前，尚無研究試圖檢測中文構形學習，更無研究通過實驗操作的方式檢查語音重編碼（這一對英文構形學習最為重要的因素）對中文構形學習的影響。本研究以快速構形學習為切入點進行了三項研究。研究一（預實驗和實驗一）根據Share （1999）的範式編制了中文快速構形學習測驗，並使用這一測驗證實了二/三年級的兒童已具有快速構形學習的能力；研究二則通過實驗操作考察語音重編碼是否影響快速構形學習的成績。閱讀能力匹配的兒童被置於不同的學習情境下。某些學習情境下語音重編碼的傾向通過實驗操作被抑制，另一些學習情境下則可以正常進行語音重編碼。對比不同情境下的構形學習成績就可以證明語音重編碼對構形學習的影響。依照這一邏輯，實驗二和實驗三發現形聲字的構形學習受到語音重編碼的正面影響，而實驗四和實驗五則發現非形聲字的構形學習不受語音重編碼的正面影響；實驗六將形聲字和非形聲字放在同一實驗中考察，重複了實驗二至五的結果。研究三則採用培訓實驗進一步重複或檢驗第二部分的結果。在實驗七至十中，兒童或者學習目標假聲旁的語音（與目標形聲字一致的語音或者與目標形聲字不一致的語音），或者學習目標假聲旁的語義，或者抄寫目標假聲旁，或者僅觀察目標假聲旁（控制方案）。然後他們在相同的情境下學習含有目標假聲旁的形聲字。通過對比不同組別的快速構形學習成績，結果發現，除抄寫外，語音重編碼和部件的語義信息對構形學習沒有影響。根據三個研究最終得出以下結論：二三年級的學生已經具備快速構形學習能力；語音重編碼對形聲字的構形學習有一定影響，但影響不大，且只發生在目標形聲字含有熟悉的聲旁時；語音重編碼對半規則形聲字和非形聲字的構形學習沒有影響；抄寫對構形學習有明顯的促進作用。根據三個研究最終得出以下結論：二三年級的學生已經具備快速構形學習能力；語音重編碼並非影響構形學習的核心因素，只對含有熟悉聲旁的形聲字的構形學習有影響，對半規則形聲字和非形聲字的構形學習沒有影響；語義信息對構形學習沒有影響，抄寫對構形學習有明顯的促進作用。我們提出“構形學習自足假說，建議研究者重點研究正字法意識對構形學習的影響。 / Fast orthographic learning (FOL) means that an orthographic representation of a word can be learned incidentally after minimal exposure. Up to now, no research has explored the existence of FOL in Chinese. One reason is that it is difficult to create a test of orthographic learning ability. The present research, which includes three studies, was an attempt to investigate FOL in Chinese and the contributing factors of FOL. Study 1 adopted the experimental paradigm of Share (1999) and developed a new FOL test to obtain evidence of FOL among Chinese Grade 2 and 3 students. Study 2 explored whether or not phonological recoding can impact on FOL of both phonetic and non-phonetic compound characters with manipulations that minimized phonological recoding. The experimental and the control groups were exposed to some target pseudo-characters with and without concurrent articulation, respectively. Comparison of FOL obtained by different groups indicated that phonological recoding affected FOL of regular phonetic compound characters, but the effect was small; phonological recoding did not affect FOL of non-phonetic compound characters. Study 3 re-examined the results of Study 2 and explored the effect of semantic information and handwriting on FOL. In different training programs, students learned the pronunciation or the meaning of target pseudo-radicals, or write or look at them a number of times. Then students learned target pseudo-characters containing the target pseudo-radicals in the same condition. The effects of phonological recoding, semantic information and handwriting were evaluated by comparing FOL of the target pseudo-characters. The results indicated that phonological recoding affected FOL of neither regular phonetic compound characters containing unfamiliar phonetics nor semi-regular phonetic compound characters. Besides, handwriting had a significant positive effect on FOL. These results indicated that phonological recoding is not a substantial contributing factor of FOL. Other contributing factors, such as handwriting and semantic information, need further investigation. We proposed the "orthographic learning self- sufficient hypothesis", which suggests that the core contributing factor of FOL is orthographic awareness. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 劉永廣. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-116) / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / Liu Yongguang. / Chapter 第一章 --- 研究背景 --- p.12 / Chapter 1 --- 構形表征與構形學習 --- p.12 / Chapter 1.1 --- 構形表征的存在 --- p.12 / Chapter 1.2 --- 構形學習：一個漸進的過程 --- p.15 / Chapter 2 --- 快速構形學習 --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1 --- 快速構形學習的操作性定義 --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- 快速構形學習測驗 --- p.16 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- 快速構形學習測驗的重要性 --- p.19 / Chapter 3 --- 語音重編碼對構形學習的影響 --- p.20 / Chapter 3.1 --- 這一問題的理論化--“自我教學假設 --- p.20 / Chapter 3.2 --- 理論爭議：基於項目還是基於發展階段？ --- p.21 / Chapter 3.3 --- 相關實驗證據 --- p.23 / Chapter 3.4 --- 語音重編碼之外：詞彙知識，正字法意識，語義以及書寫 --- p.26 / Chapter 4 --- 構形表征和構形學習的提出對閱讀習得研究的貢獻 --- p.28 / Chapter 5 --- 中文相關研究現狀 --- p.29 / Chapter 5.1 --- 中文正字法系統概況 --- p.29 / Chapter 5.2 --- 中文形音對應規則：規則性效應和一致性效應 --- p.30 / Chapter 5.2.1 --- 形聲字的規則性和一致性 --- p.30 / Chapter 5.2.2 --- 兒童對形音對應規則的掌握和使用 --- p.32 / Chapter 6 --- 本研究的問題提出和研究邏輯 --- p.35 / Chapter 6.1 --- 本研究的問題提出 --- p.35 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- 中文快速構形學習測驗的編制 --- p.35 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- 為何以語音重編碼為研究重點 --- p.37 / Chapter 6.1.3 --- 非形聲字的構形學習 --- p.39 / Chapter 6.1.4 --- 漢字的語音重編碼 --- p.40 / Chapter 6.1.5 --- 為何以二、三年級學生為研究對象 --- p.40 / Chapter 6.1.6 --- 附帶考察的兩個研究問題 --- p.41 / Chapter 6.2 --- 本研究的邏輯 --- p.41 / Chapter 第二章 --- 研究一 中文構形學習測驗的編制及對快速構形學習現象的檢驗 --- p.43 / 預實驗 --- p.43 / 實驗一 --- p.45 / Chapter 第三章 --- 研究二 語音重編碼對快速構形學習的影響（1） --- p.56 / 實驗二 --- p.56 / 實驗三 --- p.62 / 實驗四 --- p.66 / 實驗五 --- p.69 / 實驗六 --- p.72 / Chapter 第四章 --- 研究三 語音重編碼對快速構形學習的影響（2） --- p.77 / 實驗七 --- p.78 / 實驗八 --- p.84 / 實驗九 --- p.86 / 實驗十 --- p.90 / Chapter 第五章 --- 總體討論 --- p.94 / 問題一：快速構形學習是否存在？ --- p.94 / 快速構形學習測驗的編制 --- p.94 / 問題二：語音重編碼是否中文快速構形學習的關鍵影響因素？ --- p.96 / 問題三：快速構形學習能力與其他背景變量是否有關係？ --- p.98 / 問題四：語義信息和抄寫是否對構形學習有影響？ --- p.100 / 構形學習自足假說 --- p.101 / 視覺詞彙學習：形音義三要素的互動 --- p.103 / 中文閱讀習得能力的發展 --- p.104 / 本研究的貢獻 --- p.105 / 不足以及研究展望 --- p.105 / Chapter 附錄一 --- 形音匹配遊戲A --- p.107 / Chapter 附錄二 --- 實驗一中作為閱讀材料的短文例子 --- p.108 / Chapter 附錄三 --- 語義培訓方案的電腦呈現方式 --- p.109 / Chapter 附錄四 --- 主要術語中英文對照表 --- p.110 / 參考文獻 --- p.111