Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Students in Economic International Program

Abstract

Learning technical vocabulary is crucial for ESP students. Vocabulary learning strategies is important to help students in understanding and learning specialized words. The present study explored Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) used by Economic International Program in learning specialized words. The data were collected by using Schmitt's vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire adapted from Kafipour and Naveh (2011) and Komol and Sripetpun (2011). The questionnaire had thirty-three items administered to 24 students of Economic International Program. An interview was also conducted to get more information from the participants. The results showed that the students chose practical, simple, and fast strategies in learning vocabulary. Checking if the word is also an Indonesian word, guessing word's meaning from the context, asking the teacher to give definition, studying the word with my classmates, remembering the word by studying and paying attention to word's spelling, underlining the word, and using English media were highly chosen in the present study.