Examining the Association between EFL Students' Vocabulary Size and Their Use of Vocabulary Strategies

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to determine how grade eleven students at Tatek Secondary School in Tach Gaynt, Ethiopia, related their vocabulary size to their ability to self-regulate their vocabulary development. A correlation-type descriptive research strategy was used to achieve this goal. Two leading tools were used in this study: a bilingual vocabulary size test created and validated by Ahmed (2012), and the self-regulation capacity in vocabulary learning scale created by Tseng et al. (2006), which includes five subscales: commitment, metacognitive, emotion, satiation, and environment control. The results showed that there was no meaningful correlation between the two variables that these devices measured. Conversely, the results of the multiple regressions demonstrated that the metacognitive control contributed more to the prediction of the students' vocabulary size than any other subscale or dimension. Additionally, it used the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine and correlate the use of self-regulatory strategies by students in various learning experience groups. Students in these groups had higher mean scores in their self-regulation capacity, which is probably due to the strategies and blueprint they have learned in their chosen subject (English). Lastly, it was suggested that teachers of English as a foreign language should work to improve the students' capacity for self-regulation because their creative efforts and well-informed choices in trying to improve their own learning are very significant.