چکیده:
This study was an attempt to explore the effects of EFL students' L2 proficiency and age on their overall pattern of vocabulary learning strategy use. In order to conduct the study, two hundred and thirteen language students (112 male and 101 female) from different levels of language proficiency and different age groups (13-60) took part in the study. Two instruments were used in the study. First, a truncated test of TOEFL was used to classify the students into three proficiency levels and then a 56-item vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire was used to elicit information on the strategies used by the students to learn vocabulary. Several statistical analyses were conducted to analyze the obtained data. Through factor analysis, strategies were loaded in four factors and were named as cognitive, relational, social, and contextual. The results showed that both proficiency and age had some effects on the use of vocabulary learning strategies. Students with higher proficiency tended to use cognitive strategies more than the other two proficiency levels. Moreover, it was found that as students' age increased, their use of cognitive strategies increased while their use of social and contextual strategies decreased
خلاصه ماشینی:
The results showed that both proficiency and age had some effects on the use of vocabulary learning strategies.
Keywords: L2 vocabulary, L2 proficiency, vocabulary learning strategies, age, Iranian EFL students Introduction In the past three decades or so, researchers and teachers have shown an increasing interest in determining what distinguishes successful from less successful learners.
This has led to attempts to characterize successful language learners (Rubin, 1975), particularly their use of modifiable L2 variables, in the hope that such information can be passed onto less successful learners so as to improve their learning 88 The Effect of EFL Students' L2 Proficiency and Age efficiency.
With consensus reached on the important role of self-awareness, self-monitoring, organization, and active involvement on the learners' part, these studies (and others) have advanced our knowledge of students' vocabulary learning strategies.
Riazi and Alvari (2004) performed a piece of descriptive, qualitative research and concluded that students who used more different vocabulary strategies learn vocabulary items better and had longer retention.
Thirdly, the data were subjected to MANOVA to find out any possible differences between the students' use of vocabulary learning strategies and their level of proficiency.
Table 4 Naming of factors No. Factors Cognitive (Using audio-visual and textual sources) 2 Relational (Using mnemonic devices and personal experiences) 3 Social (Asking others for help) 4 Contextual Using classroom context) MANOVA (Multiple analyses of variances) MANOVA was run to see the relationship between the Proficiency levels and the use of vocabulary learning strategies.