5 Factors Affecting Language Learning Strategies

(GGE6533)

Prepared for: Prof. Dr. Mohamed Amin EmbiPrepared by: Nurul ‘Ain Othman (P76133)

5 Factors:

OMotivation

OGender

OExperience

OProficiency level

OLearning styles

MotivationO motivation and attitudes are the primary sources contributing to

individual language learning. (Gardner, 1985)

O generally, motivation can be a matter explaining why people decide to do something, how long they are willing to sustain the activity, and how hard they are going to pursue it. (Dörnyei, 2001)

O Oxford and Nyikos (1989) indicate that the learners with high motivation to learn a language will likely use a variety of strategies.

O More motivated learners used more learning strategies, and more frequently (McIntyre & Noels 1996)

GenderO Females use significantly more learning strategies than

males (Green & Oxford 1995; Gu 2002; Razak et al. 2012)

O Females found to use strategies more frequently even across cultural backgrounds (Brazil, China, German, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Togo) and dis/favoured different strategies than males

O Females used Social and Metacognitive strategies most, Memory the least; Males used Metacognitive and Compensation most, Affective least (Hong-Nam & Leavell 2006)

cont..O In contrast, some studies found males to use learning

strategies more than females

O Males were more likely to use a variety of learning strategies than females in a study of adult Vietnamese refugees (Tran 1988)

O With 678 Singaporean university students, males used a greater number of strategies significantly more often than females (Wharton 2000)

O Although no significant gender differences, males used significantly more social strategies than females (Radwan2011)

Experience

O Purdie and Oliver (1999) highlights the importance of experience in studying a language as one of the factors affecting the choices of language learning strategies.

O studying abroad is deemed to have an influence on students’ thought and learning style, especially in their actual ability in language learning.

Proficiency levelO High level of proficiency associated with increased use

of both direct and indirect strategies (Green & Oxford 1995; Park 1997; Chen 2002)

O In Park (1997) and Peacock and Ho’s (2003) studies, a linear correlation and significant correlations between strategy use and proficiency level were found among Korean EFL learners and university students in Hong Kong respectively

O Cognitive and metacognitive strategies show high correlations with high language proficiency levels (Peacock & Ho 2003)

cont..O Differing levels of proficiency gave rise to differing

frequencies of strategy use— intermediate students used metacognitive strategies more than beginners, while the latter used more translation strategies (O’Malley et al. 1985)

O Low-proficiency students used more communication strategies than high- proficiency ones (Chen 1990)

O Low-proficiency students outperformed the high-proficiency ones in their use of compensation strategies (Chen 2002)

Learning stylesO an individual’s learning style preferences influence

the type of LLSs they use (Ehrman and Oxford, 1990; Rossi-Le, 1995; among others)

O Extroverts, for example, show a strong preference for social strategies, while introverts use metacognitive strategies more frequently (Ehrman and Oxford, 1990)

O learners who favour group study are shown to use social and interactive strategies, such as working with peers or requesting clarification (Rossi-Le, 1995).

Thank you!