The effects of strategy training on learners' vocabulary development

Vocabulary knowledge is one of the most important factors that affect the language learning process. However, it is a problem for learners to learn vocabulary due to the lack of vocabulary learning strategies. The purpose of this study was to determine whether teaching learners vocabulary learning strategies explicitly helps them improve their vocabulary knowledge. The present study was carried out during the first term of the 2008-2009 academic year at University of Gaziantep, Higher School of Foreign Languages. One hundred Level B (pre-intermediate) preparatory class students, who were chosen randomly, participated in the study. First, a pilot study was conducted and reliability of the questionnaire was calculated as .81 while it was .79 for the proficiency test. The control and the experimental group were administered the pre-questionnaire and pre-proficiency test before the treatment started. The analysis of the data obtained from those suggested that two groups do not have a statistical difference in terms of vocabulary proficiency (p = .407) and percentage of using vocabulary learning strategies. The treatment took eight weeks during when the subjects in the experimental group had lessons two-hour a week about vocabulary learning strategies and had opportunity to use these strategies doing activities. The subjects were given the post-questionnaire and the post-proficiency test after the treatment. The results suggested that the groups had a statistical difference in terms of vocabulary proficiency (p = .023). The analysis of the data revealed that teaching vocabulary learning strategies explicitly helps learners adopt more strategies, which leads vocabulary development. The experimental group was observed to use more vocabulary learning strategies after the treatment and while there was no statistical difference between the control and the experimental groups in terms of proficiency before the treatment, the subjects in the experimental group improved their vocabulary knowledge much more than the control group.Key Words: Vocabulary learning strategies, Strategy instruction