Investigating the Importance Level and Utilization of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Among Turkish

This study aims to investigate (a) the perceptions of 8th grade Turkish EFL learners regarding the importance and use of L2 vocabulary learning strategies (VLS), (b) to find out the relationship between perceived importance level and application level of VLS and (c) to unearth the most and the least frequently applied VLS by EFL learners in their learning processes. A mixed-method sequential explanatory design was adopted in this study. The quantitative data were collected through a questionnaire based on Schmitt's taxonomy of VLS from 398 participants and analyzed via SPSS; qualitative data were obtained from focus group interviews conducted with 45 volunteer participants and analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings indicated that EFL learners attribute a great level of significance to vocabulary learning. It also revealed that there is a significant relationship between importance and application level of VLS, which demonstrates that the strategies that were given most importance were applied on a larger scale by learners. Keywords: English Language Learning, Vocabulary Learning, Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Learner Perceptions. NB: Please note that the first author is Melek YOLCU.