A Case Study of the Vocabulary Learning Strategy Use of Twenty Chinese ESL Learners in Australia

Abstract

This case study investigates the vocabulary learning strategy use of twenty Chinese ESL learners in Australia to examine what implications these have for ESL vocabulary learning and teaching. The sample of twenty Chinese ESL learners was selected from different batches of ESL graduates from an Australian English Language Institute before they commenced their university studies in Australia. Data were collected using a combination of information-elicitation techniques: a vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire, an interview, and a reading vocabulary task. The questionnaire survey and the interview were used to elicit information about their vocabulary learning strategy use and vocabulary learning experiences. To increase the validity and reliability of their face-to-face interview responses, the interview questions were emailed to the participants to answer online. The think-aloud protocols and discussions during the vocabulary task performance provided a greater insight into the thinking process behind the participants’ VLS selection and showed how they deduced word meanings of unfamiliar English vocabulary in the reading vocabulary task. The data analysis was mainly qualitative but some quantitative analysis was required in some sections. The Chinese ESL learners in this study apparently show a greater preference for the translation, metacognitive regulation, memory and cognitive strategies than for the determination, metacognitive and social strategies. The findings demonstrate the indirect influence of learners’ previous English vocabulary learning on their English language skill development. This study also suggests a close link between vocabulary learning strategy selection, vocabulary knowledge and language skill development.