AN INVESTIGATION OF EFL NURSING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES (VLS) FOR MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY ACQUISITION

AN INVESTIGATION OF EFL NURSING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES (VLS) FOR MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY ACQUISITION

This research sought to investigate EFL nursing students’ use of vocabulary learning strategies to learn medical terminology and further assess strategies used in relation to learning outcomes measured by two types of vocabulary knowledge: meaning recall (passive recall) and meaning recognition (passive recognition). The participants, 138 EFL nursing students in Taiwan, completed a meaning recall test and a meaning recognition test in week 8 of the semester, and they then took the English proficiency test (TOEIC Bridge) and filled out a vocabulary learning strategies survey in the following week. Both vocabulary outcomes had moderate correlations with English proficiency. Strategy use patterns appeared for the nursing students’ medical terminology acquisition. They focused on looking up for corresponding meaning in L1 using a search engine, then learning orthographical and phonological forms to facilitate retention. A Pearson Correlation Analysis revealed that inferring word meaning, utilizing mnemonic devices for retention, and managing vocabulary learning were significantly and positively correlated with both vocabulary scores. In contrast, social strategies were the least conducive to achievement.