2.2. Methodology
In order to elicit data on VLSs, a triangulation of methods was used: a) observing the
students in person in the classroom and outside the classroom while studying their
academic texts, b) interviewing the students individually about their vocabulary
comprehension and vocabulary learning activities while studying their academic texts,
and c) using a questionnaire based on theoretical considerations of some previous
attempts to study VLSs, including that of Schmitt's, to identify VLSs types.
At issue is the extent to which students spontaneously developed or adopted
effective vocabulary comprehension and learning practices as a result of their
language learning experience. This study focused observations on detecting the
procedures students used in situations where they attempted some deliberate
comprehension and acquisition of specialized and non-specialized vocabulary in an
ESP context. Observational notes that pertained to vocabulary strategies in ESP
classrooms in the eight fields were taken by the researcher during two semesters.
As far as the interviews are concerned, data were collected in individual sessions in
which the researcher met with each student in a quiet room for about 30-45 minutes.
To guarantee the quality of procedures, the researcher conducted all the data
collection sessions. At the beginning of each session, the researcher informed students
of the general purpose of the study and arranged a number of interviews in a friendly
atmosphere with them about how they learned the specialized and non-specialized
vocabulary items they faced while reading their ESP texts.
In order to motivate and encourage the participants to take part in the research
project actively, the researcher told them that she wanted to explore their vocabulary
comprehension and learning strategies as thoroughly as possible to detect their
weaknesses and problems and then help them improve the depth and breadth of their
vocabulary knowledge and enable them to retain vocabulary items in their memory
for a longer period by informing them of effective VLSs. The researcher also
promised to announce the results of the research to the participants of the study in a
formal session.
In this study, both structured and semi-structured interviews (Mackey & Gass 2005)
were also used. The advantage of the structured approach is in its ease in data
classification and interpretation (Cohen 1998). To capture information on strategies
that other instruments could not reveal, interviews were conducted. The purpose of
the interviews was to elicit task-specific VLSs and to uncover general VLSs and
beliefs/attitudes as well as emotional reactions to vocabulary learning. The interviews
were conducted in the participants’ first language, thus removing concerns about the
proficiency of the participants in L2 affecting the quality and quantity of data
provided.