AN EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTONOMY AND VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES

Vocabulary learning is incredibly noteworthy to English language acquisition. It is unfeasible for a learner to communicate without the required vocabulary. In high educational levels, learners are habitually forced to become autonomous and make conscious effort to learn vocabulary outside of the classroom. Consequently, the autonomy of the learners plays an important role in developing and enhancing their vocabulary. This study investigates the relationship between English as foreign language (EFL) learners’ autonomy and vocabulary learning strategies, with major emphasis on predicting learners’ autonomy through their vocabulary learning strategies. To meet the above purpose, a total number of 144 male and female students, between 20-25 years old, studying English Language Teaching and English Language Literature at Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran,Iran were randomly selected and given Learner autonomy and vocabulary learning strategies questionnaires. Pearson Product Correlation results revealed a statistically significant relationship between EFL learners’ autonomy and vocabulary learning strategies (P < 0.01). Also, the results of multiple regressions indicated that social strategy was the best predictor and predicted about 23.8 percent of learner autonomy. Moreover, the memory strategy was the second best predictor, which increased the predictive power to 30.9 percent (R = .55, R2 = .309). The findings of this study may lead students’ attention to the awareness of the determining role of language learning strategies and learning autonomy as contributing factors to their success in the process of learning a target language, and point out the need for the implementation of autonomy in relation to vocabulary achievement.