Chinese EFL University Students’ Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Abstract

This study investigated into the types of vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) employed by EFL university students. The VLSs questionnaire was conducted and the sampling in this study was 71 English major students with higher and lower educational levels in a Chinese university. The study discovered that the determination and cognitive strategies were frequently employed by students. They most frequently used written and visual repetition, rehearsed on words’ spellings and sounds, had meaning-oriented note-taking, memorised the fixed phrases and sentences, used bilingual dictionaries, guessed words’ meanings and understood words through Chinese equivalents. Students also learned to tell themselves to feel less stressed when learning vocabulary. Students mainly focused on getting words’ meanings and the mechanical strategies they used were associated with understanding. By contrast, social/affective and metacognitive strategies were the least frequently used. Also, memory strategies such as words’ grammatical forms and word association, were less often employed. Students with a higher educational level more often associated words and noticed their vocabulary learning progresses. Therefore, learning maturity had impact on students’ choices of VLSs. In these cases, it is suggested that students use more types of VLSs such as memory and metacognitive strategies. English teachers are suggested to have strategy instructions and guide students to learn vocabulary through group discussions in classes. Additionally, studying vocabulary incidentally through both intensive and extensive reading is recommended to be taken into consideration.