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This study aims at exploring the vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) employed by Saudi Freshmen students majoring in English as a foreign language (EFL). The participants are 81 Saudi male students in their first semester in the English Department and Translation in the College of Language and Translation at King Saud University. Data was collected using a questionnaire which was adapted from the study of Rabadi (2016) and was analyzed using the SPSS program. The overall results of this study show that participants use all of the different vocabulary learning strategies: Determination strategies, Memory strategies, Cognitive strategies, Metacognitive strategies, and Social strategies, with different degrees of frequency. By looking at the sub-categories of the strategies the results indicate that Metacognitive strategies (mean score: 1.98/4) are the most used and/or preferred strategies by all participants, followed by Social strategies (MS: 1.91), Determination strategies (MS: 1.62), Cognitive strategies (MS: 1.39) and Memory strategies (MS: 1.26) respectively. However, the overall mean score of (1.63) for the use of the strategies indicates that the participants of this study are low/poor users of vocabulary learning strategies in general.

This study measured Saudi university students’ receptive vocabulary knowledge towards the end of their final semester. The subjects were 71 Saudi male and female students. The Vocabulary Levels Test, adopted from Nation’s (2008), was administered in this study. The test assesses learners’ receptive knowledge of word meaning at the following distinct vocabulary levels: the 2nd 1,000-word level, the 3rd 1,000-word level, the 5th 1,000-word level, the 10th 1,000-word level, and the Academic Word List (AWL). The results showed different participants’ performance at different word levels with decreasing mean scores as the frequency of word levels decreased. The results also showed, with no exception, that males outperformed females with statistically significant differences in all the five sections of the test. The participants’ average vocabulary size is approximately 876 and 799 words in the 2nd 1,000-word level, 436 and 355 words in the AWL, 725 and 590 words in the 3rd 1,000-word level, 580 and 477 words in the 5th 1,000-word level for males and females respectively. However, the average vocabulary size decreased dramatically in the 10th 1,000-word level to 254 words for males and 124 for females. Based on these findings, it is concluded that Saudi English Language and Translation university graduates, even with large vocabulary size in the high frequency bands, are generally still below the level of the desired vocabulary competency as EFL learners, and are in fact, in need for more support and concentration in their undergraduate study with regard to their vocabulary learning.

This paper examines refusal strategies employed in invitations and requests used by Saudi and American female students. As speakers’ performances in refusals vary, the paper investigates the content of the semantic formulas and their frequencies in the speech acts of these females when interacting with different interlocutors of different statuses. The assumption proposed in this paper is that speech acts reflect the cultural norms and values of speakers from different cultures (e.g., Arabs’ collectivist culture vs American individualistic culture). The analysis and description of refusal strategies are motivated by the need to provide new information on how native speakers really use language, rather than how we think they perform such acts. Data collected in this paper is based on speech acts of refusals employed by a sample of Saudi and American female students.

This study presents the results of the impact of a short training on vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs). The aim was to raise participants' awareness of a wide range of VLSs and consequently to encourage and motivate them to utilize these strategies in their vocabulary learning. The participants were 29 Saudi male students in their first semester majoring in English as a foreign language in the Department of English and Translation in the College of Languages and Translation at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which consists five main categories of VLSs with 8 sub-strategies under each type with a total of 40 sub-strategies. The same questionnaire was administered twice: before and after training. The results showed an awareness-raising impact as reflected in the increase use of VLSs following the training. The increase was in all five strategy categories with statistically significant differences in three categories; Determination, Memory, and Cognitive strategies. Furthermore, the participants of this study reported that they benefited a lot from the training and they not only increased their exploitation of the strategies in this course but this training led them to utilize these strategies in other courses, such as reading and grammar. Although the training was short, the effect was evident, thus it is assumed that longer period of training will be conducive to better results in terms of the use of VLSs and consequently vocabulary knowledge. It is recommended that such intervention should be implemented in other courses as an initial step in understanding learning strategies in general with the goal of enhancing learners' autonomy in different types of learning strategies.