Language proficiency of English major graduate students in China is
generally considered higher than that of English major undergraduate
students. The fact, however, is a different story. The phenomenon that a
gradual declination of the language proficiency of the L2 will take
place, once L2 learners stop or reduce language learning, is known as
language attrition. This study investigated the lexical attrition of
English major graduate students in four Chinese universities. Vocabulary
learning strategies from the perspective of an implicit curriculum are
then put forward.