The data for the study was obtained through three instruments---questionnaires,
interviews and an English vocabulary test. The subjects were 100 Chinese learners in
the English Department at a large University in the Northeast area of China. To confirm
the results of the study and to show their generalisability across China, open-ended
questionnaires were also administered to Chinese university teachers from different
parts of China as “advanced learners”. The data was analysed using descriptive analysis,
Condorcet’s method, Kendall’s W, content analysis, chi-square, triangulation and factor
analysis. The main hypothesis (Chinese EFL learners believe that RL strategies are
preferable to other memory strategies for learning and memorising vocabulary. They
hold positive beliefs about RL, because they consider RL strategies to be consistent with
traditional Chinese culture and values) are supported by both quantitative and
qualitative results.