(1) how learners approach learning, both in and out of classrooms, and (2) the kinds of strategies and cognitive processing they use in second language acquisition

1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION I.1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study Along with the appearance of the Cognitive view of learning, which regards language learning as a dynamic, creative process and the learners as active strategy users and knowledge constructors, many researchers have shifted their focus of attention from teaching methods to learners (Chamot, A.U & O’Malley, J M., 1994) Quite a large amount of research literature have paid attention to (1) how learners approach learning, both in and out of classrooms, and (2) the kinds of strategies and cognitive processing they use in second language acquisition (O’Malley, J M & Chamot, A.U., 1995) The first studies on “good language learner” were initiated by Rubin (1975) and Stern (1975) Research results suggested that the “good language learner” might be doing something special that we could all learn from From these very first initiatives, more and more researchers have come to recognize the significance of special learner techniques or strategies in second language acquisition Bialystock (1978: 71) states in his study that learning strategies are “optimal means for exploiting available information to improve competence in a second language” Therefore, language learning strategies are beneficial for those who hope to improve his language skills in a better way Oxford (1989) considers learning strategies as one of the “most important variables influencing performance in a second language” (p.238) His research findings also recommend that “better strategies improve language performance.” (Oxford, 1989: 238) In recent years, the study of learning strategies has seen an “explosion of activity” (Skehan, 1991: 285 cited in Ellis, 1999:529) In discussing the nature and significance of learning strategies, researchers have affirmed that “research findings on learner strategies can be used as a basis for planning more effective instructional practice” (O’Malley& Chamot, 1995:viii) Lessard-Clouston (1997:3) also agreed that language learning strategies “contribute to the development of the communicative competence of the students” They are tools for active, self- directed involvement needed for developing L2 communicative ability So far, the role of learning strategies and the effects of learner’s choice of learning strategies on learning outcomes have been confirmed Several studies have also attempted to find out the relationship between language learning strategy choice and other factors like age, gender, motivation, language learning experiences, etc Of the many individual learner differences (belief, affective states, learner factors, learning experience) and situational and social factors (target language, setting, task performed, gender) that determine learners’ choice of learning strategies, gender has been recognized as “a profound” choice on strategy choice (Oxford & Nyiko, 1989: 545) Swann (1992) also asserted that “gender differences may have implications for Second language learning, teaching and assessment” (cited in Ah Shehadah, 1999: 256) However, the body of research on the relationship between gender differences and language learning strategies is still quite limited Studies that are applicable to Vietnamese situation are even harder to find This research was, therefore, carried out with the hope of providing an insight into the relationship However, due to the limited time and scope of the study, the researcher only chose to work with a small sample of 72 English learners Through the process of carrying out the research study, we hope to find the answers to the following questions: Research questions: What are the EFL learning strategies employed by the students? Is there a significant difference in the frequency of EFL learning strategy used by the male and female students? Together with answering these two questions, the researcher hopes to find out some implications for teachers in order to better support students of both genders in their study I.2 Aims and objectives of the study To find out common strategies used by a group of –EFL learners in Hanoi, Vietnam To determine if male and female students use similar language learning strategies To find out how teachers can help both male and female students use their learning strategies effectively I.3 Scope of study Concerning the types of strategies: The intent of data collection is to obtain information on all types of strategies The researcher does not choose to focus on one specific category of strategy (metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, etc.) or on a specific strategy (selfmonitoring, etc.) Concerning the focus on language skills In fact, the focus of research on learning strategies might be on all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) or on one or more language modalities (listening, speaking, reading, writing or some combination of these) However, in this research, we chose to focus on all the four skills because many of the language learning tasks and activities are crossed modalities Respondents were asked to describe their strategies in general in second language acquisition Only gender differences in language learning strategies were taken into consideration Target population The research will be carried out on 72 second year students at a university in Hanoi Of these 72 students, there are 27 male students and 45 females They are from 19 to 21 years of age Most of them have studied English for at least five years (3 years at upper- secondary school and years at university) These students are confident, dynamic, and lively They have high motivation for their study I.4 Methods of study Questionnaires In this research, Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL)version 7.0 (Oxford, 1990) was chosen to investigate learners’ use of learning strategies This particular framework was adopted for its comprehensiveness and high reliability (Oxford, 1996a) A questionnaire consisting of 50 statements was designed based on Oxford’s framework to measure students’ level of English learning strategy use The items were grouped according to the six categories in Oxford's (1990) strategy classification systems: (a) memory strategies, (b) cognitive strategies, (c) comprehension strategies, (d) metacognitive strategies, (e) affective strategies, and (f) social strategies Students responded individually on a to scale For each statement, they had to decide whether the statement is (1)“Never true of me”; (2)“Usually not true of me”, (3) “Somewhat true of me”, (4) “Usually true of me” or (5) “Always true of me” The whole set of questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese, piloted and carefully edited before being delivered to the students Informal Interviews Researchers have suggested that students are “more motivated to response in an interview because they are pleased to have someone take a personal interest in their learning processes” (O’Malley & Chamot, 1995: 94) In this research, informal interview was carried out after the questionnaires had been collected, data from questionnaires had been processed and the researcher had got an overall picture of the situation The core purpose of the interview was to get more insights into the issue, elaborate on students’ answers in the questionnaires and clarify some prominent points I.5 Overview of the rest of the paper The research study is divided into four main chapters Chapter one: review the literature concerning gender differences in language learning, language learning strategies, as well as gender differences in language learning strategies and give rationale for the study Chapter two describes and justifies the research methods, participants, as well as the methods of data collection and analysis Chapter three is devoted to analyzing and discussing the data collected Finally, in the last chapter- chapter four, some recommendations are offered concerning how knowledge of language learning strategies in general and gender differences in language learning in particular can facilitate teachers in helping students become better strategy users and more independent learners CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW II.1 Overview about gender differences in language learning II.1.1 Gender differences in L1 learning In the field of language-learning research, the question of gender differences is the one that has received relatively little attention This is partly because it is taken as an established fact that girls are superior to boys in language ability The differences are purported to stem from biological distinctions in the lateralization of function between the hemispheres of the brain (McGlone, 1980) This is supported by the study of neuroscientists from Georgetown University Medical Center As for them, boys and girls use different parts of their brains to process some basic aspects of grammar Their study suggests that girls mainly use a system that is based around memorizing words and associations between them, whereas boys rely primarily on a system that governs the rules of language (Meville, 2006) This study also confirms that differences between males and females may be an important factor in these cognitive processes Mccoby and Jacklin (1974) also conclude that by adolescence, girls are better in both receptive and productive verbal tasks and in both higher-level tasks (verbal analogies, comprehension of difficult material, creative writing) and lower-level tasks (fluency measures, like producing as many words as possible ending in ion) Moreover, socially speaking, it is supposed that teachers, who think girls are better than boys in language, will spend more time on it with the girls, and the girls will probably live up to the teachers’ expectations (Wang, 2006) However, this position has occasionally been challenged II.1.2 Gender difference in L2 learning Several studies have discussed gender differences in L2 learning First of all, a number of studies based on self-report learning (Bacon, 1992; Ehrman & Oxford, 1989; Zoubir-Shaw & Oxford, 1995) have suggested that males and females demonstrated different preference for knowing or guessing the meaning of words in context Zoubir-Shaw and Oxford (1995) found that males reported more often than females that “not knowing the meaning of a word impeded their thinking process or their progress” (cited in Wang, 2006: 10) Females, however, reported using significantly more compensation strategies, such as guessing and learning from context, than the males did Bacon’s (1992) study investigates the strategies that learners use when listening to authentic L2 texts of two levels of difficulty She found that, though all learners reported made some reference to English translation while listening to both L2 texts, men reported doing so were of a larger number than women, especially with the more difficult passage The male participants’ self-reports of the strategies they used included the following: “Basically, I tried to translate as much Spanish into English as possible,” and “I have a dictionary in my head When I hear a word, I leaf through my head really fast to see if I can find out what it means in English” (cited in Wang, 2006: 11) Women investigated, by contrast, used such top-down strategies as inferring or guessing the meaning from context and bypassing English, no matter how difficult they found the passage In general, whether the differences are biological or the product of socialization, findings in L2 learning support the notion that there are differences in how males and females learn a L2 II.2 Overview of language learning strategies II.2.1 Definition of language learning strategies Looking at how language learners learn the language, several attempts have been made to define the concept of language learning strategies However, this has never been an easy task Concerning the concept of learning strategies, it is still controversial as to whether they are general approaches or specific actions and techniques; whether they are behavioural or mental or both; whether they are conscious and intentional or unconscious, etc One of the first ideas of learning strategies was offered by Tarone (1980b) He distinguishes between production strategies, communication strategies and learning strategies Tarone (1980b) considers the first two of these “strategies of language use”, and refers to learning strategies as "an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language." (cited in Ellis, 1999: 530) However, as Tarone himself can observe, these distinctions are not easily applied as it is often hard to tell the learners’ intention for learning, whether they are driven by the desire to learn or the desire to communicate (Ellis, 1999) Unlike Tarone, Stern (1983) makes the distinction between “strategies” and “techniques” He uses the term learning strategies to refer to “general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner”, leaving techniques to describe “particular forms of observable learning behaviours” (cited in Ellis, 1999: 531) This is rather confusing as what Stern (1983) refers to as “techniques” is actually what other researchers normally refer to as “strategies” As for Chamot (1987), all techniques, approaches and actions can be included in the concept of learning strategies: “learning strategies are techniques, approaches, or 10 deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information.” Concerning the behavioural or mental nature of learning strategies, Weinstein & Mayer (1986) use the notion to refer to both “behaviours and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that re intended to influence the learner’s encoding process.” (1986: 315), whereas for Oxford (1989), language learning strategies are “behaviours or actions which learners use to make language learning more successful, self- directed and enjoyable.” (Oxford, 1989 cited in Ellis, R., 1999: 531) Richards and Platt (1992) also agree to include both behaviours and thoughts in the concept However, they put further emphasis on the “intentional” nature of such behaviours and thoughts According to them, learning strategies are "intentional behavior and thoughts used by learners during learning so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember new information" (p.209) This seems to be a continuance of Chamot’s idea of “deliberate actions” Stern (1992) also focuses on learners’ conscious engagement in the learning process by stating that "the concept of learning strategy is dependent on the assumption that learners consciously engage in activities to achieve certain goals and learning strategies can be regarded as broadly conceived intentional directions and learning techniques" (p 261) In fact, it is hard to come up with the exact number of definitions of language learning strategies offered by researchers It is even more challenging to find one which is helpful to all research purposes In the hope of finding a solution to this confusion, Ellis, R (1999) offers a new approach to defining learning strategies He characterizes the main characteristics of learning strategies in the following list: 69 Clifford, M M (1984) Thoughts on a theory of constructive failure Educational Psychologist, 19, 108-120 Cohen, Andrew D (1998) Strategies in learning and using a second language New York: Longman Duffy, Peter and Bruns, Axel (2006) The Use of Blogs, Wikis and RSS in Education: A Conversation of Possibilities In Proceedings Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, pp 31-38, Brisbane Accessed from http://eprints.qut.edu.au Ehrman M.E & Oxford, R (1990) Adult language learning styles and strategies in an intensive training setting The Modern Language Journal, 74, 311-327 Ehrman, M & R, Oxford (1989) Effects of gender differences, career choice, and psychological type on adult language learning strategies Modern Language Journal, 73(1), 1-13 Ehrman, M.E., and Oxford, R (1995) Cognition plus: correlates of language learning success The Modern Language Journal, 79(1), 67-89 Ellis, R (1994) Understanding second language acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Ellis, R (1999) The study of Second Language Acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press Gagne, E D., Yekovitch, C W., & Yekovitch, F R (1993) The cognitive psychology of school learning (2nd Ed) NY: Harper Collins Green, J & Oxford, R (1995) A closer look at learning strategies, L2 proficiency, and gender TESOL Quarterly, 29, 261-297 Grenfell, M and Harris, V (1999) Modern Languages and Learning Strategies: In Theory and Practice London: Routledge 70 Griffiths, C (2003) Patterns of language learning strategy use System, 31(3), 367-383 Hair, J., Anderson, R., Tatham, R., & Black, W (1998) Multivariate data analysis (5th Ed.) 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Learner strategies in language learning (pp 159-68) NJ: Prentice Hall Young, D J & Oxford, R (1997) A gender-related analysis of strategies used to process written input in the native language and a foreign language Applied Language Learning, 8, 1-20 76 Appendix !" /0 %1 !2 ( 34 (!2 ' ( ' () 8- : ; $ ? @8 * (+ A !, - # 7!" BC * D ( E ) ($ # $# %& @8 A / -4 # (G K O !2 (1 O ) 8 Z -b ( + ( = 8 Z L ' ( (H ' - ( ' + -A g ' !2 ( C D FE \ ( $ # ( G -4 !2 ( & N e %> ( # ( G ! # N -4 7N8 # N A A + ( D ( ] \E ) (m ( BC A L A L # ( G ! (!2 (F i \E & N C + # ( G _ \E e %> ( + Z # ( G 8N E - # + $ + Y \E 7N (!2 $ O /!= ( + V V e %> ( # (G P \E / + !n ( @ # ( G ' \ h / C \# ( G \E + -+ g A( ? -b ( # ( G ` \E < # ( D1 m ! Z1 -+ + -b ( # ( G l k 8V