THE EFFECT OF VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF EFL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS ON THEIR LISTENING COMPREHENSION ABILITY

The present study is an attempt to investigate whether vocabulary learning strategy has any effect on the listening comprehension of Iranian EFL Undergraduate Learners studying at Payam Noor University in Babol. The participants of the study were 35 male undergraduate university students majoring in English Translation chosen based on one step cluster sampling. This study followed Schmitt's classification of VLSs such as determination, social, memory, cognitive, and metacognitive strategies. The data were collected through using Schmitt’s VLS questionnaire adopted from Bennett (2006) and TOEFL listening comprehension test from Barron's. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and stepwise multiple regressions were used to analyze the data. The results for descriptive statistics showed EFL undergraduate students in Payam Noor University in Babol are as medium strategy users who used determination strategies most frequently and social strategies least frequently. The results related to stepwise multiple regressions revealed only contribution of metacognitive strategy (one out of five categories of VLS) to listening comprehension.