Exploring Vietnamese EFL Students’ Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

For many decades, English has served as the international language. Learning English may be a challenge for some students, and vocabulary is an important challenge. However, it is possible to improve vocabulary with various strategies. This study explored Vietnamese EFL students’ use of vocabulary learning strategies to help improve foreign languages. The purpose of the study is to investigate the extent students used varied vocabulary learning strategies and some useful strategies based on students’ points of view. 77 college students responded to a questionnaire comprising six groups of vocabulary learning strategies, and five of those took part in a focus group interview. The data analysis from the questionnaire showed that the extent that students have used those strategies ranked from social strategies, followed by metacognitive strategies, compensation strategies, memory strategies, affective strategies, and cognitive strategies is at the last position. Then, it could be seen from the interview that learning those six strategies might improve students’ confidence, help them learn more vocabulary strategies, and can benefit their self-study process.