A survey of beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies adopted by EFL learners at Shaikh Zayed University

Abstract This study explored the “Beliefs about Vocabulary Learning and Vocabulary Learning Strategies” among Afghan EFL Learners at Shaikh Zayed University, Afghanistan. The aim of the research was to find out the most and least strategies adopted by the learners. A questionnaire developed by Gu (2018), see Appendix, which contains four components: beliefs about vocabulary learning, metacognitive regulation of vocabulary learning, cognitive strategies of vocabulary learning, and affective strategies of vocabulary learning—was administered to 177 undergraduate students (155 males and 22 females). The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20). The results of the study revealed that learners: (1) preferred learning words through use (contextual learning) rather than memorization; (2) had the ability to identify, select, and understand essential words; (3) preferred more readings in addition to feedback they received; (4) mostly relied on a dictionary, guessing, repetition, and auditory encoding in learning vocabulary and (5) were capable of managing and controlling their emotions, both external and internal and positive and negative, in learning vocabulary.


PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
Learning and memorizing words in a foreign language is both challenging and essential. Obviously, learners have different opinions about how to learn words. So, having knowledge about the way learners learn the words and the way they think about vocabulary learning is important. Furthermore, effective and ineffective learners have also been applying different strategies. Therefore, if learners know about the way learners learn vocabulary can help learners how to apply learning strategies effectively and also helps teachers select the best approaches towards vocabulary teaching which can be to the benefit of language learners. Thus, this study investigated the learners' beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies. The results revealed that learners hold strong beliefs about vocabulary learning; however, the results of beliefs were not consistent in most part with the learning strategies adopted by them. So, this research will help learners to know more about vocabulary learning strategies, and with the lecturers to include learnings strategies training in their curriculum.

Introduction
In today's world of globalization, no one can ignore the significance of the English language. The role of the English language can be seen trending more in technology and in fields including engineering, medicine, and education. In Afghanistan, English language is taught in schools and universities as a curriculum subject. Thus, learners are required to master the language in order to help them achieve the required standards. In learning a language, comprehension is necessary for it to be useful and meaningful to learners and to ease the process of acquisition (Krashen, 1982). For comprehending oral and written materials, vocabulary is an essential skill that must be mastered by the learners. It is vital because without sufficient vocabulary, it would be difficult to comprehend the inputs learners receive (Alqahtani, 2015). Zimmerman (1997) (as cited in Lin et al., 2013) points out that "vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to EFL learners". Therefore, vocabulary has a significant role in language learning, and unlike grammar, which is a system of a limited numbers, vocabulary is an open set of many thousands of items. Hence, it is considered as one of the most important skills in language learning. On the other hand, beliefs refers to learners' intuitive knowledge of their second language learning, which is influenced by their interaction with the outside world (Barcelos, 2003). Beliefs, like other learner variable, has a great impact on learning process. Beliefs facilitate the way to take necessary steps in the process of L2 learning by learners. So, vocabulary learning beliefs, another learner variable, influences vocabulary learning, and greatly influence vocabulary learning strategies. "Beliefs are halfway between information and activity; between people and their performance (Alarcón Hernandez, Ortiz Navarrete, & Díaz Larenas, 2015, cited in Jahangir Mardali & Masood Siyyari, 2019. Therefore, learners' beliefs may, however, interact with their vocabulary learning strategies to become reflective learners. Learners' beliefs about vocabulary may have some consequences on applying vocabulary learning strategies in effective way. The stronger their beliefs, the better consequences, which may lead to their best use of strategies in vocabulary learning practices. Unfortunately, no studies have been carried out on vocabulary learning strategies in Afghanistan. This paper is an attempt to investigate vocabulary learning strategies EFL learners adopted at Shaikh Zayed University. There are two research questions: (1) What are the EFL learners' beliefs about vocabulary learning? (2) What are the most and least common strategies for learning vocabulary utilized by EFL learners at Shaikh Zayed University? Payne (1994, as cited in Hashimi &Hadavi, 2015) identify fives steps in learning vocabulary. The steps are: identifying new words, understanding the words form and meaning, retaining the form and meaning of words in memory, and use the words in real circumstances. The findings reveal that picking up new words, and retaining the forms and meaning only will not help in increasing vocabulary. Instead, using the words in real situation will help learners to retain words in a long-term memory.

How vocabulary should be learned?
Brenda D. Smith (2008) identifies seven essential steps in learning and remembering new words. Those are "rhyming words, association and organization, understanding the structure of words, using a dictionary, recognizing word families (prefixes, roots, and suffixes), understanding word's origin, and using analogies".

Definition and classification of vocabulary learning strategies
A number of researchers (Gu & Johnson, 1996;O'Malley & Chamot, 1990;Oxford, 1989;Schmitt, 2008) have developed various classifications of vocabulary learning strategies.  defines vocabulary learning strategies as " … the process by which an EFL learner obtains, stores, retrieves, and uses vocabulary items when encountering a word for the first time. " Fan, 2003, cited in Mo Caiyi, 2014 defines vocabulary learning strategies as "both general approaches and specific actions or techniques (either mental or behavioral) used by a learner to make the vocabulary learning become easier, faster and better". O'Malley and Chamot (1990) classify learning strategies into metacognitive, cognitive and socio-affective strategies. Nation (2001) classifies into three categories: (1) planning (2) source, and (3) processes. Nation also proposed that in vocabulary learning the following items also play a crucial role: "context, word parts, dictionary, learning from cards, and finding and learning "multiword units" (Gu, 2018).  vocabulary learning taxonomy is divided into two categories: (1) discovery strategies and (2) consolidation strategies. Discovery includes determination and social strategies. Consolidation includes social strategies, memory strategies, cognitive strategies, and metacognitive strategies (Gu, 2018). Gu's (2013) taxonomy includes three components: beliefs, metacognitive and cognitive. The metacognitive includes selective attention and self-initiation. The cognitive includes inferencing, using dictionary, note-taking, rehearsal, encoding, and activation (Gu, 2018).

Studies on vocabulary learning strategies
Vocabulary learning in second language (L2) is hard to remember because of its size and quantity and learners need to use deliberate learning strategies. Deliberate learning in this sense means an appropriate use of learning strategies. "The appropriate choice and deployment of strategies can make a big difference in determining if vocabulary learning becomes an efficient or inefficient, and even pleasant or frustrating experience" (Gu, 2018). Learning vocabulary for L2 learners is a challenge that requires a more demanding workload. (Gu, 2018). "We start the whole process of language learning by learning the most basic words and phrases, and we never stop developing our vocabulary even at the highest level" (Gu, 2018). In addition to deliberate learing and deployment of effective strategies, inadequate knowledge of vocabulary, their patterns and forms, and frequency are the challenges learners face with. (Gu, 2018;Meara, 1996, andNation, 1982). Meara (1996) stated that once learners have got over the initial stages of second language acquisition, vocabulary is the greatest source of problems for them.
Several studies have shown that language learning "requires learners to actively assimilate new information into their existing mental structures, thus creating increasingly rich and complex structures" (Oxford, 1989). The learning process taking place in the L2 classroom, learners' learning styles, the shifting of goal of teaching and learning from teaching methods toward getting learners to demonstrate the ability of achieving their goals (effective learning), and the information processing model have made researchers interested in empirical research, which aims to confirm the usefulness of learning strategies (Krashen, 1989, andSchmitt, 1993). O' Malley and Chamot (1990) have done comprehensive research on learning strategies and have classified learners into two types: effective and ineffective. Bialystok (1981) (as cited in Schmitt & Schmitt, 1993) found that "four strategies (formal practice, monitoring, functional practice, and inferencing) correlated positively with language achievement". Oxford (1986as cited in O'Malley & Chamot, 1990 concludes that learning strategies "improve language performance, encourage language autonomy, are teachable, and expand the role of teacher in significant ways". Cohen (2007) states that there are three factors included in language learning: "action, goal and situation". So, from this and other research findings we can conclude that learners' behaviors, learning strategies, learning styles, and context of learning are essential elements in making the process of learning more fruitful, and learners will be able to develop the habits of autonomous and effective learning.
Previous research on vocabulary learning reveals some important results. Fan (2003, as cited in Seyyed Mohammad Reza Amirian & Zahra, 2013 argues that "All vocabulary learning strategies consist of five steps: (1) to encounter the word, (2) to get a visual or auditory image of the word, (3) to learn the meaning of the word, (4) to make a strong memory link between the forms and the meaning of the words and (5) to use the words". A study conducted by Ahmad (1989) among undergraduate Sudanese students reveal that dictionary use and note-taking were the two most common strategies among them. Gu and Johnson (1996) carried out a study on 850 Chinese college students. The results indicate that there was a significant relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and language learning particularly language comprehension.  conducted a study on 600 Japanese high school, university and adult learners. The study finds that dictionary use, oral and written repetition, words spelling and contextual guessing were the most frequently used strategies, whereas the key word method, semantic maps and first language cognate were the least frequently used strategies. Another study, which was conducted by Zou and Zhou (2017) on 250 Chinese ethnic minority students at Leshan Normal University. Among them were125 Han students. The findings of the study reveal that most students preferred learning vocabulary in context. The findings also show that ethnic minority learners adopted almost all vocabulary learning strategies rather than Han learners, and the two groups of students differed in guessing meaning from the context, using native language, selective attention, visual repetition, association and dictionary strategies. Lin et al. (2013) also carried out a study on learning English vocabulary in Chinese context. This study, too, discloses that in Chinese context, many college students said that vocabulary is an important factor in learning a language and English vocabulary is one of the main challenges to understand the reading materials. In another study which was administered to Chinese college students, the results of the research state that there were two types of Chinese students: effective and ineffective. Effective students were those who used several learning strategies and had a high positive attitude and great motivation toward vocabulary learning. On the contrary, ineffective students used less learning strategies. The study results disclose that effective learners used the following vocabulary learning strategies: using context, learning words in sentences, using a bilingual dictionary, doing extra reading besides the textbooks, and focusing on spelling. A study conducted by Abidah, Rashida, and Faizah (2014) among Malaysian students reveals that majority of students relied on discovery strategies, and few were able to adopt the cognitive strategies. A study carried out by Serkan and Veli (2010) among Turkish EFL students find that they were weak in utilizing cognitive and metacognitive strategies, but were stronger in determination and social strategies. In another study conductd by Abdul Kadir et al. (2014) among Malaysian found that discovery strategies were more favovered by the learners. A study conducted by Amirian and Heshmatifar (2013) among Iranian EFL learners the rsult revealed that guessinng from context and dictionary were the most popular strategies among the learner. O'Malley et al., (1985) indicated that students tended to use a varitey of learning stratgies in the acquistion proess, but typically they used more familiar strategies. Their study also indicated that strategy training can be effective for integrative language tasks. From these and other studies we can conclude that both cognitive and metacognitive strategies are essential strategies for vocabulary learning.

Data
The data were gathered from EFL learners majoring in English Linguistics and Literature from Shaikh Zayed University (hereinafter SZU), Khost, Afghanistan. The data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 20).

Research questions
The paper found answer(s) to the following questions: (1) What are the beliefs of learners about vocabulary learning at SZU?
(2) What are the most and least strategies used by EFL learners at SZU?

Piloting the questionnaire
The questionnaire was piloted with a group of students for additional feedback on the clarity of the items. The participants were selected randomly and consisted of 48 (39 males and 9 females) EFL learners studying in the Department of English at different levels of language proficiency. The participants were asked to mark the strategies use on a 5-point Likert scale: (1) strongly disagree to (5) strongly agree. Following Gu (2018), the items were grouped in logical sequence (Beliefs, Metacognitive, Cognitive, and Affective). They were required to mark these items regarding wording, format, and content. After collecting the questionnaire, the researcher had an open discussion with the students, hearing their responses and concerns, resulting in the questionnaire increasing to 65 items.

Instrument
A questionnaire (VLQ6.4) ( Table 1) developed and validated by Gu (2018) was carried out to elicit learners' responses about the vocabulary learning strategies and their beliefs about vocabulary learning. The questionnaire had two parts: (1) belief about vocabulary learning and (2) learning strategies. The learning strategies included two parts: (1) metacognitive and (2) cognitive. The students were asked to elicit responses to the belief section (10 items), metacognitive strategies (7 items), and cognitive strategies (45 items). In addition, the questionnaire didn't include affective strategies. The researcher added affective strategy since it is considered important by O' Malley and Chamot (1990), Oxford (1989), Schmitt and Schmitt (1993), and Ahmad (1989) (See Appendix). Item 19 (I use common sense and knowledge of the world when guessing the meaning of a word), item 48 (To help me remember a word, I try to "see" the spelling of the word in my mind, and item 52 (When I try to remember a new word, I link it to a sound-alike word that I know) were removed as they were complicated for the learners and most of them were confused in guessing the meaning even though the researcher explained them several times. There were 65 items presented in Table 1. 59 items of the Gu (2018) questionnaire and the researcher added 6 items of affective strategy. The frequencies were measured by 5-point Likert-scale from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree). Table 1 states total items on the questionnaire. Belief section contained (10 items), metacognitive strategies contained (7 items), cognitive strategies contained (45 items), and affective contained (6 items).

Data analysis
The data collected were analyzed quantitatively. The author first obtained descriptive statistics from the questionnaire to examine the state of participants' use of vocabulary beliefs and vocabulary strategies adopted by them. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed using Statistic Package for Social Science (SPSS 20) by the author. The main methods were analysis of variance. Specific work included: overall descriptive statistics of all the strategies used (Means and Standard Deviations). Strategies which were ranked above (3) were considered the most frequent-used strategies, and those which were ranked below (3) were considered the least or never used strategies. Table 2 states that 177 participants enrolled in different EFL classes at various levels of instruction were asked to complete the questionnaire. Among them were 22 female students. The participants represented the population of all 34 states in Afghanistan. A majority of participants (72%) were L1 speakers of Pashto, and (20%) were L1 speakers of Dari and the rest were other minority groups who speak different languages. Participants ranged in age from 21 to 32 years. Vocabulary was being learned implicitly in reading, listening and speaking. No explicit teaching of vocabulary was taken place. The participants were all undergraduate students who had almost 8-10 years experience of learning the English language and they were from the second, third and fourth classes of the English Department at Shaikh Zayed University, Khost, Afghanistan.

General tendencies of vocabulary learning strategies
Survey findings, as well as both students and teachers' responses, show that good knowledge of vocabulary can greatly influence the ability of studying and using English language effectively. Both students and teachers claim that inappropriate learning and use of language is because of the poor knowledge of the English vocabulary. Poor knowledge of vocabulary can cause many problems in communication, and learners will not be able to study and learn the language well. In order to be able to learn, study and use English language more appropriately or native-like, learners need effective vocabulary learning strategies. Table 3 shows the total means and standards deviation of learners' beliefs about vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategies. From Table 3, we can infer that the total mean and standard deviation of beliefs is (M = 4.062, SD.322), proving that students have a positive attitude and image of vocabulary learning. The total mean and standard deviation of metacognitive is (M3.45, SD .411) showing that students are still able to plan, monitor and organize their learning strategies despite the fact that they have ranked it just above the standard. The total mean and standard deviation of cognitive is (M = 3.71, SD.236). It shows that the students are still good enough in regulating their learning strategies. The total mean and standard deviation of affective strategy is (M = 3.57, SD .465). The mean (M) and standard deviation (SD) denote that students  prefer this strategy more than metacognitive strategy. The reason could be the process of managing emotion, both negative and positive, which might cause one to believe that a positive attitude, emotion, and feeling can boost the learning process.

Learners' beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies
In this section, the overall patterns of beliefs and strategies will be discussed separately.   Table 4 that students strongly hold the beliefs that pronunciation, spelling, understanding words' structure, memorization, retention and extra reading might help them in increasing their size of vocabulary. On the other hand, they never rely on learning meaning of words in their native language as well remembering words' lists and dictionary.

Vocabulary learning strategies adopted by SZU students
Metacognitive strategies are essential strategies for leaners because they help them to understand and control their own performances. These strategies guide learners toward their own learning. Overall, these strategies help learners in generating ways of learning and evaluation. During the analysis, it was found that learners ranked metacognitive strategies lower than affective strategies. As illustrated in Table 5, there are two strategies which were given to the learners for the evaluation: selective attention and self-initiation. Among them, self-attention was ranked higher (M = 4.22, SD = .796), and self-initiation was ranked second (M = 3.29, SD = .494). According to the analysis, learners are interested in doing more extra reading beyond the textbook, never focused on rote learning, and never prefer to read only for the exam. In addition, according to the analysis, learners feel comfortable in selecting and picking up relevant words. In all the items, as showed in Table 4 Table 4 that learners were more adept in doing extra reading, were able to pick up important words, knew which vocabulary is needed, which in turn these skills play essential role in increasing vocabulary size. In contrast, they were not merely interested in things limited to classroom learning only. They go beyond in the learning process.
Cognitive strategies are the strategies which learners adopt in order to make their learning process more successful and controllable. Cognitive strategies involve deliberate manipulation of learning strategies to improve learning performance. As it is stated in Table 6, cognitive strategies involve 6 strategies: inferencing, dictionary, note-taking, rehearsal, encoding, and activation. Among them dictionary was ranked higher (M = 4.46, SD = 0.82); inferencing (M = 4.29, SD = 1.09) comes second; notetaking (M = 3.71, SD = 1.45) comes third; rehearsal (M = 3.31, SD = 1.556) comes fifth; encoding (M = 3.17, SD = 1.493) comes sixth. Activation is never or the least common strategies adopted by learners. In all the items, according to Table 4     52.I memorize the commonly used roots and prefixes (e.g., "un" to "do" to form the word "undo", in which "do" is the root and "un" is a prefix).   Table 6 that learners usually preferred dictionary use, inferencing, rehearsal, and note taking, but they were not good enough in activation strategy.   129) is never or least commonly used item adopted by the learners. In summary, we can say that learners were able to break tasks, sharing their experiences, know the importance of self-reward, and to control their level of anxiety and stress, which are considered important factors in the process of vocabulary learning.

Discussion on beliefs
Learners at Shaikh Zayed University believe in the importance of vocabulary learning, as they regard it as an important part of language learning. But because of the lack of sufficient knowledge of learning strategies and learning methods, which put them in trouble as it seems from the Tables 5 and 6, they ranked metacognitive and cognitive strategies just above the selected standard. They were, however, still positive about the vocabulary learning despite the claim they have made about the inappropriate use of learning strategies as they cannot put the words in real practice. The two types of strategies on beliefs show that learners believed that vocabulary should be memorized (3.72). They also predominantly believed that vocabulary should be learned through use (contextual learning) (M = 4.525). Within the first strategy, learners believed that more words should be memorized, but they don't trust that learning the meaning of all words in their native language would help them to retain the words in a long-term memory. They also prefer learning words in context to memorizing word lists or dictionary. One reason might be that learning a meaning of a word in a native language and memorizing word list or dictionary are soon forgettable and hard to use in real context. Within the second strategy, they believed that at least a leaner should learn spelling, pronunciation, meaning and basic usage of a word. They preferred the basic usage of vocabulary and mastered the phonology and orthography of the target vocabulary.

Discussion on the three types of vocabulary learning strategies
According to the data, we can say that learners predominantly ranked cognitive higher (M = 3.71) than metacognitive (M = 3.45). Among the metacognitive and affective, learners ranked affective (M = 3.57) higher. It can be inferred from the most and least strategies adopted by the learners shown in Table 5, 6, 7 that learners have adopted the habit of autonomous learning and usually believed that in spite of the difficulties in applying rehearsal learning strategies, they are still able to demonstrate the ability of good learning behaviors and habits. But, they seldom put words in use and haven't demonstrated the ability of using words in real context. The main reason could be not having access to the real situation (native-like environment) and the demand of managing the learning process, which they might not be able to control the time effectively, and the amount of effort they should put forward in the learning process. Overall, the memory strategies (rehearsal and encoding) are not well-developed by them, and probably the basic reason could be that they cannot master the more advanced vocabulary in the context of Afghanistan.
The Table 5, 6, 7 presents descriptive statistics on subcategories at the three dimensions: Metacognitive, Cognitive and Affective. From the Mean and Standard Deviation, it can be inferred that learners are less successful in implementing activation strategy. In metacognitive strategies, they are good enough in selecting and picking up essential words and most of them are aware of the importance of vocabulary learning, and are not more interested in rote learning and short-term retention. They are more positive with regard to regulating vocabulary learning, preferably with selective attention (M = 4.22, SD = .796), and self-initiation was ranked second (M = 3.29, SD = .494). They extensively reported doing more reading besides textbooks, and can pick up important words in a passage. This indicates that they have the ability of knowing which words are important and how to regulate them in order to learn them effectively. They were more positive about taking advantages of multiple resources rather than only focusing on what they are being taught in the classes.
Cognitive strategies consist of six categories, namely guessing, dictionary, note-taking, rehearsal, encoding, and activation strategies. Among them, dictionary (M = 4.46, SD = 0.82) ranks highest. They not only use the dictionary for comprehension and elaboration, but they also extensively use for looking-up strategies mainly for removing affixes from the stems or roots. So, we can infer that they are eager to use dictionary strategy extensively preferably using it to check the meaning of new words, and making sure their guessing matched with the meaning of words they have encountered in context. The learners rank guessing as the second highest strategy. They reported using guessing extensively by applying background knowledge and linguistic cues. This infers that they apply various strategies for unlocking the meaning of known and unknown words. Thus, one can say that they might have received a substantial language input and have developed the ability of the strategies, namely, top-down, to comprehend words and phrases in context. This is in line with the research finding of Nation (1990), who said "passage learners can guess unknown words from the context at least around eighty percent". Despite lack of evidence, there is still a link between dictionary use and guessing strategy. "When readers encounter new words, they usually guess the meaning of the words from the context. But, to make sure their guessing matches, they consult dictionary often" (Nation, 1990).
Guessing words from context is a useful strategy, but in order to verify the meaning of words, it is suggested to consult a dictionary. This does not only help learners to make sure of their guessing, but also helps learners to deepen their vocabulary knowledge (Nation, 1990). The third most adopted strategy is note-taking strategies. They use notes for choosing which word to put into notebook what Gu (2013) calls "meaning-oriented" and deciding what information goes into notes what Gu (2013) calls "usage-oriented". They reported note-taking to keep the meaning of words and their usage. Thus, one can infer that they might use note-taking to deepen their knowledge of vocabulary meaning, their usage, write their equivalence in the native language, and use it as a reference for later studies. Rehearsal (M = 3.31, SD = 1.556) was ranked the fourth most adopted strategy. Rehearsal contains three categories, namely, using word lists, oral repetition, and visual repetition. Oral repetition was ranked highest than using word lists and visual repetition. They were less likely to use encoding strategies than the others. Among encoding strategies, use of word structure ranked highest, contextual encoding ranked second which indicates that they are still trying to use more meaningful learning strategies by analyzing the word structure (removing prefixes and suffixes from the stem), and contextual meaning. Visual encoding was ranked third which shows that learners are good enough in creating visual images or they do believe that creating a visual image or practicing learned words with some forms of actions will help them retain the words in a long-term memory. Auditory encoding was ranked the lowest. Activation strategy, among the others, was ranked the lowest. One can infer that students do not have the opportunity to take advantage of this strategy or they might not be able to put forward their efforts and manage the time effectively. This is also in line with research findings of Gu and Johnson (1996) who state that this strategy "demands the management of time and more efforts". But, it is not in line with their beliefs of learning words through use. They actually believe that learning words through use and in context is necessary, but as a matter of fact, they reported that they cannot fully put them in practice in a real sense. Interestingly, affective strategy was ranked higher (M = 3.57, M = .465) than metacognitive strategy. The reason could be that they are strong enough in managing their level of stress and anxiety, and they are eagerly trying to seek opportunities to practice English with both their teachers and classmates. They may be seeking to learn new vocabulary using effective emotional strategies, such as habit of studying in chunks, rewarding, sharing feelings, and never letting their level of stress and anxiety jeopardize their learning process.

Findings
The research paper reported the beliefs and vocabulary learning strategies of EFL learners at Shaikh Zayed University, Khost, Afghanistan. Major findings of the study are reported. Then, pedagogical implications are addressed. Finally, suggestions for the future research are discussed.
After comprehensive analysis of the research mainly through questionnaire, the following findings were drawn: In the two dimensions of beliefs, most EFL learners at Shaikh Zayed University preferred for words to be learned through use rather than memorization. However, they still believe in memorization, and the findings of the beliefs are not quite consistent with their vocabulary learning strategies. Learners still need to move from rote learning to meaningful learning as they cannot use words accurately in real practice.
In the three dimensions of vocabulary learning strategies, cognitive strategies are the most frequently used strategies, followed by affective strategies and metacognitive strategies. Among the two sub-categories on metacognitive, selective attention was frequently used strategy than self-initiation. Among the sub-categories on cognitive strategies, contextual guessing, dictionary strategies and note-taking strategies were the most frequently used strategies, whereas activation was the least frequently used strategy. They were also not good in rehearsal and encoding strategies. In addition, the findings revealed that they were not favoring encoding strategies, particularly auditory encoding. They were good at utilizing affective strategies for managing their emotions, anxiety, and stresses.
Overall, learners strongly hold the position of meaningful learning, and are eager to deploy more strategies to enhance their learning process. However, they aren't able to utilize them in real situations. They were able to identify words that are important to them and give a great deal of attention, but the real intrinsic difficulties lie in oral repetition, rehearsal, and using the words in real communication. This is also in line with the research findings of Nation (Nation, 2001, as cited in Rashida &Rashida andFaizah, 2014) who proposed three stages of vocabulary learning: noticing, retrieval, and generating. These processes indicate that learners need to notice which words are important, how to transfer them from short-term memory into long-term memory to ease the process of retrieval, and how to use them in communication. So, we can conclude that even though learners are more positive toward their learning, but the context of learning needs to be changed as it is based on the lectures, dictionary usage, and teacher-centered.

Implication for teaching vocabulary to English learners as a foreign language in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, English Language is taught in both public and private schools and universities and it forms an integral part of curriculum, but it requires standardized. During the last four decades of war, the educational infrastructure of Afghanistan has witnessed major setbacks. Standardization is only one of those issues that need to be addressed.
The researcher, having witnessed the English language teaching-learning process in his capacity as a student, and finally as a university instructor, found it more or less ineffective. The reasons include the application of traditional methodologies, use of outmoded materials, and lack of well-developed activities. In order to teach effectively, Coady andHuckin (1997, cited in P. Duppenthaler, 2007) four things have great impact on the way teachers teach vocabulary: (1) the teacher's own learning experience, (2) the teacher's metacognitive attitude toward vocabulary learning, (3) the teacher's knowledge of the research in the field, and (4) the effect of experience gained through teaching. Therefore, teachers need to be aware of their teaching styles and should always be willing to try something new. It is crucial for the teachers to have in mind the concept that language learning and the relationship between learning outcomes, the learning process, learners' characteristics, learning conditions, and the context where learning occurs should be fully recognized or learners won't progress, particularly the poor learners (Stern, 1983). Planning and preparation are essential for effective vocabulary teaching. Also, teachers should have clear goals of teaching and explain them clearly to students. teachers are also required to select an approach that will help students to develop the ability of comprehending and recognising the target words. (Nation and Webb, 2013).
First, as it is stated elsewhere in this research, vocabulary is being taught implicitly only. Based on the research findings, it is recommended that teachers use a combination of explicit and implicit techniques in order to make the acquisition easier and comprehendible for learners. Second, in teaching comprehensible inputs are essentials, because they balance strategies to help the learners, particularly those who are struggling in the process of vocabulary acquisition. Teachers have to provide students comprehensible inputs. Teachers should be aware of their students' vocabulary levels and design tasks accordingly. Teachers should try to prepare learning and teaching tasks that are at or below the students' vocabulary level in order to make the teaching process more fruitful, effective and achievable. The theory of Zonal Proximal Development (ZPD) by Vygotsky is more applicable here. Third, the overall findings prove that students need to understand and learn strategies, so teaching strategies must be incorporated into the curriculum. This is in line with the results of Brown and Palinscar (1982), O'Malley and Chamot (1987) Wenden (1987) and O'Malley and Chamot (1990 who proposed that strategies training, particularly the combination of cognitive, metacognitive and socio/affective training, was more effective for enhancing learning.   30.I check the dictionary when I want to find out the similarities and differences between the meanings of related words (synonyms and antonyms).

Note-Taking
Choosing which Word to 31.I make a note when I think the meaning of the word I am looking up is commonly used.
Put Into Notebook 32.I make a note when I think the word I am looking up is related to my personal interest. 33.I make a note when I see a useful expression or phrase. Auditory Encoding 48.I put words that sound similar together in order to remember them (e.g., write and right). 49.When words are spelled similarly, I remember them together (e.g., bank "a financial institution" and bank "edge of the river").

Deciding
Use of Word-Structure 50.When I learn new words, I pay attention to prefixes, roots, and suffixes (e.g., inter-nation-al).
51.I intentionally study how English words are formed in order to remember more words (e.g., speaker is a derived form of "speak+er").
52.I memorize the commonly used roots and prefixes (e.g., "un" to "do" to form the word "undo", in which "do" is the root and "un" is a prefix).

Contextual Encoding
53.When I try to remember a word, I also try to remember the sentence in which the word is used.
54.I put words in set expressions or sentences in order to remember them. 55.I remember a new word together with the context where the new word appears.

Activation
Activation 56.I make up my own sentences using the words I just learned.
(Continued) 58.I try to use newly learned words in real situations (e.g., shopping). 59.I try to use newly learned words in imaginary situations in my mind.