VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES USED BY LIBYAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AT AL-JIMAYL FACULTY OF ARTS

EFL Education

This study investigates the awareness, use, and effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies among Libyan university students studying English as a foreign language. The research focused on identifying the most commonly used strategies, determining which strategies that students consider as effective, and examining the challenges they encounter in vocabulary acquisition. A quantitative approach was used, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire that was adopted and adapted to fit the context of the study. The sample consisted of twenty students from the English Department at Al-Jimayl Faculty of Arts, Sabratha University. Moreover, the findings revealed that students are generally aware of a variety of vocabulary learning strategies. In addition, they frequently encounter new vocabulary through digital and media sources, such as the internet and English-language media. The most commonly used strategies included guessing from context, using bilingual dictionaries, note-taking, repetition, and associating new vocabulary with their first language. However, the results also indicated that students face constant challenges in pronunciation, understanding words with multiple meanings, remembering collocations and idiomatic expressions, and spelling. Furthermore, the study concludes that while students demonstrate an acceptable level of awareness and use of vocabulary learning strategies, their dependence on traditional approaches and translation into the mother tongue limits their linguistic development. The study recommends increasing exposure to authentic language input, encouraging greater use of monolingual dictionaries, and providing more classroom opportunities for communicative practice to enhance vocabulary retention and application.

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