Improving communicative competence has been the goal of foreign language learning. In order to develop the learners' communicative competence, effective vocabulary learning and teaching are important, because vocabulary has an inseparable relation wit...
Improving communicative competence has been the goal of foreign language learning. In order to develop the learners' communicative competence, effective vocabulary learning and teaching are important, because vocabulary has an inseparable relation with fluency in communicative competence. To develop communicative ability in English classes, students should be taught the learning strategies for their "self-directed learning", because the ultimate goal of English classes is the autonomous learner. It is necessary to present the learners to use them in appropriate ways.
This study investigated English vocabulary proficiency and attitude toward vocabulary learning in relation to the use of vocabulary learning strategies for middle school students. For this study, the experiment was conducted for four weeks with 60 middle school students. Before the experiment, the students were given the same test and a survey questionnaire to investigate the relationship between vocabulary proficiency and vocabulary learning strategy and attitude and then divided into three groups according to their vocabulary proficiency. During the experiment, they were provided with guessing strategy training.
The major findings obtained from this study were as follows. First there was a difference in vocabulary production proficiency before and after the experiment. Second, the vocabulary guessing strategy training improved the learners' use of vocabulary strategy. Third, this study revealed that students have more positive attitude toward vocabulary learning.
As the findings suggest, the guessing strategy training for middle school students is effective and productive in promoting vocabulary learning and the attitude toward vocabulary learning strategies. Therefor, the implication of this study was that students need to be trained to make more use of various vocabulary learning strategies. Also, teachers should encourage students to use strategy effectively to develop vocabulary production proficiency and to have a positive attitude toward vocabulary learning.