The Relationship between Vocabulary Learning Strategies for Phrasal Verbs and Learning Outcomes: The Case of Chinese EFL Learners

Abstract

On account of the high frequency of use, phrasal verbs have been the focus for Chinese EFL learners. However, due to the syntactic features and figurative meanings of English phrasal verbs, many Chinese EFL learners misuse or even avoid using phrasal verbs, rendering it a major problem in English teaching and learning. Aiming to investigate the relationship between Chinese EFL learners’ vocabulary learning strategies for phrasal verbs and the learning outcomes, this research was conducted via a mixed quantitative and qualitative research method. One hundred and fourteen Year-3 undergraduates in Guangdong Province participated in this research. After analyzing the data from the questionnaires, tests for phrasal verbs, and interviews, this research found that Chinese EFL learners’ awareness of utilizing vocabulary learning strategies to acquire phrasal verbs was generally at a moderate level. The performance of Chinese EFL learners in phrasal verbs was significantly correlated with the frequency of employing guessing strategies, dictionary strategies, note-taking strategies, encoding strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, and activation strategies in a positive manner, with the latter three strategies most strongly correlated with the achievement in phrasal verbs. Significant differences were found between the high- and low-competence groups in the adoption of the vocabulary learning strategies. Underpinned by the results, the teaching methods and learning strategies of phrasal verbs were proposed to advance the teaching and learning of phrasal verbs.

Keywords: Phrasal verb, Multi-word verb, Vocabulary learning strategies, Chinese EFL learners

DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/88-04

Publication date:May 31^st 2022