Online Learning amid COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Abstract

The outbreak of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led countries to implement measures to prevent its spread. One of these measures included shutting down schools and universities. Consequently, the teaching, learning and assessment processes were entirely shifted from face-to-face to online. The current study aimed to investigate online vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) amid COVID-19 pandemic used by Saudi EFL students. It attempted to find out the online strategies Saudi EFL astudents use to get the meaning of new vocabulary, the strategies they use to study new vocabulary and the strategies they follow to revise the learned vocabulary and keep them as part of their repertoire. The sample of the study was 119 male and female English and non-English majors. The study modified Kulikova’s (2015) questionnaire. This study was conducted at the University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia, during a fully online learning period in September and October 2020 at the time of COVID-19 outbreak. The data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire form. It was distributed via teachers of the English Department. The study found out that English majors used vocabulary learning strategies more than non-English majors. It also showed that students do not ask their teachers about the meaning of new vocabulary (77%), they also do not ask their classmates (92%), nor they ask their friends (85%), which could be attributed to online study and due to social distance during coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19).