HOW DO LITHUANIAN EFL STUDENTS LEARN VOCABULARY?

Dr. Aurelija Daukšaitė-Kolpakovienė, Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Vocabulary is an essential part of any language. The study to be discussed in this presentation intended to explore how Lithuanian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students studying English at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, learn English vocabulary. To achieve the set aim, the following research questions were raised: 1) Which vocabulary learning strategies do the students use the most while studying English as a foreign language? 2) Which vocabulary learning strategies do the students use the least while studying English as a foreign language? The study was carried out in 2023 using 31 open and closed questions in an online questionnaire that the students were asked to voluntarily fill in. The questions were based on the earlier done literature review distinguishing determination, cognitive, social, and metacognitive vocabulary learning strategies. The students were not familiarised with the terminology of the strategies, but it was hoped that the described strategies in the given questions would also serve as useful information that the students could use while learning vocabulary in the future (if they had never used them before). As the study was both quantitative and qualitative, the latter data was processed using content and descriptive analysis. The findings reveal interesting vocabulary learning preferences to be presented at the conference. Some of the strategies are used incidentally while some others intentionally.