The effect of EFL students' L2 proficiency and age on their overall pattern of vocabulary learning strategy use

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.