English Vocabulary Knowledge and Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Korean Elementary School Students

Abstract

The present study explored the use of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) of Korean elementary school students according to their individual learner variables, and also sought to discover the relationship of VLS and vocabulary knowledge breadth and depth. For the purpose of the study, data of 272 students were collected through Vocabulary Learning Strategies Survey (VLSS), Vocabulary Test: 1,000 Word Level Test B (VT), 500-level Productive Vocabulary Levels Test (500 PVLT), and Word Associates Test (WAT). It was found that the learners’ variables of vocabulary proficiency, gender and living region significantly influenced the use of VLS. Regarding the relation of VLS to vocabulary knowledge, the correlation analyses revealed that five subcategories of VLS were significantly related with both dimensions of vocabulary knowledge, the most prominent being the Discovery-Determination (DD) strategies. The findings of this study suggest that there are significant relationship between VLS and vocabulary knowledge of the students. Acknowledging that VLS enable L2 learners to broaden and deepen their lexicon, the teachers and researchers are recommended to give more attention to VLS for their pedagogical practices and theoretical considerations.