An Evaluative Study of Memorization as a Strategy for Learning English Khalid Sabie Khamees1 1 Department of English, College of Arts, Al-Iraqiya University, Bagdad, Iraq Correspondence: Khalid Sabie Khamees, Department of English, College of Arts, Al-Iraqiya University, Bagdad, Iraq. E-mail: Sundakhalid@gmail.com Received: June 29, 2016 Accepted: July 15, 2016 Online Published: July 28, 2016 doi:10.5539/ijel.v6n4p248 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ijel.v6n4p248 Abstract 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 to overcome these problems. 66 undergraduate participants answered a thirty-item 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 helps them improve their achievements in English. It was found that understanding should be given priority over the memorization activity. Learners who adopt this strategy often forget what they memorized, could not differentiate between important and unimportant information, and were incompetent to make inferences. 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. Keywords: comprehension, drawbacks, internalization, learning strategy, memorization