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5.3 Learners’ Attitudes towards and Beliefs about L1 Use as well......... 80
5.4 English and L1 Use......... 93
5.5 Limitations of the Research...... 105
5.6 Pedagogical Implications for English Vocabulary Teaching and Learning...... 106

Chapter 5 Discussion

5.1 The Positive Role L1 Translation Plays in English Vocabulary Teaching and Learning in terms of Retention
The participants’ better performances in both the short-term and long-term retention ofnew English vocabulary after receiving Chinese translation or the combination of Chinesetranslation and English definition as treatments on the basis of the results in this research mayindicate that for EFL learners, L1 translation may function as a help.Firstly, it has been suggested that vocabulary learning can be regarded as a process ofacquiring and developing concepts (Dale and O’Rourke 1971:3) and research has revealedthat vocabulary learning is better enhanced with the establishment of a link between the newlyacquired vocabulary items and the learners’ previous experience (Gipe and Arnold 1979; Stahland Fairbanks 1986), which may indicate that the use of L1 translation is direct and effectivein enabling learners to associate new English words with the familiar concepts they havealready known. Concerning this, Nation (1982:21) suggests that ‘in the initial stages oflearning of a new word, a translation will be more meaningful because it will have many moreassociations for the learner’. MacWhinney (2005) also states that L2 depends on L1 in termsof lexical learning because of the extensive amount of transfer from L1 to L2, and in theinitial stage of learning L2 system, learners do not formulate a separate conceptual structurebut depend on L1 forms to get access to L2 lexical meanings. Pakzadian (2012:1148) regardsvocabulary learning in a foreign or second language as different from in a first language.

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Conclusion

This research attempted to explore the role the learners’ L1 plays in the area of Englishvocabulary teaching and learning. For this purpose, 150 Chinese EFL learners sharing thesame L1 and the same English language proficiency level were investigated. The majorfindings could be summarized as three aspects. At first, the use of L1 translation could makeEnglish vocabulary teaching and learning more effective in terms of both short-term retentionand long-term retention since it has been observed that the participants have better short-termretention and long-term retention when learning new vocabulary through either thecombination of Chinese translation and English definition or Chinese translation as comparedto learning through English definition. This confirms the positive role L1 plays in Englishlanguage teaching as suggested by many existing researches. Then, L1 translation does notseem to have an effect on learning to use English vocabulary in appropriate situation, since nosignificant differences of learners’ performances were found by comparing the treatment ofChinese translation with the treatment of English definition, and by comparing the treatmentof the combination of Chinese translation and English definition with the treatment of Englishdefinition. Furthermore, it could be found that using L1 is actually a learning strategy thatmany learners prefer although pr本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。