An Investigation of Vocabulary Difficulties amongst EFL Sudanese University Students

Abstract

This study aims to investigate English vocabulary difficulties encountered by EFL students at Sudanese universities. The study took place at Sudan University of Science and Technology, College of Languages , English Department in the university academic year (2022-2023). The study has adopted the descriptive analytical method: the researcher collected data by using two tools, a diagnostic test for (30) Sudan University of Science and Technology second year students and a questionnaire for (30) Sudanese university teachers .To analyze the data the researcher has used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).The findings of the study revealed that Sudanese university students encounter some English vocabulary difficulties; they are unaware of English spelling system, pronunciation of English vocabulary, in addition, they lack knowledge about sense relations between words, furthermore, they face some difficulties in understanding the meanings, contexts and part of speech of the words. Moreover, the students do not know how English words collocate with each others to form compound words and they do not know how to write the compound words. In the light of the findings of the study, the researcher recommends that. Teachers should get the students to brainstorm, categorize, organize and analyze vocabulary to help them to understand the meaning of the words in relation to other words. In teaching vocabulary teachers should use some techniques of vocabulary teaching such as demonstration, explanation, discovery, quick questions and presentations. Furthermore, to develop students’ vocabulary skills. There are certain effective ways of that EFL teachers should use such as the strategy of possible sentences, knowledge rating, using literature , context strategy