Teachers and Learners’ Views towards the Use of Learning Strategies to Develop Vocabulary.

Abstract

Nowadays, English is regarded as the most spoken and expanded language in the world as a whole. For that the number of people who desire to learn this language is always increasing. The first aspect of language that those people should acquire to master this global language is vocabulary. For that matter, vocabulary plays an essential role in the language learning process. In learning a new language, foreign language students should start learning the words before learning any other aspects. Therefore, learners may be able to learn the other aspects of the target language just through obtaining sufficient vocabulary. Foreign language learners can acquire words by using some strategies which they will mainly facilitate their learning process and make it faster. This research aims to investigate teachers and learners’ perspectives toward language learning trategies use. Accordingly, in this study there are three research questions: (1) Do learners face difficulties in learning vocabulary? (2) Do learners hold positive perspectives toward using language learning strategies to improve their vocabulary repertoire? (3) Are learners and teachers aware of the importance of language learning trategies in boosting learners’ vocabulary repertoire? To acquire the needed data, two questionnaires are administered to third year teachers and students of English in the Department of Foreign Languages at Mila University. The analysis of the answers show that learners face difficulties in learning the different types of vocabulary. Also, they confirm that both teachers and learners have positive perspectives toward the ffectiveness of language learning strategies in developing vocabulary. Their positive perspectives indicate their awareness of the importance of language learning strategies in learning vocabulary.