Quy Nhon university EFL students' language learning strategies = Chiến lược học tập ngôn ngữ của sinh viên Anh ngữ tại trường Đại học Quy Nhơn

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN HÀ VỸ LINH

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY EFL

STUDENTS’ LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 8140111

Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

NGUYỄN HÀ VỸ LINH

CHI N LƢỢC HỌC TẬP NGÔN NGỮ C A SINH VIÊN

ANH NGỮ TẠI TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

Ngành: Lý Luận và Phƣơng Pháp dạy học bộ môn Tiếng Anh

Mã số: 8140111

Ngƣời hƣớng dẫn: PGS.TS. Nguyễn Thị Thu Hiền

i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the thesis entitled Quy Nhon University EFL Students’

Language Learning Strategies is my own original work. I further declare

that I have not submitted this paper for the award of any other degree or

diploma. Any works of other authors consulted in this thesis are listed in the

reference.

Quy Nhon, 2022

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this graduation thesis is the result of not only my own

efforts but also other of organizations and individuals to whom I would like

to express my deepest gratitude.

First of all, I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, who has devoted her time and effort to giving valuable

comments and precious advice for me in spite of her huge workload. Without

her patience and constant encouragement during the procedure of conducting

this study, the work would never have been accomplished.

Secondly, my warmest thanks go to all lecturers from the Department of

Foreign Languages and the staff of the Department of Postgraduate Training

for their critical courses and endless assistance during my study at the

university.

Thirdly, I would like to extend my special thanks to 200 the students

from classes. Without their help, I could not gather enough qualitative and

quantitative data to conduct this study.

Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my

beloved family and friends, who have always believed in me and given me

power to overcome all the challenges I encountered while carrying out this

research.

iii

ABSTRACT

Language learning strategies play a significant part in learning a second

or foreign language. These strategies support and simplify the process of

language learning for students. Therefore, this study endeavors to investigate

language learning strategies applied by students at the Department of Foreign

Languages, Quy Nhon university in learning English language as a foreign

language. To fulfill the aim, the study was carried out with the enthusiastic

participation of 200 English majors from first year to fourth year. The study

used the language learning strategy questionnaire established by Oxford

(1990) to collect data of 200 students, 20 out of 200 students from different

courses then participated in interviews, and later the data was both

qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. The study discloses that EFL

students at Quy Nhon university were accustomed to the whole six language

learning strategies clusters. These language learning strategies clusters are:

Memory, Cognitive, Compensation, Metacognitive, Social, and Affective

strategies with a high level of frequency use for over-all strategies (M = 3.60).

The most repeatedly applied strategies by students from these six strategies

are as follows from the top Metacognitive, Social, Memory, Cognitive,

Compensation and Affective strategies, particularly EFL students prioritized

the strategy of paying attention when someone is speaking English (item of

Metacognitive strategies) as this significantly contributes to improving their

second language acquisition. The findings would help teachers and students to

be aware of language learning strategies while in teaching and learning

English as a foreign language.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ................................................................... i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..............................................................................ii

ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................iii

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... vi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................... vi

1.1. Rationale ................................................................................................. 1

1.2. Aims and objectives................................................................................ 3

1.2.1. Aims.................................................................................................. 3

1.2.2. Objectives ......................................................................................... 3

1.3. Research questions.................................................................................. 3

1.4. Scope of the study................................................................................... 4

1.5. Significance of the study......................................................................... 4

1.6. Organization of the study........................................................................ 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................... 6

2.1. Language Learning Strategies................................................................. 6

2.1.1. Definition of Language Learning Strategies .................................... 6

2.1.2. Classification of Language Learning Strategies............................... 9

2.2. Oxford‟s Language Learning Strategy Classification (1990) ................. 13

2.2.1. Direct Language Learning Strategies............................................. 17

2.2.2. Indirect Language Learning Strategies........................................... 22

2.3. The Previous Studies on Language Learning Strategies ...................... 27

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .................................................................. 30

3.1. Research Methods................................................................................. 30

3.2. Research Participants............................................................................ 30

3.3. Research Instruments............................................................................ 31

3.3.1. Questionnaire .................................................................................. 31

v

3.3.2. Semi-structured interview............................................................... 32

3.4. Procedure for Data Collection .............................................................. 33

3.4.1. Questionnaire .................................................................................. 33

3.4.2. Semi-structured interview............................................................... 34

3.5. Procedure for Data Analysis................................................................. 35

3.6. Ethical Consideration............................................................................ 36

3.7 Chapter Summary .................................................................................. 36

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ............................................ 38

4.1. Reliability Test...................................................................................... 38

4.2. Overall Language Learning Strategies Used by EFL Students at Quy

Nhon University........................................................................................... 39

4.2.1. Memory Strategies.......................................................................... 43

4.2.2. Cognitive Strategies........................................................................ 46

4.2.3. Compensation Strategies................................................................. 49

4.2.4. Metacognitive Strategies................................................................. 52

4.2.5. Affective Strategies......................................................................... 55

4.2.6. Social Strategies.............................................................................. 57

4.3. Most and least frequently used language learning strategies ............... 60

4.3.1. Most frequently used language learning strategies......................... 60

4.3.2. Most frequently used language learning strategies......................... 62

4.4. Chapter Summary ................................................................................. 64

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS .............................. 65

5.1. Conclusions........................................................................................... 65

5.2. Implications........................................................................................... 66

5.3. Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research............................... 68

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

vi

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1. Oxford‟s Taxonomy of Language Learning Strategies (Oxford,

1990, p. 17) ................................................................................... 16

Table 4.1. Reliability Test............................................................................... 38

Table 4.2. Oxford‟s (1990) Guidelines for Understanding Average Scores

on the SILL ................................................................................... 39

Table 4.3. The students‟ responses to the use of the six strategy categories

(N=200)......................................................................................... 40

Table 4.4. Memory strategies.......................................................................... 43

Table 4.5. Cognitive strategies........................................................................ 46

Table 4.6. Compensation strategies ................................................................ 50

Table 4.7. Metacognitive strategies ................................................................ 53

Table 4.8 Affective Strategies......................................................................... 55

Table 4.9. Social strategies.............................................................................. 58

Table 4.10. The 3 most frequently used language learning strategies............ 60

Table 4.11. The 3 least used language learning strategies.............................. 62

1

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

The chapter introduces the topic of this thesis: language learning

strategies used by a group of EFL students at Quy Nhon university learning

English as a foreign language. More specifically, it provides the rationale, the

aim and objectives, research questions, the scope, the significance, and the

organization of the study. The relevance of the present study to the overall

contemporary field of EFL (English as a Foreign Language) research is also

considered.

1.1. Rationale

Language learning strategies have played a critical role in the acquisition

of foreign languages. Therefore, several types of language learning strategy

research were published and flourished in the 1970s with the theory of

cognitive revolution, and a number of researches have shown an adjacent

association between language learning strategies, language learning, and

achievements. Oxford explains language learning strategies as “specific

action taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable,

more self-directed, and more effective and more transferable to new

situations” (1990:8). She also continues saying that learning strategies take a

substantial part for language learners to enhance their foreign language

abilities. Furthermore, when it comes to studying a foreign language, students

or learners must be mindful of using appropriate learning strategies.

(Meshyan & Hernandez, 2002; Al-Wazzan, 2020; Salma, 2020).

Consequently, not having appropriate language learning strategies turns out to

be a problem for students and learners to develop their foreign language.

As far as the previous studies on the use of language learning strategies