Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between students ’ vocabulary learning strategies and their vocabulary size. The frequency of vocabulary learning strategies used by the high and low vocabulary students was also explored. The subjects of this study were 257 Prince of Songkla University students in the 6 fields of study who would be highly affected by the opening of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015: medical, dental, nursing, engineering, accounting, and hospitality and tourism fields. The research instruments were the vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire, the bilingual English-Thai version of vocabulary size test, and a semi-structured interview. The results revealed that the subjects ’ use of vocabulary learning strategies was moderately correlated with their vocabulary size. The subjects in the high vocabulary group employed certain strategies significantly more often than those in the low vocabulary group (p<.01). Determination strategies were the most frequently used strategies and social strategies were the least used strategies.