GGGE6533 LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES INSTRUCTIONS PROJECT PAPER

NAME: SANTHI RAMANUJAM GOPALA KRISHNAN MATRIX NUMBER: GP LECTURER: PROFESSOR DR MOHAMMAD AMIN EMBI

A STUDY TO KNOW LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES USED BY GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNERS

OVERVIEW  MAIN FINDINGS  DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS  IMPLICATIONS

What are Language Learning Strategies? Language learning strategies are any activities, steps, plans or routines used by the learner which affect learning process with the goal to improve the learning of language for the use of it.

Direct Strategies Requires mental processing of language  Memory strategies are used to store and retrieve information from memory  Cognitive strategies require understanding for effective production of language  Compensation strategies allow learners to use the language despite gaps in the knowledge

Indirect Strategies Do not require mental processing of language  Meta-cognitive strategies involve such things as planning, coordinating, evaluating learning  Affective strategies aim to control emotion and motivation  Social strategies are used to engage the help of others in the acquisition process

“GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNERS” WHO ARE THEY? MOTIVATED PRACTICE NATURAL WITH LANGUAGE DARE TO MAKE MISTAKES EXPLORE INDUCTIVELY GUESSES - HOTS COMMUNICATE MONITOR FOCUS ON THE MEANING SELF CONFIDENT

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DISCUSSIONS AND FINDINGS OF THE STUDY RESPONDENTS: GLL 10 Form 4 students – Urban secondary school(Sandakan, Sabah) Purposive sampling 9 female and 1 male Scored A in PT3 Active participation in Co-academic activities at national, state, district and school level INSTRUMENTATION Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) version 7.0 (Oxford, 1992) 72 Items on a Likert Scale of point 1-5 range “Never True of Me” to “Always True of Me” QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

DATA ANALYSIS  Total Mean Scores  Ratings of Mean Frequency in 3 Categories: o Low Strategy Use (1.0 – 2.4) o Medium Strategy Use(2.5 – 3.4) o High Strategy Use(3.5 – 5.0)

FINDINGS 1: OVERALL LLS STRATEGY USE

 Overall mean score for LLS use (High Strategy Use)  5 LLS showed high frequency  Cognitive Strategy  Compensation Strategy  Memory Strategy  Metacognitive Strategy  Affective Strategy  1 LLS showed Low frequency  Social Strategy-3.183

FINDINGS 2: Preferred Language Learning Strategy for Listening Skills

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS LLS USE FOR LISTENING “SO WHAT?” “NOW WHAT?”“THEN WHAT?” High Use: Meta-cognitive strategy Based on the Sell item with highest frequency, GLL prefer listening attentively to a good model of an English speaker to improve their ability in listening. More pedagogical strategies which are geared towards Meta-cognitive skills should be exposed to these students. Provide opportunities for GLL to listen to good or authentic models of listening materials such as news items, listen to BBC or CNN news, listen to narrated documentaries etc. o Create listening lessons/activities or materials that require attentive listening such as listening to complete a form, message or a plot of a story. Low Use: Memory Strategy The Sell item with the lowest frequency shows that GLL do not prefer making connections with the sound of a word with an image to remember it. They may lack the knowledge on how to use this strategy. As a teacher we should expose them to some good models and examples of activities. Should reduce tasks that involve making mental linkages or making associations with sound and images. o Gradually, include activities that require mental linkages which are purposeful and interesting such as homophones, rhyming words.

FINDINGS 3: Preferred Language Learning Strategy for Speaking Skills

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS LLS USE FOR SPEAKING“SO WHAT?”“NOW WHAT?”“THEN WHAT?” High Use: Meta-cognitive strateg y Social Affective Compensation Based on the Sell item with highest frequency, GLL prefer : to find out how to speak better in English to take note of the mistakes they make choose to relax and provide self- encouragement To ask others to correct them and enjoy practicing the language with friends Provide opportunities for learners to engage in speaking activities that involve group or pair- work. Peer-checking to improve or correct errors when speaking Be sensitive to creating an environment that is comfortable and friendly for speaking activities o Create activities that allow learners to speak by lowering anxiety. o Role-plays, dialogues, jigsaw story-telling can be introduced where learners build the dialogues together with their group members Medium/Low Use: Memory Strategy Cognitive Strategy Based on the Sell item least used, not all try to talk like native speakers nor practice sounds of words as spoken like native speakers. Good to make learners aware of “variety of language” and the generally accepted form Increase the number of listening and speaking activities that require learners to imitate good speakers of English to improve pronunciation, intonation and clarity of speech.

FINDINGS 4: Preferred Language Learning Strategies for Reading Skills

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS LLS USE FOR READING “SO WHAT?” “NOW WHAT?”“THEN WHAT?” High Use: Cognitive Strategy Compensation Memory Affective The most frequently used strategy based on Sell items,GLL: Like to read for pleasure Skim a passage before thorough reading Make guesses of meanings of word Encourage self to continue reading even when they do not understand what they read Provide practice on various reading skills such as skimming and scanning, guessing meaning from contextual clues, predicting, reading aloud, reading silently, linking ideas and summarizing o Create activities in a fun way to reduce anxiety level and a sense of achievement in reading o Guess meanings of words using colourful clues o Use concept maps e.g I-think maps to improve understanding o Scanning and questioning tasks o Short quizzes to test memory Medium /Low Use: Social Meta-cognitive The least frequently used strategy based on Sell items:GLL do not like to discuss what they have read with others and do not plan a schedule to have enough time for reading. Provide opportunities for increasing reading by varying reading materials that are suited to their level of proficiency Provide room for scheduled purposeful extended reading (that allows them to think of how they read to gain certain information) o Create short reading tasks (authentic reading cards with graphics and pictures) with short quiz questions starting with MCQ, True/False/Gap Filling and open ended.

FINDINGS 5: Preferred Language Learning Strategies for Writing Skills

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS LLS USE FOR WRITING“SO WHAT?”“NOW WHAT?”“THEN WHAT?” High Use: Affective Social Cognitive Memory Based on the Sell item with highest frequency, GLL usually: encourage themselves to write in English even when they are afraid of making mistakes. ask friends to help check for accuracy write phrases to explain if they can’t think of the word. Provide writing activities that reduces anxiety level and increases opportunities for completion of tasks within a short time frame – thus increasing sense of achievement and wanting to accomplish more. Vary tasks that involves group or pair work that encourages sharing of ideas and peer-editing Provide opportunities for learners to generate ideas using strategic tools for practice and retention of vocabulary/good use of words o Create tables or mind-maps where learners can transfer information or complete information based on a description of a person, place or an event. This will help them see how parts can form a whole. o Introduce the use of dictionary and thesaurus simultaneously (through carefully planned fun- exercises) to allow learners to explore new, precise and interesting words i.e a board- game – Wordmania o Peer-edit in a fun way – Dare to Spot my Error? o Write diaries and journals and rewarding them for best writing

Medium/Low Use: Compensation Meta-cognitive Based on the Sell item GLL usually do not: find out how to be a better writer find opportunities to increase writing Make up new words when they do not know the right way to write what they want Provide opportunities to learning good writing techniques i.e variety of words, sentences and paragraphs Provide varying writing opportunities to repeat words and sentence patterns to enhance retention and usability Provide increased tasks that enables learners to think of their own writing patterns and ways to improve o Increase drilling activities in which same words are repeatedly used in different ways i.e Bingo, matching, labeling, spelling-bees, quizzes, treasure hunt and word association activities o Increase drilling activities to provide various practice on sentence structure from simple to complex structures.

FINDINGS 6: Preferred Language Learning Strategies for Grammar Skills

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS LLS USE FOR GRAMMAR“SO WHAT?”“NOW WHAT?”“THEN WHAT?” High Use: Cognitive The most frequently used strategy based on Sell item, GLL: practise new grammar concepts learnt Watch English TV shows to strengthen their command of grammar Provide learning strategies that allow learners to practice patterns in sentence structures Provide lessons in which learners watch sitcoms ( situational comedies) that allow teacher and the students to have an entire lesson based on several minutes of watching, observing and practicing while present, exemplify, consolidate and revise language. o Practice the grammar and vocabulary used in the Sitcom through various exercises such as gap-filling, role-play, script writing and sentence writing exercises. Medium /Low Use: Social Affective Compensation Meta-cognition Memory The least frequently used strategy based on Sell item:GLL do not Make mental pictures of concepts taught in class think of relationships between what they already know and new grammar items learnt talk to someone about how they feel when they are unsure of a grammatical concept Provide learning activities in which learners can practice grammar structures consciously and retain knowledge of how to use in other communicational forms. (provide mnemonics, formula, wordsearch games, colour-coding exercises for identifying positions of parts of speech in sentences. o Create fun interactive grammar activities starting from simple to more challenging exercises. o Learning through songs, for better memory and lowering anxiety o Peer-editing (Dare to Spot my Error?)

FINDINGS 7: Preferred Language Learning Strategies for Vocabulary Skills

FINDINGS & DISCUSSION PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS LLS USE FOR VOCABULARY “SO WHAT?”“NOW WHAT?”“THEN WHAT?” High Use: Social Compensation Memory Cognitive The most frequently used strategy based on Sell items,GLL: like friends correcting their use of English words like practicing using new word with other students like making guesses to understand unfamiliar words Provide opportunities for learners to remember and practice newly learn words Provide strategies to learn vocabulary in effective ways that enable retention and ability to retrieve the word/s for future use o Create activities in which learners are able to guess meanings of words using contextual clues, dictionary and thesaurus i.e synonyms, antonyms, sensory words etc. (Bingo, Wordmania, Vocable, Quizzes) o Pairing of words/ word association activities through memory game Medium /Low Use: Meta-cognitive Affective The least frequently used strategy based on Sell items: GLL do not try to find better ways to learn words have clear goal for improving vocabulary Provide opportunities to use and practice vocabulary from simple to complex words in a more friendly environment that lowers anxiety o Create fun activities where learners are able to use vocabulary with fun and a lot of motivation and peer support i.e. through games like charades, what’s my line and ‘funky word game’

Conclusion The study reveals that GLL do employ LLS to improve their proficiency. It maybe done consciously or unconsciously by learners depending on whether LLS have been explicitly or implicitly taught. To improve proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, writing, grammar and vocabulary several strategies are used simultaneously based on their preferred language learning strategy that work best for them. The pedagogical implication is that teachers can now select, plan, teach and evaluate LLS that caters to the needs of their students to produce the desired results in improving students’ proficiency of the language.