Use of vocabulary learning strategies and common difficulties in vocabulary learning: responses of bengali medium secondary level EFL learners

Abstract

The study is conducted on 82 secondary EFL learners from three reputed Bengali medium schools at Dhaka City. The study attempts to investigate that what strategies the learners use most frequently as well as to what extent. Moreover, the study tries to find out the difficulties the learners face while learning new words. A questionnaire consists of 40 items has been made based on the vocabulary learning strategies, techniques, factors affecting vocabulary acquisition framework proposed by Schmitt (1997), Gu and Johnson (1996), Oxford and Crookall (1990) and Hedge (2000). Open-ended questions are designed to elicit information about vocabulary learning difficulties from the learners. The findings have revealed that the learners practice vocabulary-learning strategies while learning new words in a satisfactory level and determination strategies have been found to be used by most of the learners. In addition to that, the study has found some obstacles they face in learning new words. In this regard, the researcher has recommended some suggestions to overcome the barriers in her paper.