Preferred Language Learning Strategies by Year 6 Sub-Urban Primary ESL Learners in Learning Vocabulary

Abstract

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has always focused on teaching English as a Second Language to be an effective platform for producing holistic learners. Vocabulary serves as one of the fundamental language components in the English language. Over the years, the level of vocabulary acquisition has been declining among the primary school pupils especially among the Year 6 learners. The School Based Assessment (SBA) revealed that many primary ESL learners could not be able to achieve the targeted proficiency level because of their low acquisition of vocabulary mastery. Vocabulary mastery influences the overall proficiency level of the learners. Various language learning strategies (LLS) can be utilised by Year 6 learners to enhance their ability to acquire vocabulary. Therefore, this research aims to identify the most preferred LLS by Year 6 learners from selected sub-urban schools in four states in Malaysia which are Johor, Melaka, Seremban, and Perak. Data were collected from an online survey questionnaire to complete this quantitative research. The survey consisted of 30 questionnaire items obtained from the “Strategy Inventory for Language Learning” (SILL) was administered to 100 respondents to investigate their most preferred and least preferred LLS in learning vocabulary. The research’s findings indicated that the memory strategies and compensation strategies were the most frequently utilised LLS by the respondents in vocabulary learning. The metacognitive strategies, on the other hand, was the least frequently employed LLS. This research also will be a useful insight for ESL teachers to identify the learners’ preferred LLS hence aiding them in planning relevant vocabulary teaching practices.