ROLE OF ROTE LEARNING IN VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES
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Indeed, in the west, memorization has been strongly linked to a negative view of RL which leaves little
room for understanding, while within the eastern philosophies of learning, memorization has long been
regarded as being an essential tool in supporting understanding. Findings from the above researches pointed out
the value of implementation of the present study. These above studies have supplied a lot of the different ways
of VLSs use that especially surveyed the Asian students. However, little literature is available on the role of RL
and the relationship between the students’ attitudes on RL strategy use and their understanding of RL effect on
their L2 learning. Therefore, the present study will fill that gap of the role of RL in VLSs of Burmese students.
The Study
This study points out the RL is one of the main VLSs that Burmese students use in their English
vocabulary learning. The objectives of this study are: to promote the concrete understanding of the concept of
RL strategies, to investigate the role of RL in VLSs of Burmese students, to investigate any collaborative VLSs
of RL, and to offer guidance to EFL learners or researchers who are interested in Burmese students’ learning
style.
This research tried to investigate the following questions:
(1) Which kind of memorization strategies are used in English vocabulary learning by Burmese learners?
(2) How do they understand the meaning of RL in their VLSs?
(3) Is there any relationship between RL and other MSs in vocabulary learning for Burmese students?
(4) How do Burmese learners think the role of RL in their VLSs?
(5) To what extent do Burmese learners apply RL strategy in their vocabulary acquisition?
(6) Is there any significance in using RL strategy among other VLSs?
For this study, the main hypothesis is that RL strategy plays the main role in English vocabulary learning
as well as the subjects hold the positive view on RL because they accept that RL is more supportive than any
other strategies in vocabulary learning.
Participants
This study collected data from Burmese students who are attending a bachelor degree at Yangon Institute
of Education. Next, this study also proved the data from English language junior teachers who are attending
M.Ed. (Master of Education) at Yangon Institute of Education as well.
The total number of the subjects is 100, seventy-five undergrad students and 25 EFL junior teachers
studying M.Ed.. In order to explore the role of RL in Burmese EFL learners’ vocabulary learning, both the
undergraduate and graduate students were chosen for this study. The researchers selected systemically 75
English majors who were required for the questionnaire. Then, the researchers interviewed 25 EFL junior
teachers as the representatives of advanced students.
To attend the Education Institute, all of these students have a strong EFL background concerning with
both teaching and learning strategies. Moreover, all of these students had learnt EFL from kindergarten to the
university entrance exam (Grade 11). Therefore, they have strong EFL experience and they have similar
influence in vocabulary learning. The primary reason for selecting these learners for this study is that all of
them are English teaching majors who always have to deal with English language everyday and who are also
familiar with the terms of MSs in vocabulary teaching and learning situation as taking a course English
Teaching Methodology.