Examining Patterns of Vocabulary Learning Strategy Use for Idioms and Single-Word Items

Abstract

Vocabulary learning strategies are consciously activated actions that learners take to comprehend and then incorporate new vocabulary into their developing interlanguage. Much research to date has focused on observation and cataloging of strategies, surveying learners on the strategies they employ or find helpful, or examining the effectiveness of strategy use and explicit strategy training. Only a handful of studies have tried to compare vocabulary learning strategy use on single word vocabulary and idioms or other multi-word vocabulary items. This qualitative study reports on think-aloud protocols given to six Korean undergraduate English majors to examine what meaning discovery strategies they appear to be using in practice, combined with their own perceptions taken from interviews immediately after the think aloud sessions. The data shows four categories of vocabulary learning strategy in use, plus four additional coping strategies that allow learners to manage the task of meaning discovery. The data suggests that differences in English proficiency may affect how strategies are employed, that there are only superficial differences in approach between single word items and idioms, and that learners rely on methodical patterns of strategy use. The data leads to several questions open to future research, which are discussed.