Investigating Vocabulary Learning Strategies: Master Students of the English Department of Meknes as a Case Study

Abstract

Abstract: The present study aims at investigating threefold: (1) to identify vocabulary learning strategies which Moroccan Master students employ while learning their English vocabulary; (2) to explore frequency of students' strategy use; and (3) to examine the relationship between frequency of students’ strategy use and the independent gender variable. The research respondents of the present investigation were 60 Master students studying English at the School of Arts & Humanities within the English Department of Meknes in academic year 2011. Convenient sampling was used to select the respondents of the study. A vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire adopted from Schmitt's (1997) study was used as a tool for data collection. There are five different categories of vocabulary learning strategies as Determination, Memory, Social, Cognitive, and Metacognitive. These categories cover an overall of 56 strategies included in the vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire. The statistical tools used in order to help interpret data include descriptive statistics which makes use of frequencies, percentage, crosstabs, and chi-square tests for independence. The findings reveal that Master students use almost the same vocabulary learning strategies as demonstrated by their counterparts in the literature on second language acquisition. Additionally, Master students use deeper strategies more often, and shallow strategies less often. Finally, the independent gender variable is found to affect some students' vocabulary learning strategies. Bearing in mind the limitations (a small sample size of 60 Master students with unbalanced gender distribution, and the use of the questionnaire alone as a tool for data collection), the findings of this study led to some suggestions to enhance students' vocabulary learning, and subsequently develop their English learning.