Vocabulary learning strategies in Primary teacher training students in Spain: The effect of proficiency and bilingual education

This study is based on the application of a new version of Gu and Johnson’s Vocabulary Learning Questionnaire. The questionnaire contained 52 items which deal with the use of seven different vocabulary strategies, namely, metacognition, inferencing, dictionary use, note-taking, practicing, codifying and activation. It was administered to 100 undergraduates in the Primary Education teaching degree of two different proficiency levels - 42 had a B1 level of English and 58 a B2 level - and educational background, where 53 had a bilingual educational background and 47 had received English instruction in a non-bilingual context. The purpose of the study is to explore the vocabulary learning strategies used by this group of participants and see whether the variables of proficiency and formal language learning context - bilingual or non-bilingual - determine the type of vocabulary strategies used. A quantitative methodology was adopted where both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied for data analysis. Results show that inferencing and dictionary use ranked the list among the participants, whereas metacognition and activation were at the last positions. No significant differences were found in terms of proficiency. However, the bilingual variable did make a difference in the use of certain strategies. On the basis of these results, our research encourages the promotion of vocabulary learning strategies, paying special attention to those which require high cognitive effort such as metacognition and activation.