ELS- ToPIC 10 Chinese ESL Students Learning Strategies a Look At

8/20/2019 ELS- ToPIC 10 Chinese ESL Students Learning Strategies a Look At

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!eha)iour tendencies and atterns that are re resentati)e of this gro(ing grou of ESL

students' Fro% this, (e ho e to !etter understand their needs and in articular, hel the%

de)elo a ro riate strategies that %ay enhance their language learning'

The Aim of Learning Strategy Research

The ter% 7strategy’ in the conte.t of language learning refers to a s ecific ty e of

action on !eha)iour resorted to !y a language learner in order to i% ro)e erfor%ance in

!oth using and learning a language +8ai%an , Frolich, Ste% 9 Todesco "/# 2 ;enden 9

&u!in "/ #2 -.ford "//0 The rationale for learner strategy research is that if researchers

can identify a list of strategies that successful language learners use , then less effecti)e

learners %ay !enefit fro% a lying the sa%e strategies in their o(n learning' Further%ore,

good learners can !eco%e !etter !y e. loiting the (hole s ectru% of strategies that are

a)aila!le to the% +&u!in "/#$2 8ai%an Frolich, Todesco 9 Stern "/# '

At the sa%e ti%e, researchers into second language acquisition are also interested

in deter%ining the effect of strategy use on success in learning another language' So%e

ha)e ro)ided e)idence (hich strongly indicates that learning strategies interact (ith other

)aria!les to affect language roficiency +Gardner and 4ac*ntyre "//< ' So i% ortant is the

role of strategy use in learning a second language that so%e theorists ha)e included it in

their %odels of second language learning +e'g' 4cLaughlin "/ #2 4ac*ntyre "//= '

Classification of Learning Strategies

As a result of nu%erous studies in the last t(enty years, long lists of strategies

ha)e !een identified +See, for e.a% le, &u!in "/ #2 ->4alley and Cha%ot "//0 ' -.ford

+"//< re orted that there (ere at least t(o do?en different classifications' *n general,

these strategies fall under four !road categories, i'e' strategies that una!le learners to:

"' co% rehend, store, retrie)e and use infor%ation

@' %anage and direct their learning through reflection and lanning


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!' Cogniti)e strategies 6 These in)ol)e rocessing the target language so that %eaning

!eco%es clear through rocesses such as reasoning and analy?ing'c' Co% ensation strategies 6 These ena!le learners to %ake u for ga s in their

kno(ledge and skills, !y, for e.a% le, guessing %eanings and using gestures'

d' *ndirect strategies, on the other hand, su ort and %anage language learning often(ithout in)ol)ing the target language directly' There are three grou s of indirect

strategies: 4etacogniti)e strategies 6 These ena!le learners to lan, coordinate,

e)aluate, and direct their o(n learning as (ell as to %onitor errors'e' Affecti)e strategies 6 These hel learners gain control o)er their e%otions,

attitudes:, and %oti)ation through an.iety reduction, selfencourage%ent, and self6

re(ardf' Social strategies 6 These are (ays of in)ol)ing other eo le in enhancing learning

through questions, coo eration and increased cultural a(areness'

Subjects

The su!5ects (ere "#$ students fro% the Peo le’s &e u!lic of China' They (ere

enrolled on a si.6%onth intensi)e English rogra%%e in the 8ational *nstitute of

Education at the 8anyang Technological Bni)ersity, Singa ore' Their a)erage age (as "/,

and they had re)iously studied English for si. years in China' For the ur ose of this

study, the students (ere grou ed under three le)els of roficiency : igh, 4ediu%, andLo(' At the ti%e the sur)ey (as carried out, the students had li)ed in Singa ore for an

a)erage of three %onths, (hich also corres onded (ith the length of ti%e they had s ent

learning English as a second language at the *nstitute'

Instrument

T(o research instru%ents (ere used for this study' The first, used in deter%ining

the roficiency of the su!5ects, (as a standardi?ed test D the Secondary Le)el EnglishProficiency Test or SLEP +Educational Testing Ser)ices "//" ' The second instru%ent (as

the S*LL +Strategy *n)entory for Language Learning , )ersion #'0, designed !y -.ford

+"//0 ' This questionnaire sur)eys the learning strategies that su!5ects ercei)e the%sel)es

as using'

The SLEP test is a nor%6referenced roficiency test ad%inistered to %easure

listening and reading co% rehension' *t contains a total of "$0 %ulti le6choice questions,

#'$ for each skill' For listening co% rehension, the su!5ects (ere tested on a (ide range of

listening a!ilities' *n ut (as in the for% of single sentences, short assages, and

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con)ersations' *n the reading co% rehension test, students (ere assessed on a nu%!er of

%ain and su!shills' *n ut included !oth literary and non6literary assages'

The S*LL instru%ent contains $0 short state%ents each descri!ing the use of one

strategy' These state%ents are further grou ed into si. categories according to -.ford’s

strategy syste% descri!ed earlier in this a er: %e%ory, cogniti)e, co% ensation,

%etacogniti)e, affecti)e, and social'

Su!5ects had to res ond to each state%ent on a $6 oint Likert' scale ranging fro%

" + 8e)er or al%ost true of %e to $ + Al(ays or al%ost al(ays true of %e ' For the

S*LL questionnaire and scoring rocedures, see -.ford +"//0, ' @/


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icture, %aking a %ental icture of a situation in (hich a (ord %ight !e used, using

rhy%es, hysically acting out a (ord, and re%e%!ering ne( (ords or hrases !y

re%e%!ering their location on ages, the !oard, etc' ;e reasoned that the students

ro!a!ly did not kno( a!out these techniques'

#! $ffects of language %roficiency & gender

Another ai% of our research' (as to deter%ine (hether learners of different

language roficiency and gender )ary in their use of learning strategies' Statistical

analysis sho(ed that so%e grou s of strategies (ere significantly influenced !y these

t(o )aria!les'

(a) Proficiency Level

&esults fro% t(o6(ay A8-KA sho(ed that the roficiency le)el of the

students had a significant influence on the use of t(o categories of learning strategies:

cogniti)e and co% ensation +see Ta!le @ '

Table #

*nde endent )aria!le: Proficiency Le)el

The high roficiency grou used %ore cogniti)e strategies +4I


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finding the %eaning of a (ord !y di)iding it into arts that they could understand,

ractising the sounds of English, and finding atterns in the language'

As (e can see fro% the %eans of all three grou s, all students used co% ensation

to a certain degree' *n articular, %eans for the high and %ediu% roficiency students

(hich (ere a!o)e the %ediu%+@'$ 6


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The 'uestions

"' ;hat kind of learning strategies do P&C students re ort the%sel)es as usingAns(er:

a' 4e%ory strategies !' Cogniti)e strategiesc' Co% ensation strategies

d' *ndirect strategiese' Affecti)e strategiesf' Social strategies

@' o language roficiency and gender influence the use of these strategiesAns(er:Mes, it does' Hecause fro% the research a!o)e (e can find that the result is that

language roficiency and gender is influence'


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That is 4etacogniti)e strategy' 4etacogniti)e strategies are e.ecuti)e rocesses that

regulate and %anage learning, and include strategies for lanning, %onitoring, and

e)aluating

()CAB*LARI$S

+o ,ord -eaning +o ,ord -eaning" roficiency kecaka an @" assessed inilai@ gender Nenis kela%in @@ Synthesis Sintesis< le)el Tingkatan @< co% arison Per!andingan= %onitoring 4e%antau @= counter arts &ekan6rekan$ e)aluating E)aluasi @$ &anging 4ulai1 Frequently sering @1 Literary Literer # encouraging mendorong @# Scrutini?ed iteliti

Gestures gerak-gerik @ Passages Ayat6ayat

/ ga s kesen5angan @/ Ca itali?e Her%odalkan"0 &e(arding !er%anfaat


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ELS- ToPIC 10 Chinese ESL Students Learning Strategies a Look At

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