Assessment of Vocabulary Learning Strategy of English Language Majoring Students: The Case of third Year

This study aimed at assessing third year English language and Literature department students’ vocabulary learning strategies. The assessment was limited to 2010 E.C graduating class of English Language and Literature department students in Assosa University. Purposive sampling technique was used to collect data for the research. This was primarily because the researcher was teaching this class and have got an opportunity to personally experienced how the students had hardly working on with vocabulary. In addition, these students had taken many courses on vocabulary learning strategies and they were the ideal class to check if they have understood and mastered the necessary skills during their stay in the university. This research is a survey research type. It applied quantitative and qualitative research methodology. The research used both questionnaire and interview data collection tools. All the 22 students were considered as data source. The data gathering tools used to gather data from the respondent was questionnaire and semi structured interview questions. The questionnaire has 25 items categorized in to six thematic areas. All the distributed questionnaires were filled and returned. The returned questionnaires were tallied and tabulated. And then, the tabulated data were interpreted, analyzed and the data collected through the semi structured questions were narrated and conclusion was drawn. The study revealed almost all students were highly relied on using dictionary to support their new vocabulary learning whenever they come across new words that may limit the level of their comprehension. Many students failed to use the social strategy of vocabulary learning which really affects their tendency of comprehending the texts. In turn, their failure to use this strategy affects their classroom interactions with and among themselves in the classroom. Consequently, the researcher recommends English language learners need to figure out different vocabulary learning strategies and their importance to themselves and consciously utilize them during their language learning. In addition, all English language learners need to keep record of all the vocabulary learning strategies available in the field that helps them to which strategy is effective to use. Next, all English language learners need to identify which vocabulary learning strategy is more effective at the context in which they are in. Finally, noticing that all the vocabulary learning strategies have their own importance in facilitating his/her learning of the target language, the students should appropriately use the best vocabulary learning strategy that might help them get what they need. Keywords: Vocabulary, learning, strategies, social strategy, context DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/9-7-01 Publication date: April 30th 201