Journal of educational equipment: Applied research, Volume 1, Issue 304 (January 2024)

ISSN 1859 - 0810

An investigation into Vocabulary Learning Strategies

adopted by Third-year English Majors at Vietnam
National University of Agriculture
Nguyễn Thị Hoài, Phạm Thị Hạnh, Phạm Hương Lan*
* Khoa Du lịch và Ngoại ngữ, Học viện Nông nghiệp Việt Nam
Received: 12/12/2023; Accepted: 21/12/2023; Published: 28/12/2023
Abstract: Vocabulary learning strategies of Vietnamese students has received increasing attention in
recent years. This study investigated vocabulary learning strategies adopted by third-year English majors
at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA). The vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire
was adapted from Hadi and Guo (2020) for the present study and delivered to 98 third-year English
majors at VNUA. Data analysis included caculation of Min, Max, Mean, and Standard deviation. The
results showed that the participants generally use dictionary, inferencing, activation, and metacognitive
strategies more often than other strategies categories. Some recommendations for the teaching and
learning of vocabulary were given for more sucessful learning outcome regarding English vocabulary.
Keywords: Vocabulary learning strategies, English majors

1. Introduction & Hadavi, 2015), there are five steps in learning

Vocabulary knowledge play a crucial role in vocabulary: identifying new vocabulary items,
the improvement of English learners’ language understanding words form and meaning, memorizing
proficiency. According to Wilkins (1972): “without words form and meaning, and using the words in
grammar, very little can be conveyed but without real situations. Smith (2008), however, identifies
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Research seven steps in vocabulary learning: “rhyming words,
has shown that the majority of Vietnamese students association and organization, understanding the
have rather limited vocabulary knowledge despite structure of words, using a dictionary, recognizing
many years of learning the language, which should word families (prefixes, roots, and suffixes),
be considered one of the key reasons for their understanding word’s origin, and using analogies”.
incompetency of the four skills: reading, listening, These steps suggest that to learn new words
speaking, and writing. successfully, learners should be able to apply different
In Vietnam, the teaching of vocabulary learning strategies for different stages of learning them.
strategies has not received enough attention until Classification of vocabulary learning strategies
recently (Duong, 2022; Le, 2021). Nation claimed Vocabulary learning strategies are defined as
that teaching students effective vocabulary learning “the process by which an EFL learner obtains,
strategies might help them become more autonomous stores, retrieves, and uses vocabulary items when
learners (2013). This study attempts to investigate the encountering a word for the first time” (Schmitt,
vocabulary learning strategies adopted by third-year 1997).
English majors at VNUA. There are two research There are different classifications of vocabulary
questions: (1) What are the most and least common learning strategies: metacognitive, cognitive, and
strategies for vocabulary learning used by English socio-affective strategies (O’Malley and Chamot,
majors at VNUA? (2) What are some suggestions for 1990); planning, source, and processes (Nation,
the teaching and learning of vocabulary learning at 2001); discovery strategies and consolidation
VNUA? strategies (Schmitt, 1997); beliefs, metacognitive
2. Content and cognitive strategies (Gu, 2013). While the
The steps in vocabulary learning metacognitive strategies include selective attention
According to Payne (1994, as cited in Hashimi and self-initiation, the cognitive strategies include

172 Journal homepage: www.tapchithietbigiaoduc.vn

 Journal of educational equipment: Applied research, Volume 1, Issue 304 (January 2024)
ISSN 1859 - 0810

inferencing, using dictionary, note-taking, rehearsal, the descriptive statistics.

encoding, and activation (Gu, 2018). Findings and Discussions
In the present study, we adopted the classification Table 1 shows the descriptive statistics of the
of Gu (2018) and added the affective strategies three groups of VLS: (1) cognitive strategies,
(Hadi and Guo, 2020) because affective strategies (2) metacognitive strategies, and (3) affective
are considered important for vocabulary learning strategies. Because the cognitive strategies include
(O’Malley and Chamot, 1990; Schmitt and Schmitt, six subcategories with different items, the results
1993). Therefore, three broad categories of strategies of these subcategories are presented separately for
were included in the survey: metacognitive strategies, better understanding of the use of distinct kinds of
cognitive strategies, and affective strategies. VLS.
Research methodology Table 1: Means and Standard Deviations of different
Participants categories of VLS
Participants of the study were 105 third-year Categories of Standard
English majors at VNUA. Following data cleaning, Vocabulary learning Mean Deviation
7 questionnaires were omitted, so 98 surveys were strategies N Min Max (M) (SD)
retained for data analysis (73 females, 25 males). Using Dictionary 98 2.86 5.00 4.1210 0.51050
The majority of the students has studied English for
more than 10 years. Their current levels of English Inferencing 98 2.83 5.00 3.9915 0.46490
proficiency might range from B1 to B2 levels in the Activation 98 2.00 5.00 3.9490 0.71071
Common European Framework of Reference.
Metacognitive 98 2.14 4.86 3.8003 0.54224
Instruments
The vocabulary learning strategies survey Note-taking 98 1.33 5.00 3.6599 0.79117
(VLSS) (Hadi and Guo, 2020) was adapted for the Encoding 98 1.60 5.00 3.5214 0.72086
present study because this is more comprehensive
compared to other vocabulary learning strategies Rehearsal 98 1.11 5.00 3.5068 0.72362
questionnaires. There were two parts to the Affective 98 2.00 4.83 3.4932 0.50366
survey: (1) participants’ background information,
Valid N (listwise) 98
and (2) vocabulary learning strategies – 55 items
(metacognitive – items 1-7, cognitive – items 8-49, The table shows that all groups of VLS have a
and affective strategies – items 50-55). Cognitive Mean of higher than 3.41, which means that in general,
strategies include six subcategories: inferencing the students use all kinds of the VLS. Metacognitive
(items 8-13), using dictionary (14-20), note-taking strategies and the three cognitive strategies of using
(21-26), rehearsal (27-35), encoding (36-45), dictionary, inferencing, and activation are most
activation (46-49). Participants were asked to rate frequently used by the students with the mean values
their agreement on a 5-point Likert scale from of higher than 3.8. Using dictionary strategies come
1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The top with M = 4.121 (SD = 0.51050), which shows the
questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese and fact that this group of strategies is the most common
piloted with some students before being finalized among English majors at VNUA. It is notable that
for official data collection. The value for Sronbach’s inferencing, and activation strategies come second
Alpha for the survey was α = 0.942. and third, but these categories have mean values of
Data analysis just under 4.0 (M = 3.9915, SD = 0.46490; and M =
3.9490, SD = 071071), which are relatively close to
The data collected were analysed quantitatively
the mean value of the leading category.
using SPSS 29. The authors obtained descriptive
The least frequently used strategies include
statistics (Min, Max, Means, and Standard
the three other cognitive strategies of note-taking,
Deviations) from the questionnaires to examine the
encoding, and rehearsal with mean values of lower
participants’ use of the groups of strategies. The
than 3.7. It is interesting that affective strategies
score of the negative items (items 5, 6, 7, and 50) in receive the lowest mean of M = 3.4932 (SD =
the questionnaires were reversed before calculating 0.50366). This result is in stark contrast to the study

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Journal homepage: www.tapchithietbigiaoduc.vn
 Journal of educational equipment: Applied research, Volume 1, Issue 304 (January 2024)
ISSN 1859 - 0810

on vocabulary learning strategies of Afghanistan questionnaire of vocabulary learning strategies for

students (Hadi & Guo, 2020) in which affective ESL. Studies in Second Language Learning and
strategies lead the range of vocabulary learning Teaching, 8(2), 325–350. https://doi.org/10.14746/
strategies categories. This shows that the majority ssllt.2018.8.2.7
of English majors at VNUA is not fully aware of 4. Hadi, R. and Guo, X. (2020). A survey of
the significance of the strategies related to emotion beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies adopted
regulation when learning vocabulary. by EFL learners at Shaikh Zayed University, Cogent
The relatively high mean values of all strategies Education, 7:1, 1829803
indicate that vocabulary learning strategies are quite 5. Hashimi, Z., & Hadavi, M. (2015). Investigation
common among English majors at VNUA. However, of vocabulary learning strategies among EFL Iranian
these results are just provisional because of the limited medical sciences students. Procedia-Social and
number of participants. Moreover, future study using Behavioral Science, 192(2015), 629–637. https://
more data collecting instruments to investigate the doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.110
frequency of use as well as to examine how these 6. Le, T. T. H. (2021). Vocabulary learning
strategies are adopted, especially the effectiveness strategy and Vietnamese university students’ learning
of the strategies is needed to shed more light on the experience in English as medium of instruction
students’ use of vocabulary learning strategies. classrooms. International Journal of Instruction,
Conclusion 14(3), 117-132.
This study found that the most commonly 7. Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in
another language. New York: Cambridge University
used strategies among English majors at VNUA
Press.
are using dictionary, inferencing, activation, and
8. Nation, I. S. P. (2013). Learning Vocabulary
metacognitive.; the least commonly used strategies
in Another Language. Cambridge: Cambridge
include note-taking, encoding, rehearsal, and
University Press.
affective strategies. Teachers should give students
9. Nguyen, H. H. and Tran, T. B. N. (2019). The
instructions on how to apply effectively a wide range
correlation between vocabulary learning strategies
of strategies which should ensure the favourable
and vocabulary knowledge ò English-specialized
conditions for vocabulary acquisition including
students at Le Hong Phong gifted highschool. [Thesis,
spaced repetition, retrieval and recall, as well as ULIS] http://hdl.handle.net/ULIS_123456789/2134
creation (Nation, 2013; Webb, 2007) taking learners’ 10. O’Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990).
current vocabulary knowledge into consideration. Learning strategies in second language acquisition.
The vocabulary learning strategies instructions Cambridge University Press.
should be detailed, systematic, and imbedded in 11. Schmitt, & Schmitt. (1993).
all the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, Identifying and assessing vocabulary learning
and writing as well as other courses throughout the strategies. Thai TESOL Bulletin, 5(4), 27–33.
curriculum so that the students can understand the https://doi.org/10.0000/eric.edu.gov/ED380994
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