An Evaluative Study of Memorization as a Strategy for Learning English: A Scientific Approach

This exploratory study elicits learners’ views regarding the utility of using memorization as a strategy
for learning English. It exclusively investigates the extent of learners’ use of the memorization
strategy, the reasons that motivate them to memorize, the problems they encounter and the
techniques they resort to overcome these problems. 66 undergraduate participants answered a thirtyitem
questionnaire. The results revealed that most efficient as well as inefficient learners used the
memorization strategy mainly for learning vocabulary, definitions, and literary texts. They were in
favour of using this strategy because it helped them improve their achievements in English. Learners
who adopted this strategy often forgot what they memorized, could not differentiate between important
and unimportant information, and were incompetent to make inferences. It was found that
comprehension should be given priority over the memorization activity. It can be concluded that
memorization is a low-level cognitive strategy that can be used among other high- level cognitive
strategies in the process of learning English.