Exploring vocabulary learning strategies adopted by Bangladeshi tertiary level students

Abstract

Vocabulary is an essential element of language learning process and a very basic structure of language development. Students of Bangladesh use different strategies to learn new words. This study investigates which strategies tertiary students are following for vocabulary learning, what they are thinking about the strategies and what kind of challenges they are facing while vocabulary learning. The researcher of this study applied a qualitative multiple case study approach among five participants from five different universities in Bangladesh. The participants were invited to participate in one-to-one vocabulary learning sessions where the researcher showed them a list of vocabulary items. After looking at the list for 10 minutes, the participants were getting interval for 15 minutes. After the interval, they were asked to recall the vocabulary items and write them. All the participants were interviewed immediately after the writing activity. The findings of the study suggested that students were interested to use contextualisation, translation, and synonyms while remembering new words. They also mentioned that word related to academic study and social media were easier to remember. The participants believed that traditional dictionary has been replaced with digital online thesaurus which is very useful. However, poor internet connectivity does not allow them to utilise online thesaurus when they required. This study will help students to know about vocabulary learning strategies and teachers will know about the strategies students are following to remember new words.