Gender-oriented Use of Vocabulary Strategies: A Comparative Study

Abstract

In the recent decades there has been an increasing interest in vocabulary learning strategies given that they are found to facilitate second or foreign language vocabulary learning. Many people from different angles have focused on this aspect of language and done various studies regarding it. In the current paper, these strategies are studied and at last, by doing a survey and running a T-test, the study tried to examine if there is any difference in the Iranian male and female use of these strategies or not. Besides, it determined the most frequently-used and also the least frequently-used vocabulary learning strategies which language learners employ to learn new vocabulary items are ascertained. The study observed a significant difference in the male and female language learners' use of the strategies. It became also apparent that “connecting a word to its synonyms and antonyms” and “using physical actions” were the strategies which language learners most often use to find the meaning of new vocabulary items and “imaging word form” and “imaging word meaning” were the least frequently-used vocabulary learning strategies. Consideration of these strategies can be helpful in selecting the most effective strategies for vocabulary learning and as a result, reaching a higher degree of proficiency in this area of language.