An investigation into students’ choices and perceptions of English vocabulary learning applications

Abstract

With the development of technology, many smartphone applications have been created to help learners learn vocabulary better. The goal of this study was to find out the English vocabulary learning applications commonly used by the students, the criteria that the students often considered when choosing the applications and their perceptions about the benefits that the applications brought to their learning. The participants of this study were 56 English-majored students at Tay Do University. This study used questionnaire and interview as the main instruments. The results showed that the most widely used English vocabulary learning applications were Duoling Go and Quizlet. In addition, the students decided to choose these applications based on several criteria such as being free of charge, ease to use, good sound and content, high interactivity, and a high review rate. The students’ experiences in learning vocabulary through these applications showed that these English vocabulary learning applications were effective. This research is useful for teaching and learning English vocabulary.