CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSIONeprints.ums.ac.id/31489/7/Chapter_4.pdfon the formulation...

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CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION

This chapter explores the finding and the discussion of the research; in this

chapter the researcher here answer the problem statements as mentioned on

chapter I. The finding of research is divided into four parts.

A. Research Finding

Research finding contains some explanations which answered the

several question on chapter I, but the researcher explain the research finding based

on the formulation of problem on chapter I, she will explain first about the type of

learning strategy used by economy students of Muhammadiyah University to

achieve high score of TOEIC. The first part is the type of learning strategy; the

second parts is the dominant learning strategy; the third part is the reason of the

research object to use the various strategies in achieving high score of TOEIC;

and the last is the pedagogical implication of the research

B. Types of Learning Strategy

Before describing about the type of learning strategy used by the students

of Economy Faculty, Muhammadiyah University, the researcher would explain

first about the description of language learning strategy : In this part, the

description is derived from language learning strategy proposed by O’Malley

(1985; 528). According to her the language learning strategies are divided into

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three main subcategories, which are meta-cognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective

strategies. Due to the popularity and importance of the TOEIC as a tool evaluating

English proficiency, and the fact that many companies and institutes are currently

using TOEIC scores as an assessment tool, there are many college-level lectures

and classes related to the TOEIC. Therefore, it would be meaningful to examine

the general attitude of college students towards this test: what they think about it,

and how they prepare for it.

In this study, a questionnaire with 25 points of learning strategy and close

interview was prepared and used to collect about students’ backgrounds and their

attitude toward the TOEIC learning strategy to achieve high score. Selected

interesting results are discussed in this section.

There are three respondents participated in this study, they are students of

Economy faculty of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta. Based on the

investigation, those three students had achieved high score in their TOEIC test.

They also have different strategies to solve the problem of the TOEIC test. The

three respondents are in different gener. Two of them are male students and the

order one is female students. Currently they are in the first semester of Economy

Faculty of Muhammadiyah Univesity. The students who get the highest score of

TOEIC test are Bagus Teguh Nugroho, Catur Budi Setiyawan, and Nurin Hidayat.

The first respondent is Bagus Teguh Nugroho. He is an Economy students’

of H class. He has high motivation to learn and improve his knowledge

everywhere and everything that he never before. The second respondent is Catur

Budi Setiyawan. He is an Economy students’ of class I. He has a good learning

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and he is kind of talkactive person. The last respondent is Nurin Hidayat, she is an

Economy students’ of class F and a diligent student.

a. Types of Learning Strategies Used by the First Respondent

Based on the questionnaire and interview with the first respondent,

it is gain information that his name is Bagus Teguh Nugroho. He is 19 years

old. He lives at JL. KH. Smanhudi 66 A. He is one of the students’ of

Economy Faculty of Muhammadiyah University. He has many hobbies,

such as reading, watching movies, and listening to music. He chooses

economy Faculty because he graduate from social program and he likes to

manage his financial by himself. Economy has becomes his major subject

since he was studied in senior high school and he concern about the

Indonesian economy. His family supports him both financial and moral in

his study.

In response to TOEIC study, he followed the TOEIC test to

improve his English proficiency as he knows English is now being the most

important language to communicate globally. He also considers that TOEIC

test is the most widely used international test of English skills, with 4

million test takers worldwide. He also thought that gaining a high score on

the TOEIC can lead to a better job and/or promotion in the workplace. He

has a high motivation study as he inspired by his father who is lecturer of

some university. He never thought to fail on his test at first, he was so

confidence about his score. He believes that when he studied hard and

struggle for something he wanted to get, he would have the best result.

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As he believe about his score at first to followed TOEIC test, he set

up his first score in the intermediate level 550 – 600 and after he done his

TOEIC test, the result shows that he got 618 for the TOEIC test. It was

surprising for him and that was satisfying.

To prepare his TOEIC test, he didn’t join any course, he studied it

by himself. First he tried to find out some information about TOEIC on the

website then he chooses the compatible book for his learning strategy. He

studied the Cambridge and Longman TOEIC preparation. He chosen both as

he found that those books are compatible and directly adapted with the

native language of English. There are many TOEIC book designed by local

expert, but he thought that when he studied directly from the source

designed by native would be better and helpful to understand the nature of

the language so he can understand it easily.

In according to the questionnaire, the first respondent shows that he

had several type of learning strategy. His learning strategy is relevant to the

learning strategy proposed by O’Malley. His attitude toward the TOEIC

Learning strategy all composed as meta-cognitive, cognitive and socio-

affective strategy. As can be seen on the table 1.2, the first respondent had

done some meta-cognitive behavior such as study the test distractor,

understand the meaning and pronunciation, previewing the test for several

time, focus to some important point.

Besides, he also done some cognitive behavior, such as study from

the compatible book, guessing the meaning in context, taking note of some

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new vocabularies and useful expression, then followed by socio cognitive

behavior which is he consulting and asking for some solution with the

professional mentor to help him when he find any difficulties in studying

TOEIC. As the first respondent had done many strategies such as attention

and monitoring; and affective strategies such as anxiety/confidence. It

should be noted that the first respondent is an effective learners and he often

used these strategies concurrently, say monitoring and elaboration, parsing

and translation, and prediction and inferencing, in order to accomplish

listening comprehension goals. Those strategies are all useful to achieve the

high score of TOEIC.

a) Meta-cognitive strategy

It can be stated that meta-cognitive is a term to express

executive function, thinking about the learning process as it is taking

place, monitoring of one’s production or comprehension, and

evaluating learning after activity is completed. Among the meta-

cognitive strategies, it is possible to include advance organizer,

directed attention, selective attention, self management, functional

planning, self monitoring, delayed production, self evaluation.

In the analysis, the writer found out that the first respondent

has done some meta-cognitive strategies which were divides into

those categories.

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• Meta-cognitive: Advance Organizer

This is sample survey and question for the higher achiever

Question : Can you explain the strategy or your steps to success in TOEIC

test?

Answer : My first step is looking for information in advance about TOEIC

test through books and browsing in the internet and looking for

references any book that is easy to understand to learn TOEIC.

Then I also studied the format of the test, how the test work

properly, then focuses on the questions and answer, and then

follow the test requirements.

The form of the utterance above indicates a learning strategy to plan the

learning activity in advance. It is marked by the use of organizational planning of

language function or different events, for example: at home, bathroom, and at

class. Organization planning means planning the parts, sequence, main idea, or

language function to be express orally or in writing. Here, the first respondent has

sequence of planning for preparing the TOEIC study. He make some sequence

steps to plan to study TOEIC in order he can be success to achieve high score of

TOEIC.

• Meta-cognitive: Directed Attention

Directed attention means deciding to concentrate on general aspects of a

leaning test. Below is the sample survey for further evidence.

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Question: Do you have any special tips for mastering TOEIC?

Answer: Yes, mastering the concept of the TOEIC for me is the main and

fastest strategy by learning the important parts such as grammar,

vocabulary, tenses that are often use in the TOEC test.

The utterance above indicates that the first respondent has applied meta-

cognitive strategy of directed attention. The respondent focused on vocabulary,

tenses which are often appears on the TOEIC test.

• Meta-cognitive: Selective Attention

Based on the interview, it is indicated that the first respondent has

used meta-cognitive strategy of selective attention. It is category of the strategy in

which the learner deciding to pay attention to specific parts of the language input

or the situation that will help learning. It can be seen in the following utterance:

Question: Can you please tell me how do you master the listening section of

the TOEIC test?

Answer: I often listen to English conversation through CD, watching

English movie and listening to English song to train my ear

sensitivity of the language. I also learn some vocabularies and

English expressions trough movie.

The utterance above proves that the first respondent has used meta-

cognitive strategy of selective attention. He learned the listening section of the test

through several ways.

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• Meta-cognitive: Self Management

Self management means trying to arrange the appropriate condition

of learning. According to the interview and questionnaire given to the first

respondent, he is indicated to use this category of strategy. This can be seen in the

following utterance.

Questions : What do you do to overcome the difficulties that constrain you

to master TOEIC?

Answer : I was spending time to learn TOEIC, making schedule of

particular day at least twice a week during my busy activity.

The above utterance proved that the first respondent has manage himself

to learn TOEIC by making schedule which he has done regular minimum twice a

week.

• Meta-cognitive: Advance Preparation

Here, the first respondent has also used meta-cognitive strategy of

advance preparation. It means he has planned the linguistic components for a

forthcoming language task.

The following utterance proved that this category of strategy has

been done by the first respondent.

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Questions : how are your strategies to master the structure and grammar to

work on the ‘structure and grammar section’ in the TOEIC test?

Answer : before starting the exercise, I divided the structure I the category

of the most frequent and rarely emerged from analysis of the

subject and verb, punctuation, commas, conjunction or recurring

conjunction, preposition, adjective verb, ling king verb,

comparison and conditional sentence.

Based on the above utterance, it is indicated that the first respondent has

planned or some linguistic elements of the TOEIC test such as learning the

grammar construction; subject and verb, conjunction, preposition, adjective verb,

comparison, and conditional sentence.

• Meta-cognition: Self Monitoring

The first respondent monitor his learning as a self – monitoring which he

checked his performance to find out his progress of learning. It can be seen in the

following utterance:

Question : How do you check or evaluate your progress?

Answer : I usually do online test in the internet to check my progress and

also check my grammar mistake when doing grammar exercise.

The above utterance shows that the first respondent has monitored himself

when he was learning TOEIC. He checked his grammar mistake and do some pre-

test online to fine monitor his progress of learning. Based on the questionnaire, he

also always finds out the error or mistake when learning the TOEIC.

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• Meta-cognitive: Delayed – production

Delayed – production means the action of deliberately postponing

speaking o that one may learn by listening. Since TOEIC test has listening

section, o the respondent must study the listening. It means he has done delayed –

production meta-cognitive strategy. Below is the utterance that shows this

category:

Questions : Can you describe your strategy to master the listening section of

TOEIC?

Answer : I usually study the new vocabulary and expression through music

and movie. I identified the similar sounds and meaning.

Based on the above utterance, it can be seen that the first respondent make

some learning in the listening section of TOEIC test to increased vocabulary, and

indentified some similar sounds and meaning. So, it can be said that he has done

meta-cognitive of delayed – production strategy in which he studied the listening

for postponing speaking.

• Meta-cognitive: Self – Evaluation

Self – evaluation means checking how well one is doing against

one’s own standard. To check the standard score achievement, the respondent has

done some evaluation by doing he pre-test and exercises. It was done check the

score after the learning section. The utterance below shows the first respondent

action of self – evaluation:

Questions : How do you check your learning progress?

Answer : I usually check my learning progress by doing the pre-test, full

test, and several exercise.

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The respondent has done some pre-test to evaluate his learning progress.

This action called as meta-cognitive self-evaluation strategy. He checked his

progress through several exercise.

Table 1.1. Metacognitive Strategy

Primary Strategy Classification Example Of Strategy

1) Metacognitive :

a) Advance Organizer � Planning for organizational

learning by making schedule of

learning

b) Directed Attention � he is deciding in advance to

attend in general to learning task to

ignore irrelevant distracters

c) Selective Attention � He directly pay attention to the

specific area of problem in the

test by reading the answer at

first time before answering the

test.

� He is focus to understand the

main point of the question and

the setting

d) Self – Management � He focus on the choice of

answer before answering

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� Focus to listen the whole

conversation

e) Functional planning � He pays attention to

introduction and first part of

dialogue

� He learns the type of the test

and catches the point of the

question

� Study the grammatical and

context of situation

f) Self Monitoring � Focuses on the conjuction and

preposition

� Study the functional expression

necessary for the test.

g) Delayed Production � Pay attention on the meaning

pronunciation and sound

� He uses the target language

reference materials

h) Self – Evaluation � He studies the first language as a

base for understanding and/ or

producing the second language

� He is reordering or

reclassifying, and perhaps

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labeling, the material to be

learned based on common

attributes

� He is writing down the main

idea, important points, the

outline, or summary of

information presented orally or

in writing

b) Cognitive Strategy

Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning

task and they involve more direct manipulation of the learning

material itself. Repletion, resourcing, translation, grouping, note

taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory, representation,

key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer, inference are

among the most important cognitive strategies.

In the analysis, the writer finds out several cognitive types

of strategy used by the first respondent. Based on the interview and

questionnaire delivered to the respondent, it was indicated, grouping,

note – taking, deduction, recombination, auditory, representation, key

word, contextualization, inference and

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• Cognitive: Repetition

Repetition means imitating other people’s speech overtly or

silently. Below is the utterance based on the interview with the first respondent :

Question : How do you master the listening section of the test?

Answer : I did many practices, learned the similar sounds of speech such

as different vowel sounds, different initial consonant sounds different final

consonant then tried to indentifying them

.

Based on the utterance above, the first respondent did the repetition of

cognitive type of strategy as he identifying the people’s speech to master the

listening section of the test. Besides, he is consciously applying rules to produce

or understand the second language.

• Cognitive: Resourcing

Resourcing means making use of language materials such as

dictionary, books, article, and other references. Here, the first respondent has used

some references, books, and exercises. It means that he has applied the resourcing

cognitive type of strategy. To prove, it can be seen on the following utterance

based on the interview with the respondent.

Question : How do you learn the TOEIC test?

Answer : I used some books, searched some information on the internet and

found any references that can support my study. I bought some TOEIC

books too such as Longman and Cambridge.

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The utterance above shows that the respondent has applied cognitive

resourcing. He used some books, searched some information and references to

support is study.

• Cognitive: Translation

Translation means using the first language as a basis for understanding and

/ or producing the L2. Below is the utterance to show the cognitive translation

types of strategy used by the first respondent.

Question : How do you master the reading section of the test?

Answer : I practice a lot, do the simulation test and tried to understand the

reading, checked the expressions and vocabulary used in the reading.

The above utterance shows that the respondent has made the first language

as a basis to understand the reading comprehension text of the test.

• Cognitive: Grouping

Grouping means organizing on the basis of common attributes. Below

utterance shows the respondent used of this type of strategy:

Question : How do you organize your strategy to master the listening

section of the test?

Answer : I analyzed the listening based on each session, make some

identification of each session such as identifying picture.

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The above utterance shows how the respondent organizes the learning

strategy to study the listening. He divided into the session of the test then

identified each session such as picture session.

• Cognitive: Note – taking

Note – taking means writing down the gist etc of the texts. Here, the

respondent has made some note – taking when he was learning. It can be seen on

the following utterance:

Question : How do you handle the problem in the TOEIC test?

Answer : I usually write down some difficult part which I cannot solve it

then I will find the answer. I also make some notes for the new vocabulary and

expression.

The utterance above shows that he usually writes down difficult part that

he could not solve then tried to find out the answer. He also made some notes for

new vocabulary and expression in English. It means that he applied note – taking

cognitive strategy to solve his problem.

• Cognitive: Deduction

Deduction means conscious application of rules to processing the

L2. The first respondent done this to solve the error recognition part of the TOEIC

test. Below is the utterance based in the interview with the respondent:

Question : How do you solve the grammar construction in the structure and

grammar section of the test?

Answer : I studied the rules in the structure and grammar section of the

test. I studied the most applied grammar used in the test.

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It can be seen in the utterance above that the respondent has applied

deduction to understand the rules in the structure and grammar section of the

TOEIC test. Here, h studied the most applied grammar in the test.

• Cognitive: Recommendation

Recommendation means putting together of smaller meaningful elements

into new wholes. In this analysis, the first respondent used this strategy to solve

the error recognition part of the TOEIC test. Below is the utterance:

Question : How do you master the grammar to do the error recognition part

of the test?

Answer : I identified the structure and grammar; I studied S and U of the

sentences then put it in the correct order. I tried to find out the mistake.

Since error recognition part of the TOEIC test needs understanding of the

structure and grammar to get meaningful sentences. The structure must studied the

L2 construction in order he can put together of smaller meaningful elements of the

sentences. So, that he has applied the recombination cognitive type of learning

strategy.

• Cognitive: Auditory Presentation

Auditory representation means keeping a sound or sound sequence

in the mind. As the respondent should master the listening to do the listening

section of the test, so he applied the auditory representation cognitive type of

learning strategy. Below is the utterance:

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Question : How do you deal with the listening problem?

Answer : I practiced to listen the similar sound and also memorize the

expressions used in the test.

The above utterance shows that the respondent deal with the listening

problem by practicing to listen the similar sound and memorize the expressions

used in the test. It means he has applied the auditory representation cognitive type

of learning strategy.

• Cognitive: Key Word

Key word means using key word memory techniques, such as identifying

L2 word with an L1 word that is sounds like. Here, the respondent applied this

strategy to understand the meaning of the L2 and memorize the expressions.

Below is the utterance:

Question : How do you handle the problem or new vocabulary and

expressions?

Answer : I usually find out the meaning of the new word in the dictionary

and then tried to find the same expression of the English language in to

Indonesia.

The utterance above shows that the respondent has applied key word

cognitive learning strategy as he identified the L2 word with and L1 word catch

the meaning of some new vocabulary and expressions.

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• Cognitive: Contextualization

Contextualization means placing a word or phrase in a meaningful

language sequence. The first respondent has used this strategy to do the grammar

section of the TOEIC test. Below is the utterance taken based on the interview:

Question : How do you understand the mistake in the grammar section of the

TOEIC test?

Answer : I studied the unaccomplished sentences, phrasal verb and

complicated sentences especially the subject and verb of the sentence.

The above utterance shows that he has done the contextualization

cognitive type of the strategy to place the sentence in a good order.

• Cognitive: Inference

Inference means guessing meanings by using available information. To do

the reading and understanding the meaning of the text, the respondent has used

this type of strategy in order he can guess what the word or the text about. Below

is the utterance:

Question : How do you deal with the reading vocabulary?

Answer : I tried to guess the meaning through the information contain in

the text.

It can be seen on the utterance above that the respondent applied the

inference cognitive type of strategy to guess the meaning of the reading

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vocabulary. He tried to guess the meaning through the information contain in the

text.

Table 1.2. Cognitive Strategies


2) Cognitive

a) Repetition � he is consciously applying rules

to produce or understand the

second language

b) Resourcing � he practice and study the

simulation test for several times

� he check his answer for several

times

c) Translation � he uses the several TOEIC

books, such as Longman and

Cambridge

d) Grouping � He guess the meaning of the

source language to the target

language based ion context

� He finds the meaning of the text

e) Note taking � He classify the test model

f) Deducation � He classify the genre, words,

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phrase and expression

g) Recombination � He writes new vocabularies and

expression during study

� Study the grammatical rules of

English as the basic to

understand sentences and text

h) Imagery � he reads the whole sentences to

catch the point of the sentences

and text

i) Auditory Representation � he pays attention on the

question word

j) key word � study the tenses

� Guessing the photographs or the

picture meaning

k) Contextualization � Trying o catch the image point

l) Elaboration � Listen carefully to the speaker

conversation and dialogue

� Listen carefully to the order

of the speaker

m) Transfer � Remembering the new words of

the target language

n) Inferencing � Applying the functional

expression

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� Understanding the second

language meaning in context

c) Socio – Affective Strategy

As the socio-affective strategies, it can be stated that they are

related with social mediating activity and transacting with others.

Cooperation and question for clarification are the main socio-affective

strategies.

In this analysis, the first respondent has done cooperation

socio-affective type of strategy. As he is never asking to other people

who understand the L2 on English language, he did not apply the

question of clarification strategy.

Below is the utterance based on the interview with the respondent:

Question : what do you usually do to face with the problems when learning

TOEIC?

Answer : I usually discus my problem with my friends, do the pre-test

together and tried to solve the problem together.

The utterance above shows that the respondent has discussed his problems

when learning TOEIC with his friends. It means he applied the cooperation socio-

affective type of learning strategy to achieve high score.

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Table 1.3. Socio Affective Strategy


3) Socio – affective

a) Cooperative � It is relating new information to

order concepts in memory

� It is using previously acquired

linguistic and / or conceptual

knowledge to facilitate a new

language learning task

b) Question of clarification � it is using available information

to guess meanings of new items,

predict outcomes, or fill in

missing the question

� guessing the meaning of any

important word to answer the

questions

� consulting the work to the

professional mentor to check

the mistake

� consulting the right answer to

the mentor

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� asking the final solution to the

professional mentor

b. Types of Learning Strategies Used By the Second Respondent.

Based on the interview with the second respondent, it is find out that his

name is Catur Budi Setyawan. He is 19 years old and still in the first semester of

his study. He is talk-active person but a good learner. He is not really smart but

willing to study hard. Besides study in campus, he also joins in several

organizations. Those make him busier than other students and probably make him

tired. Instead of his lots of activity he spares time to study English. He likes

English very much and he has been studying English for 10 years. His hobby are

watching movie and playing games. He likes western movie and often get new

vocabulary of English from the movie.

He followed TOEIC test to improve his ability in English for specific

purpose and test, he also considering that the test would be important for him

when he works. He has a high motivation in learning TOEIC preparation. As he

likes English and he makes English as part of his life, he found no difficulties in

learning it. He studied the TOEIC preparation by himself. He studied from book

and internet. He often done online test simulation on the internet and he know

several website to study TOEIC.

He has big obsession to achieve high score in TOEIC test, at first he set up

the goals to get 550 – 650. After he followed the test, his final score is 597. He is

quite satisfied with the result but he wanted to do more test to increase his score.

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He has no time for consulting to someone when he learning the TOEIC

preparation, as a result, he only doing simulation test then learning the material in

the test. As he is kind of person who never give up on something, he tried hard for

about 1,5 years to prepare for the TOEIC test by himself.

Based on the questionnaire and interview, he combines meta-cognitive

type of learning and cognitive type of learning strategy. As he ever consulting to

someone about his work, he has no socio-affective behavior. Whether the second

respondent has applied some meta-cognitive behavior and cognitive behavior, it

seems that socio cognitive behavior also important to improve the TOEIC score.

Cooperating and asking for advice to the professional mentor or higher level

learners is also important to help us to get better goals and to find out our problem

solution to the mistake. Meanwhile, he has a high motivation to learning the

preparation by himself. It may his confidence to do the test and to achieve high

score.

Therefore, there are some limitations such as higher scores may not

necessary be equated with better enhancement in language competence as the test

does not include speaking and writing. However, as questions on listening

material are directly related to what is actually conversed in a real situation, high –

score subject can be regarded as proficient in activity that requires substantial

personal effort to learn over time.

a). Meta-cognitive strategy

It can be stated that meta-cognitive is a term to express executive function,

thinking about the learning process as it is taking place, monitoring of one’s

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production or comprehension, and evaluating learning after activity is completed.

Among the meta-cognitive strategies, it is possible to include advance organizer,

directed attention, selective attention, self management, functional planning, self

monitoring, delayed production, self evaluation.

In the analysis, the writer found out that the first respondent has done

some meta-cognitive strategies which were divides into those categories.




test?







The form of the utterance above indicates learning strategies to plan the






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TOEIC.












Based on the interview, it is indicated that the first respondent has used

meta-cognitive strategy of selective attention. It is category of the strategy in




the TOEIC test?





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The utterance above proves that the first respondent has used meta-




Self management means trying to arrange the appropriate condition

of learning. According to the interview and questionnaire given to the first




to master TOEIC?



The above utterance proved that the first respondent has manage himself


week.

Meta-cognitive: Advance Preparation

Here, the first respondent has also used meta-cognitive strategy of advance

preparation. It means he has planned the linguistic components for a forthcoming

language task.

The following utterance proved that this category of strategy has been

done by the first respondent.

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• Meta-cognitive : Delayed – production




production meta-cognitive strategy. Below is the utterance that shows this

category:


TOEIC?









Self – evaluation means checking how well one is doing against one’s own

standard. To check the standard score achievement, the respondent has done some

evaluation by doing he pre-test and exercises. It was done check the score after the

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learning section. The utterance below shows the first respondent action of self –

evaluation:








Primary Strategy Classification Strategy Toward the Classification

1) Metacognitive

i) Advance Organizer � Making of sequence order to

study based on the test model

j) Directed Attention � Directly reading the answer

� Focuses on the main idea or

topic

� He focus on the choice of

answer before answering them

k) Selective Attention � Focus to listen the whole

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conversation

� He pays the attention to the


dialogue



question



� Focuses on the conjuction and

preposition

l) Self – Management � Study the functional expression

necessary for the test

m) Functional Planning � Pay attention on the meaning,

pronunciation and sound


reference materials

n) Self – Monitoring � He studies the first language as

a base for understanding and /

or producing the second

language

o) Delayed Production � He is reordering or

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attributes

� He is writing down the main




in writing

p) Self – Evaluation � He is consciously applying

rules to produce or understand

the second language

b). Cognitive Strategy

Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning task and they

involve more direct manipulation of the learning material itself. Repletion,

resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery,

auditory, representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer,

inference are among the most important cognitive strategies.

In the analysis, the writer finds out several cognitive types of strategy used

by the first respondent. Based on the interview and questionnaire delivered to the

respondent, it was indicated, grouping, note – taking, deduction, recombination,

auditory, representation, key word, contextualization, inference and

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Repetition means imitating other people’s speech overtly or silently.

Below is the utterance based on the interview with the first respondent:




consonant then tried to indentifying them.






Resourcing means making use of language materials such as dictionary.

Here, the first respondent has used some references, books, and exercises. It

means that he has applied the resourcing cognitive type of strategy. To prove, it

can be seen on the following utterance based on the interview with the respondent.





118



support is study.

















119





Note – taking means writing down the gist etc of the texts. Here,

the respondent has made some note – taking when he was learning. It can be seen

on the following utterance:




expression.

The utterance above shows that he usually writes down difficult part

tnathe could not solve the tried to find out the answer. He also made some notes

for new vocabulary and expression in English. It means that he applied note –

taking cognitive strategy to solve his problem.


Deduction means conscious application of rules to processing the L2. The

first respondent done this to solve the error recognition part of the TOEIC test.

Below is the utterance based in the interview with the respondent:

120













of the test?

Answer : I identified the structure and grammar, I studied S and U of the






strategy.

121


Auditory representation means keeping a sound or sound sequence in the

mind. As the respondent should master the listening to do the listening section of

the test, so he applied the auditory representation cognitive type of learning

strategy. Below is the utterance:














expressions?



Indonesia.

122









TOEIC test?









is the utterance:



the text.

123




text.

Table 2.2 Cognitive Strategy


2) Cognitive

a) Repetition

b) Resourcing

c) Translation � He practices and study the


d) Grouping � He check his answer for several

times

� He uses practices book and

internet

� He guess the meaning of the


language based on context

e) Note Taking � He finds the meaning of the text

� He classify the test model

� He classify the genre, words,


124

f) Deducation � He writes new vocabularies and

expression during study

g) Recombination � Study the grammatical rules of



h) Imagery � He reads the whole sentences to


and text

i) Auditory Representation � He pays attention on the

question word

� Study the tenses

j) Key – word � Guessing the photographs or the

picture meaning

k) Contextualization � Trying to catch the image point



� Listen carefully to the order of

the speaker

m) Transfer � Remembering the new words

oh the target language

� Applying the functional

expression

n) Inferencing � Understanding the second

125


c). Socio – Affective Strategy

As the socio-affective strategies, it can be stated that they are related with

social mediating activity and transacting with others. Cooperation and question

for clarification are the main socio-affective strategies.

In this analysis, the first respondent has done cooperation socio-affective

type of strategy. As he never ask to other people who understand the L2 on

English language, he did not applied the question of clarification strategy.



TOEIC?






Table 2.3 Socio Affective Strategy


3) Socio - affective:

a) Cooperation � It is relating new information to

126

b) Question of Clarification

other concepts in memory

� It is using previously acquired

linguistic and/or conceptual


language learning task.

� It is using available information

to guess meaning of new items,


missing information

� Guessing the meaning of any


questions

NO

NO

c. Types Of Learning Used By The Third Respondent

The third Respondent is Nurin Hidayat, a student of F class

Economy Faculty, Muhammadiyah University. She is 18 years old and she live in

Janganharjo RT 01/10 Pucangan, Kartosura. She has been studying English since

elementary school, about ten years. She is diligent student and always curious to

study something new. Her inspiration is Mario Teguh who always motivates

others. Her parent supports her very much in her study and all of her choice.

127

Regardless to the TOEIC test, she followed the test to check her goals in

the test. She has been studied the TOEIC preparation by herself for several month

and she wanted to know how her achievements. She has no high achievement

when she set up the goals. She only hopes to get around 500 – 550. After she

followed the TOEIC test, her final score is 549. Among the two other respondent,

the third respondent score is lowest. To study the TOEIC preparation, she has no

specific strategy, she only followed the book instruction, study regularly, and

practices a lot, and also consulting to the higher learner. She also often do

simulation test online on the internet.

According to the interview and questionnaire, the result shows that third

respondent has done all the categories of strategies. She has done several meta-

cognitive behaviors, such as dealing with the difficult matter of the test, focus on

the specific matter, practices a lot. Cognitive behavior that the third respondent

done are listening a lot some vocabulary, CD TOEIC preparation, and combining

with the socio-affective behavior such as consulting to the professional mentor

and asking some advice to the higher learners.

From the third respondent, in can be assume that she has no high goal of

the TOEIC score. Her learning strategies has helpful for her make her achieve

high score or intermediate level of the test.

a). Meta-cognitive strategy

It can be stated that meta-cognitive is a term to express executive function,

thinking about the learning process as it is taking place, monitoring of one’s

production or comprehension, and evaluating learning after activity is completed.

128

Among the meta-cognitive strategies, it is possible to include advance organizer,

directed attention, selective attention, self management, functional planning, self

monitoring, delayed production, self evaluation.

In the analysis, the writer found out that the first respondent has done

some meta-cognitive strategies which were divides into those categories.




test?







The form of the utterance above indicates a learning strategy to plan the







TOEIC.

129












Based on the interview, it is indicated that the first respondent has used

meta-cognitive strategy of selective attention. It is category of the strategy in




the TOEIC test?





130

The utterance above proves that the third respondent has used meta-




Self management means trying to arrange the appropriate condition of

learning. According to the interview and questionnaire given to the first




to master TOEIC?



The above utterance proved that the first respondent has managed himself


week.

• Meta-cognitive: Advance Preparation

Here, the first respondent has also used meta-cognitive strategy of advance

preparation. It means he has planned the linguistic components for a forthcoming

language task.

The following utterance proved that this category of strategy has been

done by the first respondent.

131























132

• Meta-cognitive: Delayed – production




production meta-cognitive strategy. Below is the utterance that show this

category:


TOEIC?









Self – evaluation means checking how well one is doing against one’s own

standard. To check the standard score achievement, the respondent has done some

evaluation by doing he pre-test and exercises. It was done check the score after the

learning section. The utterance below shows the first respondent action of self –

evaluation:

133









a) Metacognitive

a) Advance Organzer � Making of sequence order to

study based on the test model

b) Directed Attention � Directly reading the answer

� Focuses on the main idea or

topic

� He focus on the choice of

answer before answering them

c) Selective Attention � Focus to listen the whole

conversation

� He pays attention to the


dialogue

134



question



d) Self – Management � Focuses on the conjuction and

preposition

� Study the functional expression

necessary for the test

e) Functional Planning � Pay the attention on the

meaning pronunciation and

sound


reference materials

f) Self – monitoring � He studies the first language as

a base for understanding and/or

producing the second language

� He is reordering or




attributes

g) Delayed Production � He is writing down the, main

135




in writing

� He practices consciously

applying rules to produce or

understand the second language

b). Cognitive Strategy

Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning task and they

involve more direct manipulation of the learning material itself. Repletion,

resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery,

auditory, representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer,

inference are among the most important cognitive strategies.

In the analysis, the writer finds out several cognitive types of strategy used

by the first respondent. Based on the interview and questionnaire delivered to the

respondent, it was indicated, grouping, note – taking, deduction, recombination,

auditory, representation, key word, contextualization, and inference.


Repetition means imitating other people’s speech overtly or silently.

Below is the utterance based on the interview with the first respondent:

136




consonant then tried to indentifying them.






Resourcing means making use of language materials such as dictionary.

Here, the first respondent has used some references, books, and exercises. It

means that he has applied the resourcing cognitive type of strategy. To prove, it

can be seen on the following utterance based on the interview with the respondent.







support is study.

137




















138


Note – taking means writing down the gist etc of the texts. Here, the

respondent has made some note – taking when he was learning. It can be seen on

the following utterance:




expression.

The utterance above shows that he usually writes down difficult part that

she could not solve the tried to find out the answer. He also made some notes for

new vocabulary and expression in English. It means that he applied note – taking

cognitive strategy to solve his problem.


Deduction means conscious application of rules to processing the L2. The

first respondent done this to solve the error recognition part of the TOEIC test.

Below is the utterance based in the interview with the respondent:








139






of the test?

Answer : I identified the structure and grammar, I studied S and U of the






strategy.


Auditory representation means keeping a sound or sound sequence in the

mind. As the respondent should master the listening to do the listening section of

the test, so he applied the auditory representation cognitive type of learning

strategy. Below is the utterance:




140











expressions?



Indonesia.








141


TOEIC test?









is the utterance:



the text.




text.

142

Table 3. 2. Cognitive Strategy


a) Cognitive :

a) Repetition � He practices and study the


b) Resourcing � he check his answer for several

times

c) Translation � He uses practice book and

internet

d) Grouping � He guess the meaning of the


language based on context

e) Note taking � He finds the meaning model

f) Deducation � He classify the genre, words,


g) Recombination � He writes the new vocabularies

and expression during study

h) Imagery � Study the grammatical rules of



i) Auditory Representation � He reads the whole sentences to


and text

143

j) Key word � He pays attention on the

question word

� Study the tenses

� Guessing the photographs or the

picture meaning

k) Contextualization � Trying to catch the image point



� Listen carefully to the order of

the speaker

m) Transfer � Remembering the new words of

the target language

� Applying the functional

expression

n) Inferencing � Understanding the second


c). Socio – Affective Strategy

As the socio-affective strategies, it can be stated that they are related with

social mediating activity and transacting with others. Cooperation and question

for clarification are the main socio-affective strategies.

144

In this analysis, the third respondent has done cooperation socio-affective

type of strategy. As he is never asking to other people who understand the L2 on

English language, he did not apply the question of clarification strategy.



TOEIC?






Table 3.3. Socio Affective Strategy


o) Socio – affective:

p) Cooperation � It is relating new information

to other concepts in memory

145

q) Question of Clarification � it is using previously acquired

linguistic and/or conceptual



� it is using available

information to guess meanings

of new items, predict

outcomes, or fill in missing

information

� guessing the meaning of any


questions

� consulting to the professional

mentor

� asking for advice to higher

learners

From this analysis of the type of learning strategy can be summarized that

the three respondents used of all learning strategies in reading and structure of

TOEIC test but they have been differences learning strategies in listening of

TOEIC.

146

C. The Dominant Learning Strategy Used by the Students

Success or failure in learning a foreign language is due to a variety of

factors, among which learning strategies and styles play very significant roles in

helping learners develop their language competence. Building and matching

suitable learning styles and strategies are important. Learning styles and learning

strategies have a close correlation with each other and with academic

achievements in English learning. Preferred learning styles and dominant learning

strategies chosen by the student will give impact on the result or achievement of

their learning. In this case, the writer tries to find out the dominant learning

strategy used by students of Economy Faculty of Muhmmadiyah University to

achieve high score of TOEIC test.

a). General Learning Strategy

From the analysis, the writer found that there is no dominant general

learning strategy used by the students of Economy Faculty of Muhammadiyah

University. The three learning strategy; metacognitive, cognitive and socio-

affective are all used by the students. They combine the three learning strategy to

get the high score of TOEIC Test. From this we know that the students have the

tendency to activate their linguistic knowledge of the target language (English)

previously learned or acquired rather than recourse to the structure of their mother

tongue. It occurs because they have already got a considerable knowledge of the

target language. In other words, we can say that they attempted to build up

hypothesis about the target language (English) from the limited knowledge or

experience of it in the classroom.

147

Generally, it can be seen in the following table:


No

Learning

Strategy

Competence

Subjects

Learning Strategy

R1 R2 R3

4) Metacognitive

:

q) Advance

Organizer

Planning for organizational

learning by making schedule of

learning.

� � �

r) Directed Attention Deciding in advance to attend in

general to learning task to ignore

irrelevant distracters.

s) Selective

Attention

Paying attention to the specific

area of problem in the test by

reading the answer at first time

before answering the test.

Focusing to understand the main

point of the question and the

setting.

148

t) Self -

Management

Focusing on the choice of answer

before answering.

Focusing to listen the whole

conversation.

u) Functional

planning

Paying attention to introduction

and first part of dialogue.

Learning the type of the test and

catches the point of the question.

Studying the grammatical and

context of situation.

v) Self Monitoring Focusing on the conjunction and

preposition.

Studying the functional

expression necessary for the test.

w) Delayed

Production

Paying attention on the meaning

pronunciation and sound.

Using the target language

reference materials.

x) Self – Evaluation Studying the first language as a


producing the second language.

Reordering or reclassifying, and

perhaps labeling, the material to

149

be learned based on common

attributes.

Writing down the main idea,

important points, the outline, or

summary of information

presented orally or in writing.

Table 2.2. Cognitive Strategy

No

Learning

Strategy

Competence

Subjects

Learning Strategy

R1 R2 R3

5) Cognitive:

a) Repetition consciously applying rules to

produce or understand the second

language

� � �

b) Resourcing practicing and studying the


using the several TOEIC books,

such as Longman and Cambridge

c) Translation Paying attention to the specific

area of problem in the test by

150

reading the answer at first time

before answering the test.

Focusing to understand the main

point of the question and the

setting.

d) Grouping Focusing on the choice of answer

before answering.

Focusing to listen the whole

conversation.

e) Note taking Paying attention to introduction

and first part of dialogue.

Learning the type of the test and

catches the point of the question.

Studying the grammatical and

context of situation.

f) Deduction Focusing on the conjunction and

preposition.

Studying the functional

expression necessary for the test.

g) Imagery Paying attention on the meaning

pronunciation and sound.

Using the target language

reference materials.

151

h) Auditory

Representation

Studying the first language as a


producing the second language.

Reordering or reclassifying, and

perhaps labeling, the material to

be learned based on common

attributes.

Writing down the main idea,

important points, the outline, or

summary of information

presented orally or in writing.

i) key word Consciously applying rules to

produce or understand the second

language.

j) Contextualization Practicing and studying the

simulation test for several times.

Checking his answer for several

times.

k) Elaboration Using the several TOEIC books,

such as Longman and

Cambridge.

152

l) Transfer Guessing the meaning of the


language based on context.

Finding the meaning of the text.

m) Recombination He writes new vocabularies and

expression during study.

Study the grammatical rules of

English as the basic to understand

sentences and text.

n) Inferencing Applying the functional

expression.

Understanding the second

language meaning in context.

Table 2.3. Socio - affective Strategy

No

Learning

Strategy

Competence

Subjects

Learning Strategy

R1 R2 R3

o) Socio -

Affective:

p) Cooperative relating new information to order

concepts in memory

� � �

153

using previously acquired

linguistic and / or conceptual



q) Question of

clarification

it is using available information

to guess meanings of new items,


missing the question

guessing the meaning of any


questions

consulting the work to the

professional mentor to check the

mistake

consulting the right answer to the

mentor

asking the final solution to the

professional mentor

As can be seen on the table, the general learning strategies used by the

three respondents are described in the following description and discussion.

154

1. Metacognitive Strategy

'Higher order executive skills that may entail planning for, monitoring or

evaluating the success of a learning activity' (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990:

44). The three respondents used most of the composition of metacognitive

learning strategy, they are classified as follows:

• Metacognitive: advance organizer

This type of strategy means planning the learning activity in

advance which the learners have review before start to study.

Based on the questionnaire delivered to the three respondents, they

have tendency to use this strategy as they always prepare for the

material before they study such as searching for the appropriate

book for TOEIC learning.

• Metacognitive: directed attention

It means deciding to concentrate on general aspects of a learning

task. Based on the questionnaire delivered to the three respondents,

they merely use this strategy to focus on some aspect of learning,

such as grammar and listening comprehension.

• Metacognitive: selective attention

This strategy means deciding to pay attention to specific parts of

the language input or the situation that will help learning. Taken

from the data questionnaire, it shows that the three respondents use

this strategy to get to some part of the TOEIC test material. It can

155

be seen that they study on the specific area of the learning task,

such as listening comprehension.

• Metacognitive: self management

This strategy means trying to arrange the appropriate conditions for

learning. The questionnaire shows that the three respondents have

self management in learning TOEIC. It can be seen that they has

schedule their activity of learning.

• Metacognitive: advance preparation

Advance preparation means planning the linguistic components for

a forthcoming language task. Based on the questionnaire, the three

respondents apply this strategy as they have preparation in

studying the linguistic elements of the TOEIC test such as

grammar errors.

• Metacognitive: self monitoring

Self monitoring means the learner has checking their learning

activity. In this case, the questionnaire has shows that the three

respondents always check their activity of learning by evaluate

themselves to do simulation test.

• Metacognitive: self evaluation

Self evaluation means checking how well one is doing against

one's own standards. Here, the three respondents also do some self

evaluation to check their progress of learning. Based on the data

156

questionnaire, they always mark their progress when doing the

simulation test.

• Metacognitive: self reinforcement

Self reinforcement means giving oneself rewards for success. The

data of questionnaire show that the three respondents also reward

themselves for their progress.

2. Cognitive Strategy

Cognitive strategies ‘operate directly on incoming information, manipulat-

ing it in ways that enhance learning’ (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990: 44).

• Repetition: imitating other people’s speech, silently or aloud.

In this case, the three respondents apply this strategy to learn the listening

model of TOEIC test. According to the questionnaire, they try to

understand the L2 language produced by the native speaker from the

listening section.

• Resourcing: making use of language materials such as dictionaries. Based

on the questionnaire, the three respondents also use some books and

dictionary to help them study.

• Translation: ‘using the first language as a basis for understanding and/or

producing the L2’ (O’Malley et al., 1985: 33).

Based on the data questionnaire, the three respondents try to transfer the

L2 into Indonesia in order to understand the meaning of the context,

especially in the section of listening and reading.

157

• Grouping: organizing learning on the basis of ‘common attributes’.

For this strategy, the three respondents has separate the test model into

some categories.

• Note-taking: writing down the gist of texts.

Based on the questionnaire, the three respondents prefer to take notes of

their problems and take note for the new vocabulary.

• Deduction: conscious application of L2 rules.

According to the questionnaire, the three respondents classify the genre,

phrase and word to make them easier to study the words and grammatical

context.

• Recombination: putting together smaller meaningful elements into new

wholes.

In this context, the three respondents study the grammar rules in order to

be able to understand the grammatical error in the test model.

• Imagery: turning information into a visual form to aid remembering it —

“Pretend you are doing something indicated in the sentences to make up

about the new word”.

According to the data taken from the questionnaire, the three respondents

have applied this strategy for understanding the listening context in the

section of picture listening. They apply this strategy to get point of the

image context.

158

• Auditory representation: keeping a sound or sound sequence in the mind

— “When you are trying to learn how to say something, speak it in your

mind first”.

Based on the data questionnaire, the three respondents apply this strategy

especially for learning the listening in context.

• Key word: using key-word memory techniques, such as identifying an L2

word with an L1 word that sounds similar.

Based on the data questionnaire, the three respondents apply this strategy

to understand the similar sound and meaning of the listening section.

• contextualisation: ‘placing a word or phrase in a meaningful language

sequence’ (O’Malley et al., 1985: 34).

Based on the data questionnaire, the three respondents have done this

strategy to catch the image point and do the error grammar section.

• Elaboration: ‘relating new information to other concepts in memory

(O’Malley et al., 1985a: 34).

Based on the questionnaire, the three respondents make some

understanding of the grammatical context.

• Transfer: helping language learning through previous knowledge —“If

they’re talking about something I have already learnt (in Spanish), all I

have to do is remember the information and try to put it into English”.

Based on the questionnaire, the three respondents apply this strategy for

understanding the meaning of the reading section.

159

• Inferencing: guessing meanings by using available information — “I think

of the whole meaning of the sentence, and then I can get the meaning of

the new word”.

According to the data taken from the questionnaire, the three respondents

apply this strategy to find out the most possible meaning of the reading

section.

3. Socio Affective Strategy

Social mediation strategies or social/affective strategies ‘represent a broad

grouping that involves either interaction with another person or ideational

control over affect’ (O’Malley and Chamot, 1990: 45).

• Cooperation: working with fellow-students on a language task.

Based on the data taken from the questionnaire, the three respondents also

apply this strategy. They cooperate with other students or friends who

have higher achievements of TOEIC.

• Question for clarification: getting a teacher to explain, help, and so on.

Based on the data questionnaire taken from the three respondents, they

have done this strategy to find out the advance material for learning

TOEIC and some suggestion from the expert or the experienced one.

b). Specific Learning Strategy

The findings of this qualitative study were described with the focus on the

three categories of learning strategies: Metacognitive strategies such as attention

and monitoring; cognitive strategies including prediction, parsing/translation,

160

inferencing, and elaboration; and affective strategies such as question of

clarification. It should be noted that the three learners (R1, R2, R3) often used

these strategies concurrently, say monitoring and elaboration, parsing and

translation, and prediction and inferencing, in order to accomplish listening

comprehension goals.

2.1 Metacognitive Strategies

2.1.1 Attention

Attention is a fundamental step to perceiving and retaining information on

a text. Effective learners paid close attention to what they listened to without

being interfered with unexpected noise around the interview site. For instance, R1

did not notice the intermittent noise coming from the construction site nearby

while he was listening to the English passages. In addition, effective learners were

able to direct their attention to important listening points.

(Interviewer: What do you do when you could not listen to a sentence?)

R1: I direct my attention to the sentence I am about to hear rather than

thinking of what I could not listen to previously.

The reverse was true for less effective learners. That is, less effective

learners did not pay attention to their listening stimuli as well as effective learners

did, often wandering aimlessly from their listening comprehension and giving up

their listening task easily. This was true especially in a difficult sentence, as in

these examples:

161

R1: Hmm, area and I? I could not comprehend what I listened to because it

spoke too fast and because I thought of eating rice cakes with my friends

after this interview.

R2: The sentence was too long and hard to understand, and I gave up

further listening.

2.1.2 Monitoring

Monitoring is a strategy pertaining to checking one’s understanding and

misunderstanding while listening and tracking the sources of it. Both effective

learners and less effective learners checked their understanding on the basis of

variables including linguistic knowledge and background knowledge about the

passages. In addition, both groups of learners were able to articulate their

comprehension problems while dealing with the passages.

Both R1 and R2, as in the examples below, knew the outcome when they

utilized inaccurate background knowledge about a text. R3 focused on words and

he was also aware of the negative side of focusing too much on words rather than

on meaning, whereas R1 reported the importance of grammatical knowledge to

analyze the sentence and pronunciation in listening comprehension.

Description of the learners:

R1: I tend to focus too much on words in listening comprehension, which, I think,

interferes with the understanding of the whole passage.

R2: Did I understand the sentences accurately? It seems that I sometimes guess

incorrectly what I could not understand out of my background knowledge, leading

162

to a total misunderstanding of the text like writing a novel …… When I make a

novel, I make two to three wrong answers out of the three questions [about a

passage in the TOEIC].

2.2 Cognitive Strategies

2.2.1 Prediction

A psychological theory of listening contends that listeners are assumed to

be active in predicting and revising what they hear based on various types of cues.

This assumption was confirmed by all of the learners. However, what

differentiated the two groups of learners was the accurateness of predictions. That

is, effective learners predicted the text more accurately than less effective learners

did probably because the former had more cues such as words and pronunciation

available than the latter. R1, R2, and R3 below predicted the coming sentences

accurately based on key words such as ‘sorry’ and ‘where.’ However, the

prediction of R3 was wrong because of misunderstanding of previous sentences.

Description of the learners:

R3: She predicted what she would hear based on a key word she heard, as in

“When I heard ‘sorry,’ I focused on the reason for sorry [in the coming

sentences.]”

R2: (Listening Text: They actually followed a series of carefully planned moves.

Where they moved depended on where food was available―places where plants

were ripening or fish were spawning.) As I expected, they did not settle in a place.

Then, the following sentences will explain why and where they were from.

163

2.2.2 Parsing/translation

Parsing is concerned with breaking down a sentence into smaller units

such as words and phrases when necessary, and translation occurs when thinking

of the meaning of L2 words in L1. Listeners segment a sentence into smaller units

on the basis of their grammatical knowledge and meaningful interpretation. To

better understand the listening process with regard to parsing, listeners were asked

to answer what they focused on when they heard a sentence. In general, effective

learners comprehended a whole sentence at a time and broke down a sentence into

smaller units when the tasks were challenging:

R1: Since I’ve heard this type of sentence several times, I comprehended the

whole sentence at a time. (Interviewer: What did you do to comprehend the

sentence?) I just comprehended the sentence without doing anything.

R2: When a sentence is easy to understand, I listen to the sentence as a whole.

However, when a sentence is hard to understand, I focus on words and call upon

the background knowledge about the sentence.

R3: I focused on words because this sentence was getting longer. (Interviewer:

What about a short sentence?)

2.2.3 Inferencing

Inferencing is a strategy used by listeners to guess difficult words or fill in

missing information. In general, this strategy was used more by the effective

listeners because the former encountered more unfamiliar words, phrases, and

sentences than the latter. Moreover, effective listeners used inferencing to their

164

advantage, whereas they did not take advantage of it, guessing wildly based on a

few words they could listen. For instance, R3 inferred what she missed out of

context correctly. However, R2 wildly guessed the meaning of a sentence by the

words “late” and “sorry.” R1 inferred wrong by misunderstanding wandering for

wonder, as in the examples:

Description of the listener:

R3: (Listening Text: You can see their size in relation to the hands holding them.)

I could not comprehend all the words. However, since the previous sentences

were about “finding foods, instruments, and other things,” I guessed that this

sentence was about finding artifacts and showing them to the listeners.

2.2.4 Elaboration

Elaboration in listening comprehension pertains to relating listening

stimuli to existing knowledge in long-term memory. All of the learners used

elaboration, as reported by R1, R2, and R3. However, compared with R1 and R2

who made use of elaboration to comprehend a text, R3 misused it and composed a

different story, as in the following examples:

Interview with the listeners:

R1: I think that this passage is similar to the passage in the TOEFL writing test I

took before, which was about residents’ opinions on building a factory nearby the

village.

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R3: Well, they move with their belongings and equipment for foods. (Interviewer:

Did you think of anything else while you are listening?) I thought of nomads

moving from places to places.

c). Differences and Similarities

Based on the analysis, there are differences and similarities listening the

type of learning strategies used by the three respondents for listening

comprehension to achieve high score in TOEIC test.

Based on the table 4.2 above, there are some differences of specific

strategy used by the three respondents, especially in understanding the listening

comprehension. The three respondents called as R1, R2, and R3 used the same

combination of metacognitive, cognitive and socio affective strategy in general.

Meanwhile in studying the listening comprehension, R1 and R2 tends to apply the

same strategy which are inferencing and elaboration of cognitive learning

strategy. R3 more often use translating and direct attention. But she also uses the

elaboration and inferencing.

For the learning strategy toward the listening comprehension, R2 focus to

use cognitive learning strategy of prediction and translation, it can be seen in the

following answer of interview:

R2: Did I understand the sentences accurately? It seems that I sometimes guess

incorrectly what I could not understand out of my background knowledge, leading

to a total misunderstanding of the text like writing a novel …… When I make a

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novel, I make two to three wrong answers out of the three questions [about a

passage in the TOEIC].

Besides, R1 and R2 focus in the learning strategy of cognitive learning

strategy of elaboration. It can be seen in the following answer of interview:

R1: I think that this passage is similar to the passage in the TOEFL writing test I

took before, which was about residents’ opinions on building a factory nearby the

village.

R3: Well, they move with their belongings and equipment for foods. (Interviewer:

Did you think of anything else while you are listening?) I thought of nomads

moving from places to places.

Moreover, the three respondents use metacognitive strategy of attention

combine with cognitive strategy of inferencing to study the listening

comprehension. They felt that in combining the strategy, they can have better

understanding of the listening content.

3. The Reason of the Students for Using the Strategy

Language learning styles are general methods learners employed to learn

languages. Dunn, Beaudry, and Klavas (1989: 50) defined learning style as “a

biological and developmental set of personal characteristics that make the same

teaching method effective for some and ineffective for others” Learning styles are

“a way in which each learner begins to concentrate on, process, and retain new

and difficult information” (Dunn & Dunn, 1993, :2). Recently, Reid (1995: 8)

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stated that learning style can be seen as “an individual’s nature, habitual, and

preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing, and retaining new information”.

Although numerous types of learning style have been discussed, they can be

divided into three major categories: cognitive learning styles, sensory learning

styles, and personality learning styles (Reid, 1995: 9). Cognitive learning styles

include field- dependent/field-independent learning styles, analytic/global

learning styles, reflective/impulsive learning styles, and Kolb experiential learning

model. Sensory learning styles involve perceptual learning styles, environmental

styles, and sociological styles. Affective/Temperament learning styles embrace

Myers-Briggs Temperament styles, tolerance of ambiguity styles, and right- and

left- hemisphere learners. Learning style theory has been employed widely in

educational research studies in the past decades (Kinsella, 1993; Oxford, 1995;

Oxford & Nam, 1998; Reid, 1995; 1998; Rossi-Le, 1995; Stebbins, 1995). In sum,

Reid’s Perceptual Learning Style Preferences Questionnaire has become one of

the popular instruments to examine ESL/EFL students’ learning styles. The

questionnaire, based on Reid’s theory, has been varied and administered in efforts

to provide better understanding of learning style.

Based on the analysis, the students choose the three strategy to achieve

high score of TOEIC in order to activate their linguistic knowledge of the target

language (English) previously learned or acquired rather than recourse to the

structure of their mother tongue. It occurs because they have already got a

considerable knowledge of the target language. In other words, we can say that

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they attempted to build up hypothesis about the target language (English) from the

limited knowledge or experience of it in the classroom.

As can be seen on the table 4.1 above, the three respondents applied most

of the metacognitive types called as R1, R2,R3 of learning strategy. They are

advance organizer, direct attention, selective attention, self management, advance

preparation, self monitoring, self evaluation, self reinforcement.

They used those type of strategies in order to achieve high score of

TOEIC. RI, R2, and R3 applied those strategies because they realized that they

need to increase their skills. Metacognitive strategy is strategy that leads to

improve skill of L2 through planning, monitoring, or evaluating the success of a

learning activity.

It supported by the interview conducted with the respondents called as R1,

R2, and R3. It is described in the following discussion:

1. Metacognitive: Advance organizer

Advance organizer activities of learning include planning and reviewing

before start to study. R1, R2, R3 has planned their study before start to learn

TOEIC by preparing some books related to TOEIC, searching for information

from friends and from the internet about TOEIC to increase their knowledge about

TOEIC in general.

Based on the interview with the three respondent, it can be concluded that

the three respondents applied metacognitive of advance organizer to find out more

detail about TOEIC and increase the general knowledge about TOEIC before

learning.

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2. Metacognitive: Directed attention

Directed attention activity refers to concentrate on general aspects of a

learning task such as grammar or listening. R1, R2, R3 applied this type of

strategy to increase listening comprehension. On the listening comprehension,

they give specific time for learning.

According to the inteview, it can be conclude that R1, R2, R3 applied

directed attention metacognitive type of strategy to study one aspect of TOEIC

test which is listening comprehension. They use it to get more time and increase

the listening skill.

3. Metacognitive: Selective attention

Selective attention means an action to pay attention to specific parts of the

language input or the situation that will help learning such as studying phrase or

listening. R1, R2, R3 use this strategy to increase their listening comprehension

especially similar sound.

Through the interview with the three respondent, it can be concluded that

R1, R2, R3 done the selective attention to increase their listening skill.

4. Metacognitive : Self management

Self management means an activity of learning which refer to arrange the

appropriate condition for learning. R1, R2, R3 has arrange schedule for learning

TOEIC to maintain their learning and progress.

The interview stated that R1, R2, R3 use self management type of

metacognitive learning strategy to maintain their learning progress.

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5. Metacognitive: Advance preparation

Advance preparation refers to an activity of learning to plan or study

grammar. Here, R1, R2, R3 applied this strategy to increase their grammar

knowledge.

The interview with the three respondent stated that R1, R2, R3 are learning

the linguistics elements to increase their grammar knowledge and to be success in

doing the error task.

6. Metacognitive: Self monitoring

Self monitoring refers to an action of checking the learning activity. R1,

R2, R3 usually check their progress by doing simulation test. R1, R2, R3 use this

type of strategy to check their progress of learning TOEIC.

7. Metacognitive: Self evaluation

Self evaluation means checking how well one is doing against one’s own

standards. In this case R1, R2, R3 do some self evaluation to find out their

achievement as far as their learning TOEIC. Based on the interview with them, it

can be concluded that R1, R2, R3 do the self evaluation to check their score

achievement.

8. Metacognitive: Self reinforcement

Self reinforcement means giving oneself reward for success. R1, R2, R3

also use this strategy to built up their spirit of learning. According to the

interview, it can be said that R1, R2, R3 apply self reinforcement to built up their

spirit of learning.

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From the table 4.1 above, we know that three respondents applied most of

cognitive strategy. They are repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note-

taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word,

contextualization, elaboration, transfer and inferencing. They used those type of

strategies for the success of learning activity especially in TOEIC. It can be

describe as follows:

1. Repetition

Imitating other people’s speech, silently or aloud. In this case, the three

respondents apply this strategy to learn the listening model of TOEIC test.

R1, R2, and R3 use repetition to improve their learning of listening

comprehension.

2. Resourcing

Its’ Making use of language materials such as dictionaries. R1, R2, and R3

use this strategy to help them understand the meaning of L2 (English) on test.

3. Translation

Using the first language as a basis for understanding and/or producing the

L2’ (O’Malley et al., 1985: 33).

R1, R2, and R3 apply this strategy to increase the reading skill they

translate the meaning of difficulties vocabulary on reading.

4. Grouping

Organizing learning on the basis of ‘common attributes’. R1, R2, and

R3organize the learning based on the test model such as listening, they separate

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into few categories; picture part, long conversation, short talk. It is to increase

the listening skill.

5. Note-taking

Writing down the gist of texts. R1, R2, and R3 usually take a note in order

they can find the difficulties and increase the vocabulary skill.

6. Deduction

Conscious the application of L2 rules. R1, R2, and R3 apply this strategy

to improve grammar understanding

7. Recombination

Its’ putting together smaller meaningful elements into new wholes. R1,

R2, and R3 use this strategy to do error grammar.

8. Imagery

Turning information into a visual form to aid remembering it — “Pretend

you are doing something indicated in the sentences to make up about the new

word”.

R1, R2, and R3 use this strategy to increase the listening skill, especially

on similar sound.

9. Auditory representation

Keeping a sound or sound sequence in the mind — “When you are trying

to learn how to say something, speak it in your mind first”. R1, R2, and R3 use

this strategy to increase the listening skill, especially on similar sound.

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10. Key word

Using key-word memory techniques, such as identifying an L2 word with

an L1 word that sounds similar. R1, R2, and R3 use this strategy to increase the

vocabulary skill.

11. Contextualization

Placing a word or phrase in a meaningful language sequence’ (O’Malley

et al., 1985: 34). R1, R2 and R3 use this strategy to increase the vocabulary skill

especially phrase understanding.

12. Elaboration

‘Relating new information to other concepts in memory (O’Malley et al.,

1985a: 34). R1, R2, and R3 use this strategy to increaser the reading skill.

13. Transfer

Helping language learning through previous knowledge —“If they’re

talking about something I have already learnt (in Spanish), all I have to do is

remember the information and try to put it into English”.

R1, R2, and R3 use this strategy to master the L2 especially reading

context.

14. Inferencing

Guessing meanings by using available information — “I think of the

whole meaning of the sentence, and then I can get the meaning of the new

word”.R1, R2, and R3 use this strategy to find out the meaning of some word

without dictionary. They guess the meaning based on context.

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We know from the table 4.1 above, the three respondents used socio

affective strategy. Socio affective strategies conclude cooperation and question for

clarification. It can be describes:

1. Cooperation

Working with fellow-students on a language task. R1, R2, and R3 use this

strategy to check their progress and get good advice from the expert.

2. Question for clarification

Getting a teacher to explain, help, and so on. R1, R2, and R3 use this

strategy to get more information for better understanding of TOEIC and to

solve problem.

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B. DISCUSSION

In this section, the writer discusses the research findings of the recent

research which compared to the research finding of the previous researchers. The

writer also discusses the theory and the findings of the recent research whether or

not both are having similarities or differences.

The findings of this research show that the three respondents taken from

the students of Economy faculty of Muhammadiyah University has apply three

different learning strategy which are metacognitive, cognitive, and socio affective

to achieve the higher score of TOEIC. The strategy is taken based on the theory of

O’Malley learning strategy. This research belongs to qualitative research which

describes the type of the learning strategy used by the students of Economy

faculty of Muhammadiyah University.

For collecting the data, the researcher used questionnaire and interview

with the respondents. The researcher proposed four problem statements, which are

the type of learning strategy used by the students of Economy faculty of

Muhammadiyah University, the dominant learning strategy, the reason of the

students to use the strategy, and the pedagogical implication.

The analysis of this research relies on O’Malley theory of learning

strategy. O'Malley et al. (1985:582-584) divide language learning strategies into

three main subcategories: Metacognitive Strategies, Cognitive Strategies,

Socioaffective Strategies. Based on the analysis, the result shows that all

respondents attempted to use all of the strategy proposed by O’Malley. The three

students used almost all three learning strategies that are proposed by O’Malley.

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But there are some differences on the quantity of strategies at each student. The

similarities of the learning strategies show that they used all of strategies to

increase their listening and structure skill while they have differences learning

strategy to increase the listening skill. First subject and second subject of this

research has the same strategies to increase the listening comprehension by using

both metacognitive and cognitive strategies. They used two metacognitive

strategies that are Selective attention and self-monitoring. While the third subject

of this research do not use metacognitive strategies to increase the listening

section. Meanwhile in cognitive strategies the three subjects apply the same

cognitive strategies to increase the listening comprehension. In cognitive

strategies, the three subjects applied imagery, translation and elaboration to

increase the listening skill. The writer found that there were no significant

differences of learning strategy used by the three respondents. Basically, the three

respondents combine the three strategies for achieving high score of TOEIC.

Compared to the previous study, this study has significant learning to

achieve the higher score of TOEIC test. In the previous study, the researcher only

focuses on some learning strategy for studying the English language and not for

preparing the test such as TOEIC. Moreover, the previous study has significant

attention only on one or two learning strategy. They also have different theory of

analysis compared to this research. This current study’s finding is different from

Zeynali’s study, Farsani’s study, Kayaoglu’s study, Du’s study, Ajaja’s study, and

Kaur & Muhamed’s study.

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First study conducted by Zeynali’s study finding revealed that there isn’t

significant in the use of metacognitive and cognitive among EFL language

learners with different gender. But there is significant difference in the use of

socio - affective strategy among EFL learners with difference gender. In this

research result that the examination of the means of variables reveals that females

have significantly higher social/ affective score that males. From the result, it can

be suggest that although both male and female learners use all three strategy

categories but female learners tend to use social affective strategies more than

male learners.

The second study conducted by Farsani et all’s study. The first finding of

the third study that Iranian learners were high users with regard to metacognitive,

cognitive and social and they were medium users in terms of memory,

compensation, and affective strategies. Based on the second finding this research,

Iranian learners were mainly intrinsically oriented toward learning English

language. The low mean for external motivation indicated they rarely learned

English for satisfying their external demand. The last finding of this research,

there is relationship between motivational orientation and language learning

strategy types. External motivation indicated very low and positive correlation

with memory, compensation, affective, and metacognitive strategies as well as

low and negative correlation with cognitive and social strategies.

The third study accomplished by kayouglu’s study. This research found

that good learners were observed to differ significantly from the poor learners in

the use of elaborating and using imagery through remembering location. Based on

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the result, it is revealed statistically significant differences from the poor learners

in the use of a substantial number of cognitive strategies. It means that good

learners showed a significantly higher frequency of using compensation strategies.

The fourth study conducted by Du’s Study. The first finding of the fourth

study that both specific and global measures of English self-concept indicated that

Chinese college non English majors didn’t hold high English self-concept that

eleventh strategy sets were categorized as the medium use. Among them, ten

strategy sets belonged to memory, cognitive, social, and affective. Based on the

result, female’s general English self-concept was higher that that of males. Female

learners had more positive general English self-concept that the male. Indicated

females pronunciation self-concept was significantly higher than males. The last

finding found that general English self- concept had higher correlations with six

language learning strategies, comparing with English speaking self-concept and

English pronunciation self-concept.

The fifth study conducted by Kaur & Mohamed’s study revealed the male

and female integrated science students in cooperative learning classroom scored

slightly different scores. The males had mean scores of 60.49 while the mean

score of female was 63.39.

The sixth study accomplished by Kaur & Mohamed’s study revealed that

there is frequency of the students using language learning strategies for four skills

in English mastering. This research found that in reading strategy is the most

frequently used strategy while speaking is the least frequently used strategy

among primary students. Most primary students employ reading and writing

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strategy more frequently as six teachers emphasize there skills. More than the

listening and speaking skill in the classroom. Reading and writing being the most

frequently used strategy, with means 3.633 and 3.575 respectively demonstrate

that these strategies are related to exam strategies. Listening and speaking

strategies is emphasized less in classroom.

Differences is obviously recognizing, this current research reveals that

each students has their own type of learning strategies. Based on the analysis it

can be seen that the three students have similarities and differences to use the

learning strategies to achieve high score of TOEIC test. The differences are

attempted at learning strategies of listening comprehension. The first and the

second students have similarities of learning strategies of the listening section.

They used five learning strategies in listening. Meanwhile, based on the result it

can be seen that the third students’ is difference from the others. The third

students only used three learning strategies in listening.

Based on the statement above, it can be indicated that this current research

finding is compatible with O’Malley theory of language learning strategies.

According to O’Malley (1990: 582) divided LLS into three main sub categories,

namely: meta-cognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective strategies. The three

students of Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta employ the three aspects of

LLS by O’Malley.

From the analysis above, this research is correlated with the theory of

O’Malley. The three subjects used similar strategies in reading and structure of

TOEIC. In metacognitive they used advance organizer, directed attention,

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selective attention, self-management, functional planning, self-monitoring,

delayed production, and self-evaluation. Metacognitive strategy in help preparing

have them in preparing grammar and vocabulary proficiency by enrich their

resources. it also help them in managing their time of learning TOEIC, in having

TOEIC simulation. In cognitive strategy, they used eleventh strategies such as

repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, auditory

representation, key word, contextualization, recombination, and inferencing.

Cognitive strategy helps in understanding context of L2 used and grammatical

errors in the test model. In socio/ affective strategy they used cooperation and

question for clarification. Socio/ affective strategy help in having a problem

solving.

The three subjects have different learning strategies in the listening

section. First and second subject use similar strategies of metacognitive, but the

third subject does not apply it. The first and second student used directed

attention, selective attention and self- monitoring. It helps them for predicting the

out coming answer and question and also focus on pronunciation with similar

sound.

In cognitive strategy, the three subjects used imagery, translation, and

elaboration. It helps them for predicting the situation of picture in the TOEIC

questions, making concept of the listening points, mixing long term memory with

the problems occur in the test.

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