The paper adopts the think-aloud method to research the vocabulary learning strategy use of the excellent learner and the average learner, and tries to solve the questions: (1) What is the learning strategy tendency of the good English learner? (2) What is the learning strategy tendency of the average English learner? The research finding is that the key strategies adopted by the good learner is the simple use of context while the average English learner would tend to frequently use the repetition and translation strategies. The research also verifies an important view that the main difference of learning strategy use between the excellent learner and the average one does not lie in the number of strategy but in the proper choice of strategy in line with the different tasks.
Keywords: the average learner, the excellent learner, the vocabulary learning strategy, think-aloud method
