N
o. Strategies
Degree of Frequency Always use Often use Sometimes X
use Seldom use Never use
N % N % N % N % N %
1. Teacher checks student‟s flash cards or word list for accuracy.
7 2.5 20 7.2 41 14.9 80 29 128 46.4 0.91
2. Interact with native
speakers. 19 6.9 29 10.5 50 18.1 62 22.5 116 42 1.18
Table 10: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies (Consolidation) Data from the table indicates that asking teacher to check student‟s flash cards or word list for accuracy (Strategy 1) seemed to be infrequent choice to almost all participants (X = 0.91). 46.4% never did so and 29% seldom used this strategy.
Seeking opportunities to use new words such as interacting with native speakers (Strategy 2) would be an excellent way; however, this strategy seemed to be difficult for our informants to apply. 6.9% always used it while 116 students mean 42% never did so. Therefore this strategy is only with X = 1.18.
(2) Memory strategies
No.
Strategies
Degree of Frequency Always use Often use Sometimes X
use Seldom use Never use
N % N % N % N % N %
3.
Memorize the prefix, suffix and root of the word.
3 1.1 5 1.8 17 6.2 49 17.8 202 73.2 0.4
4. Memorize the part of
speech. 10 3.6 15 5.4 69 25 86 31.2 96 34.8 1.12
5.
Associate a new word with the words have already known.
18 6.5 44 15.9 86 31.2 91 33 37 13.4 1.69
6. Connect word to a
personal experience. 11 4 40 14.5 96 34.8 98 35.5 31 11.2 1.64 7.
Connect the word with its synonyms &
antonyms.
25 9.1 57 20.7 99 35.9 43 15.6 52 18.8 1.86
8. Use new word in
sentences. 15 5.4 37 13.4 94 34.1 70 25.4 60 21.7 1.55 9. Group words
together to study. 27 9.8 55 19.9 98 35.5 42 15.2 54 19.6 1.85
Table 11: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Memory strategies
Strategy 3 and 4 focus on whether the participants memorized the prefix, suffix and root of the word or the part of speech. Almost all students used this strategy with low frequency (X = 0.4 and 1.12). It was not surprising that only 1.1%
always used strategy 3 and 3.6% often employed strategy 4. Meanwhile, 73.2%
never did strategy 3 and 31.2% seldom adopted strategy 4.
Associating a new word with the words has already known (Strategy 5) and connecting word to a personal experience (Strategy 6) help vocabulary learning more effectively. Those strategies were the preferred ones with the mean of 1.69 and 1.64. The answers to those strategies show that 15.9% often and 31.2%
sometimes associated a new word with the words, which have already known;
14.5% often and 34.8% sometimes connected word to a personal experience.
Connecting the word with its synonyms & antonyms and grouping words together to study are used to consolidate vocabulary effectively (Strategy 7 and 9).
Those strategies, as the most preferred ones, were employed by 20.7% and 19.9% of often; 35.9% and 35.5% of sometimes. Therefore the mean of this strategy counted for 1.86 and 1.85.
Strategy 8 aims at finding out whether the informants used new word in sentences or not. The answer to this question is rather optimistic. There is 19.8% of the participants used this strategy with high frequency. Its mean is 1.55.
In conclusion, the results from the table show that Memory strategy which
was strategy 7 (Connect the word with its synonyms & antonyms) with the mean of 1.86. Meanwhile, the least employed strategy by the students was strategy 3 (Memorize the prefix, suffix and root of the word) (X = 0.4).
(3) Cognitive strategies
No.
Strategies
Degree of Frequency Always use Often use Sometimes X
use Seldom use Never use
N % N % N % N % N %
10. Verbal repetition. 70 25.4 65 23.6 56 20.3 59 21.4 26 9.4 2.34 11. Written repetition. 91 33 75 27.2 56 20.3 41 14.9 13 4.7 2.69 12.
Write new words on a flash card to remember.
45 18.8 52 21.7 69 28.8 40 16.7 70 29.2 1.86
13. Keep a vocabulary
notebook. 30 12.5 42 17.5 66 27.5 69 28.8 69 28.8 1.62 14.
Use the vocabulary section in the textbook.
44 13.8 68 28.3 62 25.8 49 20.4 53 22.1 2.00 15. Take notes in class. 90 37.5 78 32.5 59 24.6 26 10.8 23 9.6 2.67 16. Put English labels on
physical objects. 30 12.5 79 32.9 64 26.7 49 20.4 54 22.5 1.93
Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive strategies
Verbal and written repetition (Strategy 10 and 11) are very popular strategies for most of English learners. Its mean is up to 2.34 and 2.69. More than half of the students used these strategies with high frequency (59% and 60.2%). Only 9.4%
never did strategy 10 and 4.7% did not use strategy 11.
Other useful ways such as writing new words on a flash card to remember (strategy 12), keeping a vocabulary notebook (strategy 13), or using the vocabulary section in the textbook (strategy 14) are applied with their means in turn are 1.86, 1.62, 2.00.
Taking note in class, as the most preferred one, was employed with highest frequency. 37.5% of the students always used this strategy. 32.5% often did it. . Only 9.6% did not do it. So the mean of this strategy is up to 2.67.
Putting English labels on physical objects (strategy 16, X = 1.93) is not only relaxing but also funny and helpful activity for learning vocabulary. The use of this strategy with high and low frequency is not much different. There was 12.5% of the students always used it while nearly 22.5% seldom did it.
In short, table 12 shows that to develop automatic vocabulary retrieval, Cognitive strategies that students use most frequently, was strategy 11 (Written repetition) with the mean of 2.69, while strategy 13 (Keep a vocabulary notebook) was least used (X = 1.62).
(4) Metacognitive strategies
No.
Strategies
Degree of Frequency Always use Often use Sometimes X
use Seldom use Never use
N % N % N % N % N %
17. Use English-
language media. 25 9.1 56 20.3 74 26.8 73 26.4 48 17.4 1.77 18. Test oneself with
word test. 20 7.2 46 16.7 60 21.7 91 33 59 21.4 1.55
19. Continue to study
the word over time. 29 10.5 45 16.3 62 22.5 75 27.2 65 23.6 1.63
Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive strategies
Learning English vocabulary from mass media such as newspapers, magazines, radio/TV programs, Internet, etc. are not only informative but also effective way to enrich and retain vocabulary. That is why the students are always encouraged to make use of it. In the current trend of internet developing, it is not surprising to find that almost of the students used this strategy with rather high frequency (X = 1.77). It concluded 20.3% of the students often used this strategy and 26.8% of them sometimes applied it.
Testing oneself with word test was employed with low frequency (X = 1.55) in comparison with other metacognitive strategies although it is one useful way to check vocabulary level. There were 7.2% of the participants who always used this strategy, while 21.4% of them never did so.
Continuing to study words over time is supposed to be necessary to all learners. However, the majority of the informants seemed not to prefer to apply this strategy. A very small proportion of them did this job with high frequency while up to 23.6% never studied words over time.
In brief, the most frequently used strategy of Metacognitive was strategy 17 (Use English-language media) with the mean of 1.77. Meanwhile strategy 18 (Test oneself with word test) was least applied. (X = 1.55)