Relationships between Receptive Vocabulary Size and Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Listening Comprehension

Abstract

The present study focused on investigating the relationships between business English students' receptive vocabulary size and the use of vocabulary learning strategies with their listening comprehension ability. The participants were 59 second-year business English students of a university in Trang, Thailand. Three research instruments were utilized: 1) the English-Thai receptive vocabulary size test, 2) the vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire, and 3) the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) listening test. Findings revealed that the participants' average receptive vocabulary size was 4,897 words, which was insufficient for effective listening that needs receptive vocabulary size above 6,000 words. The participants used vocabulary learning strategies at the moderate level. Determination category was most frequently employed by the participants. The participants' receptive vocabulary size was significantly correlated with their use of metacognitive category (p < 0.05). There were four vocabulary learning strategies which had a significantly correlation with the participants' receptive vocabulary size at a moderate level (p<0.01) while five strategies were significantly correlated with their receptive vocabulary size at a low level (p < 0.05). This study also revealed that the participants' receptive vocabulary size had a moderate and positive correlation with their listening comprehension (p < 0.01). For implications, Thai Business English students should be encouraged and trained to employ effective vocabulary learning strategies to enlarge their receptive vocabulary size for listening comprehension.