GGGE 6533: LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES INSTRUCTION SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNING INVENTORY (SELL-IN) PREPARED FOR: PROF. DR. MOHAMED AMIN BIN EMBI PREPARED BY: NABIRA BINTI MANSOR P79857

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

LISTENING STRATEGY USE

StrategiesStrongly AgreeAgreeStrongly DisagreeDisagree I listen to talk shows on the radio, watch TV shows, or see movies in the target language. 70% (10) 30% (4) 0% (0) 0% (0) I listen in on people who are having conversation in the target language to try to catch the gist of what they are saying. 40% (6) 50% (7) 0% (0) 10% (1) I imitate the way native speakers talk. 60% (9) 40% (5) 0% (0) 0% (0) I listen for key words that seem to carry the bulk of the meaning. 30% (5) 60% (8) 0% (0) 10% (1) I ask for clarification if I don't understand it the first time around. 40% (6) 50% (7) 10% (1) 0% (0) I watch speakers' gestures and general body language to help me figure out the meaning of what they are saying. 60% (8) 30% (5) 0% (0) 10% (1)

The results indicated that 100% of the respondents have listened to talk shows on radio, watch TV shows or even see movies in the target language. Similarly percentage has resulted from the strategy of the imitation on how the native speakers talk. Meanwhile, it was reported as well, the least percentage was 90% for the rest listening strategies where most of them would ask clarification if they did not understand and also they would watch speakers’ gestures and general body language to help them to figure out what the speakers were trying to say. However, 10% of them did not agree with these strategies.

WRITING STRATEGY USE

StrategiesStrongly AgreeAgreeStrongly DisagreeDisagree I plan out in advance how to write academic papers, monitor how my writing is going, and check to see how well my writing reflects what I want to say. 60% (8) 20% (3) 10% (2) 10% (1) I try writing different kinds of texts in the target language (e.g., personal notes, message, letters, and course papers). 30% (5) 50% (7) 10% (1) 10% (1) I review what I have already written before continuing to write more. 60% (9) 30% (4) 0% (0) 10% (1) I use reference materials such as a glossary, a dictionary, or thesaurus to help find or verify words in the target language. 70% (9) 30% (5) 0% (0) 0% (0) I revise my writing once or twice to improve the language and content. 40% (6) 50% (7) 0% (0) 10% (1)

Table 4.3 showed that the highest percentage of writing strategy that have been used was the utilization of reference materials to help find or verify words in the target language. The percentage was 100%. Furthermore, 80% of the respondents have planned out in advance how to write academic papers, monitored on how the writing was going and checked to see how well their writing reflected what they wanted to say. In fact, they also agreed that they have tried writing different kinds of texts in the target language like personal notes, message, letters and course papers. The least percentage of these strategy was 10% only. It was reported too that 90% of the respondents have a tendency to revise or review the writing output in once or twice to improve the language and content.

SPEAKING STRATEGY USE

StrategiesStrongly AgreeAgreeStrongly DisagreeDisagree I practice new grammatical structures in different situations to build my confidence level in using them. 40% (5) 50% (7) 0% (0) 10% (2) I regularly seek out opportunities to talk with native speakers. 50% (7) 30% (4) 20% (3) 0% (0) I initiate conversations in the target language as often as possible. 20% (4) 40% (5) 40% (5) 0% (0) I try to figure out and model native speakers’ language patterns when requesting, apologizing, or complaining. 60% (8) 30% (4) 0% (0) 10% (2) I look for a different way to express the idea, like using a synonym. 40% (6) 40% (6) 10% (1) 10% (1)

Based on the Table 4.4 above, two strategies were used by 80% of the respondents respectively. The strategies involved sought out opportunities to talk with native speakers and looked for a different way to express the idea like using a synonym. However, there were 40% of respondents have not agreed in initiating conversations as often as possible. The remaining 60% of this speaking strategy have agreed on that. In addition, 90% of respondents made use of the opportunity to practice new grammatical structures in different situations to boost up their confidence to speak in English. Only 10% have dissimilar response where they did not agree with this strategy which means they never try it before. To get familiar with the native speakers’ language pattern in requesting, apologizing or complaining, 90% of the respondents tried to figure out on this technique while the remaining percentage was 10% have disagreed with it.

READING STRATEGY USE

StrategiesStrongly AgreeAgreeStrongly DisagreeDisagree I read as much as possible in the target language. 40% (5) 40% (5) 10% (2) 10% (2) I skim an academic text first to get the main idea and then go back and read it more carefully. 30% (4) 60% (9) 0% (0) 10% (1) I am trying to guess the appropriate meaning by using clues from the context of the reading material. 60% (8) 40% (6) 0% (0) 0% (0) I use a target language dictionary to see how words are defined by means of other target language words. 60% (8) 40% (6) 0% (0) 0% (0)

Findings in Table 4.5 illustrated that 20% of the respondents did not have much interest in reading the resources in English whereas the remaining 80% percentage have applied this strategy. Nevertheless, for the rest percentage of the reading strategies used were quiet preferable. These involved skimmed and academic text first to get the main idea, trying to guess the appropriate meaning by using clues from the context of the reading materials and the use of target language dictionary to see how words are defined by means of other target language words. The percentage of these strategies were 100% and 90% for skimming technique.

VOCABULARY STRATEGY USE

StrategiesStrongly AgreeAgreeStrongly DisagreeDisagree I list new words with other words that are related to it. 30% (4) 50% (7) 0% (0) 20% (3) I write out new words in meaningful sentences. 40% (5) 40% (5) 10% (2) 10% (2) I go over new words often when I first learn them to help me remember them. 50% (7) 40% (5) 0% (0) 10% (2) I try using new words in a variety of ways. 30% (4) 50% (7) 0% (0) 20% (3)

Table 4.6 demonstrated that the findings of the vocabulary strategies used by the respondents. The first strategy was frequently used was the respondents would go over new words often when listen to them for the first time.The percentage was 90%. Additionally, the remaining strategies for vocabulary namely, list new words with other words that are related to it, write out new words in meaningful sentences and use them in a variety ways have been calculated in 80%.

IMPLICATIONS

In a nutshell, the findings gathered from this study provide a greater understanding of strategy use among successful language learners particularly for English and generally for other languages. As has been known, language learning strategies should have the target language that the learners intend to acquire hence there are some actions or methods are used based on the learners’ preferences. This will be varied accordingly to learners’ need, language proficiency which related to personal background. It keeps changing continuously over time. The process in getting the product is necessary rather the product itself.

Educators can help students to learn more successfully and develop their learning autonomy but it depends on the learners in terms of the application (Lessard- Clouston 1997). Hence, it is important the syllabus of each lesson should be designed accordingly to language learners’ need by providing adequate links between objectives of the language course and their application to real-life contexts. In fact, the syllabus should be modified too by anticipating activities that involve students in the actual use of the target language. All forms of language teaching can be greatly improved if language learners understand better the learning strategies. At the same time, the finding of the research could be useful to the English teachers in preparing themselves with good qualities in teaching English language consequently will increase the interest of students in learning the language which will lead to the improvement of English language proficiency.