engleski

L2 English and L3 German vocabulary learning strategies

The focus of this paper is on investigating patterns of use of vocabulary consolidation strategies among high school students learning English as their first and German as their second foreign language. The students participating in this study had started learning English in the first grade of elementary school, as it is usually the case in Croatia, and German in the fourth grade of elementary school. A 25-item questionnaire was administered to examine the frequency of individual use of vocabulary consolidation strategies among those high school students. The aim of the study was to compare the patterns of vocabulary learning strategy use in their first (L2) and second (L3) foreign language.It was expected that these patterns would overlap to a certain extent, i.e., that the frequency of strategy use in learning the first foreign language would be similar to the one in learning the second foreign language. Another assumption was that the students would use vocabulary consolidation strategies less frequently in German, their second foreign language, because they are less exposed to the German language and they have to approach it (manipulate it) differently.Based on results from research on vocabulary learning (memory) strategies, it was expected that there would be no correlation of school grades with the frequency of use of vocabulary consolidation strategies. The results showed a significant positive correlation between the two questionnaires, i.e., the ways of learning the first and the second foreign language were similar. This means that the students who had been using vocabulary consolidation strategies frequently in one foreign language had also been using them frequently in the other foreign language. Also, those students who had been using vocabulary consolidation strategies less frequently when learning one language had also been using them less frequently in the other language. However, on a general level, the students had been using vocabulary consolidation strategies less frequently in their L3 (German). No overall correlation of school grades with the frequency of use of vocabulary consolidation strategies was found, but the frequency of use of several strategies from both questionnaires correlated with the students’ grades in their second foreign language.

L2 English, L3 German, vocabulary learning strategies

nije evidentirano