2014 Volume 28 Pages 15-25
This paper examines vocabulary learning strategies employed by underprepared college students majoring in engineering and their perception of strategy effectiveness. The students were divided into two classes and given the same weekly word quizzes. One class used a teacher-made handout to introduce new words and was not assigned any homework. The other class used a textbook and was assigned writing homework. The students in both classes were given a questionnaire and asked to identify which strategies they used and which strategies they thought were effective. The survey found that reviewing the handout and verbal repetition were employed the most in the class using the handouts. On the other hand, writing repetition was the most used strategy in the class which had been assigned homework. Regarding strategy effectiveness, approximately half of the students in the former class thought verbal repetition was effective while about 50% of those in the latter class found writing repetition helpful. The survey data suggest that the type of teaching material or homework can influence not only the choice of vocabulary learning strategy but also the perceived strategy effectiveness among students.