The Relationship Between the Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Gender of Iranian EFL Learners

The present study examined the frequency of the use of vocabulary learning strategies by Iranian male and female EFL learners and it also examined the relationship between gender and the use of these strategies. Eighty intermediate EFL learners who studied English in Shokouh Language Institue participated in the current research. The present study used Kudo’s (1999) classification of vocabulary learning strategies including metacognitive and psycholinguistic strategies. Kudo’s (1999) likert-scale questionnaire was also used in the present study. In order to analyze the data and answer the research questions, descriptive statistics including means and standard deviations were used to summarize the male and female learners’ responses to the vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire. Moreover, Mann-Whitney U test was employed to examine the null hypothesis of the study. The finding revealed that the frequencies mean for the use of psycholinguistic and metacognitive strategies as well as the overall frequency mean were slightly higher for the female learners. However, no significant difference was found between Iranian male and female intermediate EFL learners in the use of vocabulary learning strategies.