An Investigation into Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Senior High School Students in Taiwan

This study investigated the vocabulary learning strategies used by senior high school students in Taiwan. The aim was （a） to find out the most and the least frequently used strategies, and （b） to identify the differences in strategy use between good and poor learners. A total of 271 senior high school students in Taiwan participated in the study. A vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire and a Vocabulary Levels Test were administered to the participants. The collected data were analyzed by using SPSS version 10.0, including descriptive statistics, and independent-samples t-tests. The results are summarized as follows: （1） cognitive strategies were reported as the most frequently used strategies while social strategies were the least frequently used: （2） the most frequently used strategies were mostly related to "；role repetition"； or "；the form of a word；"； （3） the least frequently used strategies were related to the use of study aids, social learning, and dictionaries with L2 definitions； （4） there were significant differences in strategy use between good and poor learners. Good learners favored verbal repetition and tended to learn words in context, while poor learners favored written repetition and tended to learn words in isolation.