The Effect of Years of English Study and an Extracurricular Activity on Learning Strategy Use

The Effect of Years of English Study and an Extracurricular Activity on Learning Strategy Use

This paper aims to investigate the use of learning strategies by middle school students. with special attention to whether such variables as years of English study. early English education. and an extracurricular activity (attendance of private language institutes) affect learning strategy use. To this end. data were collected from 397 participants using a questionnaire based on Oxford's (1990) SILL. The results showed that learners failed to employ a wide and rich range of SILL learning strategies. In terms of strategy types. learners made more frequent use of compensation and memory strategies than affective and social strategies. The results also revealed that there was no positive variation across levels of English study, failing to indicate greater strategy use by more English-experienced learners. The effect of the extracurricular activity on strategy choice is a new feature of this study. which revealed that learners with the experience of this extracurricular activity exhibited greater strategy use than non-experienced learners. This suggests that the extracurricular activity is an important variable affecting strategy use by middle school students. Pedagogical implications are discussed and suggestions are made for enhancing strategic competence.