An Analysis of Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Learners

Vocabulary learning is one of the major challenges foreign language learners face during the process of learning a language (Ghazal, 2007). One way to alley the problem is to assist students in becoming independent learners during the course of L2 vocabulary learning. Furthermore, Ghazal (2007) explains that this could be achieved through instructing learners to apply vocabulary learning strategies as efficiently as possible. This study has reviewed significant literature and the importance of reviewing the literature in the field was to realize the implications of our understanding of this relevant literature for the study referred to in this paper. The definitions, taxonomies and factors which pertain to language learning strategies and which are present in the literature have clarified the concepts and helped in the data analysis, i.e. in the identification and coding of the strategies reported by the respondents and later in the interpretation of the findings (Cusen & Buja, 2009). Furthermore, this research brings to light the common strategies that learners use in vocabulary learning. It also discusses the different strategies at length and suggests valuable recommendations and concludes with further research implications.