Metacognitive Strategy Preference in Vocabulary Learning among Thai EFL Learners at Nakhonratchasima Rajabhat University

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the use of metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning by the first year students from the Faculty of Management Sciences at Nakhonratchasima Rajabhat University, Thailand. Precisely, it tried to examine Thai EFL learners’ use of metacognitive strategies including planning, monitoring and evaluating in vocabulary learning. To achieve this aim, an adapted version of the questionnaire was used as the instrument to study what metacognitive strategies in vocabulary that EFL learners at the university frequently used to discover the meaning of English vocabulary. The sample groups were 53 first year Management Sciences students. There were 26 students (experimental group) and 27 students (control group) selected according to the purposive sampling. The research instruments used in the study was metacognitive strategy in vocabulary learning questionnaire. The statistical methods used for analyzing the collected data were descriptive statistics (mean (x̄ ), a standard deviation (SD), and Independent Sample t Test). The findings of the study revealed that the evaluating strategy were the most preffered both by the control group and experimental group. In general, the use of metacognitive strategies in vocabulary reported by the control group and experimental group that there was a significant difference at p < .05.