This thesis focuses mainly on vocabulary learning strategies,which is one of the most difficult areas for Chinese learners.Having investigated through questionnaires,discussed andsummarized respectively the five steps in vocabulary learning,the authors put forward some factual statements about the mostdifficult aspects in vocabulary commanding.In addition,theauthors suggest some theoretical basis for the solutions to theseaspects.When talking about vocabulary learning,Payne made aformal study in its strategies by ESL students.Based on Payne’sdata,Brown and Payne(1994)did an analysis that resulted in amodel where the strategies fall into five steps:(1)havingsources for encountering new words;(2)getting a clear image,either visual or auditory or both,for the forms of the newwords;(3)learning the meaning;(4)making a strong memoryconnection between forms and meanings;and(5)using thewords.In order to further describe in which step(s)do Chineselearners have troubles we have designed some questionnaires.The informants are 174 average non-English majors,learning"College English".They are from both science and artdepartments.They came from all over the country,so they aretypical in a way.Sex and whether they are good or bad studentsor whether they are science or art students are not taken asinvestigating elements since what we want to know is a generalphenomenon among average learners.