Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an investigation into language learning strategies used by ethnic non english major students at a university in the north of vietnam

Background to the Study

Language learning strategies (LLSs) play a vital role in learning a second language (L2) They are specific actions or techniques that learners use to assist their progress in developing language skills Use of appropriate learning strategies help learners to assimilate new information into their own learning and enables them to develop their understanding in mastering the forms, functions and culture required for the reception in the second language (Oxford, 1990)

Research results over the past decades have indicated that a key reason why many second language learners fail, while some learners do better with less effort, lies in various learner attributes such as personality traits, educational perspectives, motivation, cultural backgrounds, or language aptitude It is also worth mentioning that types of strategies used by different learners vary due to stages of learning, teacher expectations, general learning styles, degree of awareness, teaching methods, text-books innovation, purposes for learning the language, and nationality or ethnicity (Bedell, 1993) To put it differently, a learner‟s individual factors can influence which learning strategy the learners will use for their foreign language learning Once well-managed, these variables can significantly contribute to a learner‟s success in language learning Many researchers (e.g., Reid, 1995; Wharton, 2000; Zhang, 2005; Rahimi and Riazi, 2005; Yang, 2010, Minh, 2012; Zeynali, 2012; and Salahshour and Sharifi, 2013) suggest that strategies of successful language learners can supply a basis for aiding language learners, and the conscious use of language learning strategies makes good language learners

From my own experience as a teacher of English for many years at Thai Nguyen University (TNU), I am aware of the fact that students in general and ethnic minority group students in particular are often confused to use their own strategies and abilities to transform their failing situations into successful learning experiences In addition, I found that students with different individual identities study English in different ways and have different levels of proficiency It seems that they are not what so called “lazy” and “not motivated” Their language achievement may be affected by many individual factors and the culture which they inherited

A large number of studies have focused on L2 learning with the main focus on individual differences in language learners as the work by Rubin (1975) who has considered LLS as one individual difference variable which gained increased popularity among positivist researchers in understanding how languages are learnt Rubin (1975) identifies the strategies that the „good language learner‟ uses and draws on this information to help less-effective learners Learning strategies, in her opinion, have been in the centre of attention and gained great importance in the teaching-learning environment Griffiths (2004) defines learning strategies as the specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferrable to new situations Griffiths has a great concern with the relationship between LLSs and gender, which show language use and have mixed results

Still within the field of LLS and gender, some studies show that there is difference of LLSs use based on the gender (Ehraman & Oxford, 1989; Green &

Oxford, 1995; Oxford & Nyikos, 1989; Zeynali, 2012; Salahshoura, Sharifib &

Salahshour, 2013; Zarei, 2013) In such related studies, it was found that female students reporting all or some of six groups of LLSs more frequently than male (Dreyer & Oxford, 1996; Ghasedy, 1998; Goh & Foong, 1997; Green & Oxford, 1995; Hong-Nam & Learvell, 2006; Lan & Oxford, 2003; Lee & Oxford, 2008;

Oxford, 1989; Oxford & Nyikos, 1989; Politzer,1983; Zeynali, 2012) However, the other studies prove that gender does not affect the use of LLS (Griffiths, 2003;

Lee & Oxford, 2008; Ziahossein & Salehi, 2008) Alongside the field of LLS, personality of individuals are affected through various variables such as culture (Markus & Kitayama, 1998), genetic and environmental factors (Eysenck, 1985), sex differences (Budaev, 1999; Costa & McCare, 1992), and ethnicity (Griffiths, 1991; Hess & Azuma, 1991; Reid, 1995)

Although many research works with great effort in the LLS field was carried out, “LLS research is still quite an immature field” (Grenfell & Erler, 2007, p 28)

With this enormous aspiration, researchers in the field are faced with huge challenges, and this field seems to be struggling to "define its parameters."

(Grenfell & Erler, 2007, p.28) In addition, through the comprehensive review of literature in the field has revealed that there is a need for more updated tools to measure the range and patterns of LLS use of language learners Especially in this age of technologically assisted language learning, new teaching and learning modes are constantly created, which require learners to adapt themselves in terms of learning approaches and strategies Learning resources are much more accessible thanks to the internet and the teachers are more approachable too In this learning context, the modern language learner constantly experiments with new strategies in the new learning environment and these newly adopted strategies need to be reflected in LLS measurements Another gap in the field which needs to be addressed is that the relationship between learner variables and LLS use has not been firmly established There are cases when studies with the same interests have created conflicting results, which may be confusing to researchers and practitioners alike Besides, LLS use has not been thoroughly explored in relation to the ethnic minority group learners Further research should be directed to the investigation of how various learner and learning variables influence the adoption as well as the effectiveness of LLSs

Studies conducted in Vietnamese teaching and learning contexts are surprisingly rare Important issues like LLSs have such an obvious significance that their rarity may seem odd In fact, Vietnamese context-specific research into different aspects of LLSs is still in its infancy stage with only a few published studies (e.g., Duong & Nguyen (2006); Bui and Intaraprasert (2012); Cao (2009)

This lack of related publications indicates a shortage of research-based activities or a lack of concern about this issue and presents a big gap of knowledge that needs to be filled The portrait of the Vietnamese language learner is consequently no more than a few distorted sketches, most of which are based on the stereotypical notion of “Asian learners” rather than on scientific premises When social and cultural backgrounds can partially determine the set of strategies students choose to adopt, the generalisations about “Asian learners” apparently cannot cover all learners in this enormously diverse area In the EFL context of Viet Nam with its own distinctive features, there are grounds to believe that using the generalizations as a theoretical basis for our educational system can be very misleading (Hoang, 2013)

This lack of research has rendered any attempts to weave strategy training into the curriculum premature and unsystematic, which albeit well-meant, may produce counter-productive results The reason for this is conceivable Without proper examination and assessment of the LLSs adopted by students, teachers can hardly accommodate their teaching to meet the learning strategies and needs of their students The possible mismatch between teaching and learning strategies thus can be detrimental to the learning process, causing learning failure, frustration and demotivation (Peacock & Ho, 2003) In this regard, in order to assist the language learning process, it is imperative that teachers identify and comprehend LLSs used by learners, promote awareness of them, and foster their appropriate uses.

Scope of the study

The present study is carried out among the 2 nd year students, who have enrolled at least 6 credits for general English at TNU The participants of the study include students of different ethnic minority groups, who are studying for their BA degree at TNU The focus of the investigation is on learning strategies, and the relationship between the choice of language learning strategies and the TNU ethnic students in terms of gender, English language proficiency, major fields of study and learning styles.

Aims of the study

This study attempts to examine types and frequency of LLSs that TNU ethnic students reported employing and then determine whether there is a relationship between language learning strategies and (i) gender, (ii) English language proficiency, (iii) major fields of study, and (iv) learning styles.

Research questions

This study addresses the following research questions:

1 What English language learning strategies do TNU ethnic students employ for their EFL learning?

2 What English language learning strategies are frequently used by TNU ethnic students?

3 To what extent do the students‟ choices of language learning strategies vary significantly with their gender, major fields of study, levels of proficiency and learning styles? If so, what are the main patterns of variation?

Definitions of terms

The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) refers to an instrument which has been developed by Oxford (1990) It is designed to investigate learners‟ language learning strategies and to assess the frequency of use of language learning strategies The SILL has two versions including version 5.1 (80 items) and version 7.0 (50 items) Version 5.1 is designed to gather information about how native-speaking English students learn a foreign or second language and version 7.0 is designed for non-native speakers of English who are learning English as a second or foreign language

Strategy categories as defined by Oxford (1990) and used in the SILL

Memory strategies: memory strategies (items 1 to 9 on the SILL) help with the storage and retrieval of new information Examples include using sounds and mental pictures in association with new information Another example is using flashcards

Cognitive strategies: cognitive strategies (items 10 to 23 on the SILL) are techniques involving transformation, direct analysis or synthesis of the language

Examples include reasoning, translating, analysing and practicing functions in natural situations

Compensation strategies: compensation strategies (items 24 to 29 on the

SILL) allow learners to fill in gaps of information by predicting from context, using gestures, native language use and using descriptions

Metacognitive strategies: metacognitive strategies (items 30 to 38 on the

SILL) include establishing goals and objectives, self-monitoring, evaluation of progress, planning how and when to learn

Affective strategies: affective strategies (items 39 to 44 on the SILL) are actions that enable the learner to maintain stable attitudes, emotions and motivations helpful for consistent language learning Examples include self- encouragement and talking with others

Social strategies: social strategies (items 45 to 50 on the SILL) include interacting with others in various social environments

Learning styles refers to cognitive characteristic, effective, and psychological behaviours that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment

Ethnic refers to the ethnic minority groups the students belong to In this study, the participants consist of minority groups of Thai, Tay, Nung, Dao and H‟mong

English Language Proficiency Levels refer to their proficiency levels graded into „high‟, „moderate‟ or „low‟ These levels are based on the students‟ end-of-semester test scores

Major field of study refers to the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits (e.g Social Sciences and Natural Sciences)

Significance of the study

A review of the literature shows that there have been no studies conducted in the Vietnamese context or with Vietnamese participants especially with the ethnic participants from mountainous areas which is similar to the present research This study systematizes the theoretical concepts and empirical evidence which are believed to underpin learners‟ LLSs and utilises this foundation to inform the whole research process In fact, there is extremely limited literature on LLSs among Vietnamese learners Particularly, the relationship between learner variables and LLS use or the issue of LLSs in relation to the mentioned factors has not been explored in any depth Therefore, the first significance is that this research extends the literature on the issues surrounding LLSs of Vietnamese EFL learners

Secondly, students can benefit most in terms of their awareness of LLSs as an important aspect in the English learning process Traditionally develo ped on a try-and-error basis among Vietnamese students, LLSs are usually considered a self-regulated domain and very often taken for granted However, it should be noted that in order to be effectively used in enhancing learning of all kinds, strategies as a kind of procedural knowledge need to be learnt initially (Griffiths, 2004) Being more aware of this need to learn LLSs, ethnic students at TNU will develop a more positive and serous attitude towards LLSs, which directs their actual learning process as independent learners

Therefore, this study is highly informative regarding the current patterns of between LLS use and learner variables, with gender or English ability being the major LLS indicators, also provides teachers with more information about how their students should or need to regulate their English learning process In this way, English teachers can facilitate the learning process by promoting appropriate use of LLSs through implicit or explicit strategy training

This study can also be of value to language educators, educational administrators and policy makers regarding appropriate approaches to enhancing the language learning experience for TNU ethnic students Aspects of material design, educational objectives, learning opportunity provision, support services and the like can be adjusted or modified to better accommodate the LLSs of TNU ethnic students Furthermore, findings of this empirical research study present a valuable reference and resource for other researchers and scholars in the field, both locally, nationally and internationally It presents one of the initial efforts to build the scientific foundation for more effective instructional designs in teaching English as a foreign language, with special regard to independent learning through the orchestration of appropriate LLSs.

Structure of the study

This thesis is organized into three parts: Introduction, Content, and Conclusions and Recommendations

The Introduction part introduces the context of research, providing its background and formulating the problem statements The research questions as well as the significance of the study for the overall EFL research fields are also included in this part This part also provides clarification of operational definitions, of the nature and scope of the study, and the aims and objectives of the study

In the Content part, a comprehensive literature review follows the introduction part in Chapter 1 In addition, in the first chapter, the conceptual framework guiding the research is discussed, and a summary of the relevant theoretical and empirical literature is provided The literature review section aims at providing a comprehensive insight into previous research conducted in this field, delineating the context of this research, gaps in existing EFL research, and the place of the present study in the overall theoretical framework of foreign language acquisition

Chapter 2 clarifies the methodological considerations and procedures involved in the research process The research design, research method, and research instruments used in the study will be discussed in detail in the second chapter It will also include a rationale for choosing the SILL inventory, the semi- structured interviews, and the two questionnaires as the tools of the research design The data collection and analysis procedures will also be delineated, and the ethical considerations and limitations of the chosen research design will be discussed Also, the chapter will include information on the population and sampling used for the study

The third chapter presents the results of the study The results of the SILL and perceptual learning styles questionnaires will be presented and analysed quantitatively with the purpose of finding trends linking language proficiency, gender, major field of study and learning styles The qualitative insights of students that effect the choices of LLSs will also be discussed, these findings elicited from semi-structured interviews in which the respondents will be asked to share their attitudes, perceptions, and ideas about the EFL study they are undergoing

The third chapter also presents a discussion of the findings with proper relevance to the prior theoretical research The findings will be related to the previous studies on the same subject, with the comparison and contrast of findings with those of other researchers The implications of the research findings will also be properly revealed in regard to the theoretical and empirical research in the field of language learning strategy

The Conclusions and Recommendations part is dedicated to the for further research The conclusion section is dedicated to the summary of findings and the identification of the research progress that could be achieved by means of conducting this research The recommendations section is dedicated to the delineation of further directions of research in this field, and to the demarcation of gaps still remaining in the field.

Summary

This part has introduced the topic of this research which aims to explore the types, frequency and patterns of variations between the four mentioned factors and language learning strategies used by TNU students when learning English as a foreign language The part introduced the study through exploring existing literature with the aim of identifying language learning strategies used by ethnic students at Thai Nguyen University

This part has also introduced the rationale for this study in order to justify why this study is important To do this, this section examined the work of other researchers in order to evaluate their contribution to the topic of the research, and to identify gaps in existing research in order to justify the reason for undertaking this research The section revealed that little research has been carried out to explore the relationship between language learning strategies used and the factors affecting the choices of LLSs of TNU students This part has also addressed the research questions and significance of this study

The first part concluded by offering a definition of key terms used in the study and also included a structure of the study, setting out the organization of the study from the introduction to the conclusion Having established the background of this study, the next part will present a review of the literature related to this topic of research, which aims to explore the types, frequency and possible patterns of variations between the use of language learning strategies and factors such as gender, major fields of study, level of English proficiency and learning styles of ethnic students at Thai Nguyen university.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

There is general agreement that researchers in the world have paid attention to research works in the field of LLSs in the mid-seventies From the very first purpose of LLS studies to “identify what good language learners report they do to learn a second or foreign language, or, in some cases, are observed doing while learning a second or foreign language” (Rubin, 1987, p 19), and to identify the characteristics of "good language learners" and “poor language learners", research in the LLS area has shown that LLSs have the potential to be “an extremely powerful learning tool” for language learners (O‟Malley et al., 1985, p 43)

Researchers have considered many aspects: e.g., what makes a good language learner; how learners process new information; what kind of strategies they employ to understand; to learn or to retrieve the information; and what factors affect the learners‟ choice of LLS use There have been many research works concerning what makes a good language learner: e.g., Stern (1975); Rubin (1975); Naiman, Frửhlich, Stern and Todesco (1978); Ramirez (1986); Chamot and Küpper (1989); O‟Malley and Chamot (1990); Oxford and Cohen (1992); and Griffiths (2008)

Although the research into language learning strategies used by successful and unsuccessful language learners has produced some interesting insights, the picture which emerges is far from unified (Griffiths, 2004) According to Hismanoglu (2000), there has been a prominent shift in the field of language learning and teaching with more emphasis on learners and learning processes rather than on teachers and teaching processes

Some researchers have not been convinced that LLSs are as beneficial as the literature might have us believed Macaro (2006) argues there is not enough people‟s heads is: use of strategies leads to proficiency, achievement and success; i.e., causality But we just do not know that Taguchi (2002) also raises concerns about adopting a general approach to good language learners since we can somehow observe the good language learner and copy the strategies employed

This idea excludes all other variables such as learning styles, sex, age and culture, to name a few

Although there are numbers of important criticisms over the research done on language learning strategies (Macaro, 2007; Oxford, 1994; Rees-Miller, 1993;

Oxford & Nyikos, 1998; Takeuchi, 2003, and Griffiths, 2007), there are still irrefutable benefits of the use of LLSs in teaching According to Macaro (2003), learner strategy instruction appears to be effective in promoting successful learning if it is carried out over lengthy periods of time and if it includes a focus on metacognition In addition to the benefits of consistent and focused strategy training, Fewel (2010) asserts that the strategy training provided for the learners, to some degree, may contribute to the success of learners From a slightly different perspective, Ehrman et al., (2003) state that training has a significant impact on motivation, aptitude, knowledge of strategies, and the perceived usefulness of directly applying strategies to language learning and use Cohen

(2003), in agreement with these statements, suggests that learning will be facilitated by making the learners aware of range of strategies from which they can choose during the language learning and use Chamot (2001), in one of his research works, points out the features of learners who can employ various LLSs, states that they also gain the ability to orchestrate the strategies that best meet both the task demands and their own learning strengths Finally, Oxford (2003) states that in other subject areas learners enjoy the benefits of learning strategy used in their academic studies and it is not surprising that L2 learners when carefully choose and use the relevant strategies become successful

Many research works have then explored the types and the nature of strategy use, the effectiveness (if any) of LLS training However, as stated by Phakiti

(2003, p.7), “To date, there is little empirical evidence to show how language learning strategies are related to actual strategy use in context.” This opinion was also asserted by Rees-Millers (1993, p.11) “Until empirical data, particularly in the form of empirical studies are gathered to answer questions about the usefulness of learner training, teachers should approach the implementation of learner training in the classroom.” Therefore, it is necessary to conduct more research work in the field of LLS of EFL language learners in the specific context in order to help learners choose the proper LLSs in acquiring the target language, especially in the settings of mountainous areas.

Language Learning Strategies Definitions

Difficulties in defining LLS remain even at the basic level of terminology

Researchers define LLS in different ways such as „technique‟, „tactic‟ and „skill‟

These definitions sometimes overlap and conflict to each other Oxford (1989) defines the term as „behaviours‟ or actions This means LLS is observable, whereas Weinstein and Mayer (1986) argue LLS involve both behaviours and thoughts, that means unobservable

Schmeck (1988, p.5) makes the clear distinction between “strategies” and

“tactics” when he stated the distinction is a subtle, but important one He pointed out the origins of the word “strategy” as a military term used to describe plans for executing military operations He saw strategies as “basic abstract categories of processing by which information perceived in the outside world is organized and categorized into cognitive structures as a part of a conceptual network”, while tactics are “variable and idiosyncratic learning activities, which learners use to organize a learning situation, respond to the learning environment, or cope with input and output demands” (Ellis 2008, p.704)

The nature of what is LLS is also an argument among researchers Stern

(1983, as cited in Ellis, 1994, p 531) describes the nature of learning strategies as general and overall when he defines that “strategy is best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learners, leaving techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning behavior” while Wenden (1987) argues that LLS is not about general approach of learners He claims that LLS refers to “specific actions or techniques” (Wenden, 1987, p.7)

Although “there is little consensus in the literature concerning either definition or the identification of LLS” (Wenden and Rubin, 1987, p.7), language learning strategies have been variously defined over the years

 “Particular forms of observable learning behavior, more or less consciously employed by the learner” (Stern 1983, p 405)

 “The behaviors and thoughts that a learner engages in during learning that are intended to influence the learner‟s encoding process” (Weinstein and Mayer

 “Techniques, approaches or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall of both linguistic and content area information” (Chamot 1987, p 71)

 “The behaviors and thought processes that learners use in the process of learning including any sets of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval, and use of information” (Wenden and Rubin 1987, p 19)

 “Strategies which contribute to the development of the language system which the learner constructs and affects learning directly” (Rubin 1987, p 23)

 “Specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford 1990, p 8)

 “The mental process which learners employed to learn and use the target language” (Nunan 1991, p 168)

 “The techniques and tricks that learners use to make the language easier to master” (McIntyre 1994, p 185)

 “The special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information” (O‟Malley and Chamot 1995, p 1)

 “Particular approaches or techniques that learners employ to try to learn L2 They can be behavioural (e.g., repeating new words aloud to help remember them) or they can be mental (e.g., using the linguistic or situational context to infer the meaning of a new word)” (Ellis 1997, pp 76-77)

 “Learning processes which are consciously selected by the learner The element of choice is important here because this is what gives a strategy its special character These are also moves which the learner is at least partially aware of, even if full attention is not being given to them” (Cohen 1998, p 4)

 “Any thoughts, behaviours, beliefs, or emotions that facilitate the acquisition, understanding, or later transfer of new knowledge and skills”

 “The techniques or procedures that facilitate a learning task” (Chamot

It appears that all these researchers identify language learning strategies as techniques used to acquire knowledge, gain success and enjoy the learning of a second language They are self-controlled, can be general or specific, cognitive or affective Nevertheless, the definitions are still very ambiguous, broad and lack clarity Macaro (2006) calls this her strongest attack on strategy research when she says, “Even the cognitive learning strategies, such as seeking meaning, using deduction, inferencing, or monitoring, are defined so broadly that it is questionable whether they can be specified in terms of observable, specific, universal behaviors that could be taught to or assessed in students.” (p.681)

Macaro (2007, p.54) calls the definitions “loose” and bunched together with all sorts of learner behaviors According to him, these loose definitions of LLSs have meant that strategies have been confused, or used interchangeably, with

„processes‟, or they have been juxtaposed with „processes‟ but the differences between them never defined, however, each researcher proposes a definition according to the context, and the setting or the subject characteristic in which the research has been conducted

Although many researchers have attempted to differentiate between two or more of the terms discussed above and to posit a clear definition of the concept

“strategy”, in practice many of the concepts appear to be interchangeable Cohen

(1998, p.10) noted that the term strategy has been used to denote general as well as specific approaches and suggested that a solution would be to refer to all of these approaches with the term strategies, “while still acknowledging that there is a continuum from the broadest categories to the most specific or low-level”

Oxford and Crookall (1989:404) remarked, it is not important how they are called, what matters is that they make learning more efficient and effective Altogether, the researcher agrees with Liang (2009) that LLS has some characteristics as follows

- Learning strategies are either behavioral thus observable, or mental then not observable

- Learning strategies could be either general approaches or specific actions or techniques adopted to learn a target language

- Learners are generally aware of what approaches or techniques they have used in language learning, despite some subconscious activities under certain circumstances (p.27)

Language Learning Strategy Classifications

Oxford (1990) describes language learning strategies as specific, self- directed steps taken by learners to enhance their own learning She separates strategies into two strategy orientations and six strategies groups: (1) direct learning orientation, consisting of (a) memory, (b) cognitive, and (c) linguistic deficiency compensation strategy groups, and (2) indirect learning orientation, consisting of (a) metacognitive, (b) affective, and (c) social strategy groups

There are some other ways of classifying language learning strategies (Wong – Fillmore, 1979; Rubin 1981; Skehan 1989; Ellis 1997) Chamot (1990) presents three major classes of strategies: (a) metacognitive, (b) cognitive, and (c) socio- affective Language learning strategies have been classified as (a) meta-cognitive, cognitive, or socio-affective (e.g., Brown & Palinscar, 1982; Chamot, 1987;

O‟Malley, Chamot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, 1985) or (b) direct or indirect (e.g., Oxford, 1990; Rubin, 1975, 1981) However, all these classifications have some notions in common as follows:

(i) Meta-cognitive strategies are those which “involve thinking about the learning process, planning for learning, monitoring of learning while it is taking place, and self-evaluation of learning after the learning activity”

(ii) “Cognitive strategies involve manipulation or transformation of the material to be learned; in other words, the learner interacts directly with what is to be learned” (Chamot, 1987, p 72)

(iii) „Affective‟ means “of the feelings; emotional” (Macquarie Study Dictionary, 1988, p 13, p 633) and affective learning involves attitudes, values and behaviours, while social behaviour involves two-way interaction between two or more people Socio-affective strategies are behaviours employed so that social interaction and the learner‟s affective state enhance learning

(iv) Direct strategies are strategies that directly involve the target language as they require mental processing of the language (Oxford, 1990, p 37)

(v) Indirect strategies “provide indirect support for language learning through focusing, planning, evaluating, seeking opportunities, controlling anxiety, increasing cooperation and empathy and other means” (Oxford, 1990, p 151)

Although Oxford‟s classification is “perhaps the most comprehensive classification of learning strategies to date” (Ellis, 1994, p.539), it is still, of necessity, somewhat selective since “dozens and perhaps hundreds of such strategies exist” (Oxford, Lavine and Crookall, 1989, p.29) Oxford (1990) acknowledges the possibility that the categories will overlap, and gives as an example the metacognitive strategy of planning, which as far as planning requires reasoning, might also be considered a cognitive strategy

Oxford (1990, p.49) also justifies that behaviors as learning strategies on the grounds “can help learners become more fluent in what they already know and may lead learners to get new information about what is appropriate or permissible in the target language” However, she confirms that “there is no complete agreement on exactly what strategies are; how many strategies exist; how they should be defined, demarcated, and categorized; and whether it is or ever will be possible to create a real, scientifically validated hierarchy of strategies.” Oxford

As can be seen from above, the LLS classification still overlaps and conflict in opinions and the process of establishing terminology, definitions Classification systems for language learning strategies are far from straightforward This study is only based on the classification with the main focus on types of LLS used by the TNU ethnic students and concentrates on LLS with the purpose to examine the relationship between language learning strategy used by TNU ethnic students with the four factors which may affect their choices of LLS, i.e gender, major field of study, level of proficiency and learning styles

The 50 strategies in the Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (LLSQ) were classified based on the combined principles of goal orientation and content/skill knowledge Figure 1 below shows a summary of the classification scheme on LLSs of the current study as presented in the LLSQ

Factors Influencing Language Learning Strategy Choice

Since learners can vary greatly from each other in their approach to learning, and a multitude of factors may affect the way an individual processes information, issues of individual variability assume considerable importance Selinker (1972, p.213) is emphatic when he states: “a theory of second language learning that does not provide a central place for individual differences among learners cannot be considered acceptable” Far from behaving according to some aggregated statistical model, individuals are uniquely engaged in their own infinitely variable world of human activity within the social context to which they belong, and are much more than "a quantified collective" of statistics (Roebuck, 2000, p.82)

According to Rubin (1987, as cited in Griffiths, 2003) individual learners are seen as capable of making deliberate efforts to use learning strategies in order to promote their own learning From that point of view, Gardner and MacIntyre

(1993) propose a model of language learning whereby LLSs interact in a complicated way with other individual factors such as intelligence, aptitude, attitudes, motivation and anxiety They also state that other possible learner variables which have the potential to affect the choice of language learning strategies might include personality, gender, learning styles, beliefs and personal circumstances

It is a common observation that students from different national backgrounds do not always learn in the same ways (Griffiths and Parr, 2000; Pennycook, 1997;

Pierson, 1996; White, 1989) This may be at least partly because differences in cultural backgrounds and educational systems “foster different strengths and weaknesses in learners” (Surtridge, 1997, p.72)

Corbett (1999) points out that some students come from very “talkative” backgrounds where they are brought up from an early age to express ideas freely; others come from backgrounds where they are taught to think carefully before speaking and where imposing one‟s ideas on others is considered extremely impolite Some students are encouraged to be active in their approach to their learning; others are traditionally passive (Usuki, 2000) whereas some others are brought up in an environment where people communicate naturally without worrying too much about correctness; others are brought up to feel keenly the loss of face which comes from being seen to make mistakes (Ching, 1992; Clarke, 1996) These kinds of national characteristics may well affect the different ways students of varying nationalities behave and interact in a teaching/learning situation and the kinds of learning strategies they typically employ

1.4.1 Language Learning Strategies and Gender

Although there are quite a few studies which investigate the relationship between language learning strategy uses and gender (Bacon 1992; Boyle, 1987;

Burstall, 1975; Eisenstein, 1982; Farhady, 1982; Nyikos, 1990; Sunderland, 1998; Zeylani, 2012; Tam, 2013; Zarei, 2013 and Mashadi & Fallah, 2014), studies which explore LLS use according to gender are not common Tran

(1988) discovered that most studies in this area seem to have reported a greater use of LLSs by women After studying the language learning strategies used by more than 1,200 undergraduate university students, Oxford and Nyikos (1989, p.296) conclude that gender differences had a profound influence: females used strategies more frequently than males

Chang et al (2007) investigates the influence of gender on college EFL learning strategy use in Taiwan A total of 1758 Taiwanese college EFL learners took part in this research study The finding of the study indicated statistically significant differences found in the use of cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, social strategies and overall strategies with regard to gender

Recently, Zeynali (2012) has conducted a research study on 149 learners at Institute in Tabriz, Iran The findings show that there is a significant gender difference in the use of language learning strategies as a whole Female learners also have tendency to use overall language learning strategies more often than males There are important differences between genders in the use of social/ affective strategies with females using them more often However, the findings from Zarei (2013) show males showed more frequent use of all strategy categories in all the six categories except social categories that both males and females had equal frequencies

Mixed results have led to the recognition that, perhaps, it is not the bio- genetic element of sex that influence the LLS choice, but the social cultural bindings of being female or male in a certain community that is at play here As language learning, like any type of learning, is basically a social process under the social- cultural constructivist view, it is affected by the social cultural implications /dictation associated with different sexes That explains the mixed findings in relation to gender in different research contexts and that is also the reason why the socio-culturally-oriented notion of gender is employed and examined in this study, rather than sex itself The use of gender here implies the reference to the outer social and cultural context when analysing sex differences

In summary, it is still controversial as to whether the differences between male and female learners‟ choice of strategies are significant and whether males or females are more frequent strategy users Based on these previous research works, it might be concluded that male and female may use different strategies in learning language and the frequency may be varied This study aims to examine whether or not the TNU ethnic students‟ gender are related to their language learning strategy use

1.4.2 Language Learning Strategies and English Language Proficiency

Recent research works show that students who have higher level of language proficiency tend to employ greater range of language learning strategy than those of lower level of proficiency (Green and Oxford 1995; Ghadessy 1998;

Intaraprasert 2004; Su 2005; Khalil 2005; Teng 2006; Chang et al., 2007; Wu

2008; and Anugkakul 2011) Instead of classifying as high and low proficiency levels, some researchers used the terms “successful” and “unsuccessful” language learners or „good‟ or „poor‟ language learners (Rubin, 1987; Cohen et al., 1996;

Work done with Hispanic learners, for example, was popular in the United States because of the increasing numbers of Latinos who migrated to the country

The striking finding that stood out from the research done with the Hispanics is that the level of proficiency does affect the learners‟ choice of strategies Green

(1991) and Green and Oxford (1993) found that learners with a high level of proficiency used strategies more often than students with low proficiency

Egyptian learners were found to be trained to use strategies (Aliweh, 1989) and they preferred metacognitive and memory strategies to cognitive strategies (Touba, 1992) Work done with Thai learners also revealed that strategies were associated with proficiency (Mullins, 1992) Davis and Abas (1991) informed us that Indonesian learners prefer using all the learning strategies except affective strategies while Nuril (1998) posited on the importance of culture in learning strategy use Malaysian learners like Indonesian learners also tend to avoid affective strategies because they do not feel comfortable expressing their feelings and as such are inhibited in some ways

Khalil (2005) conducts a research study to investigate LLS use and to explore the effect of proficiency level on frequency of strategy used by 378 Palestinian EFL learners The results indicated that learner proficiency level had an effect on frequency of overall strategy use; furthermore, proficiency level had an effect on memory, compensatory, cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies For the individual strategies, the researcher reported that proficiency level had an effect on the individual strategies

Teng (2006) conducts a research study to examine the learning strategies used by technology college students in Taiwan, and to find the differences in learning strategies among EST students with regard to their English proficiency

Participants of the study were 156 freshmen students at National Yunlin University of Science and Technology Results of the study indicated that among the six strategy groups, compensation strategies were most often used by the subjects, and that social strategies were least often used Besides, greater uses of learning strategies were found among more proficient learners

Language Learning Strategy Research in Vietnam

Research works in the field of LLSs in Vietnam mainly focus on investigating overall strategy use which students employed in order to help themselves to be successful in achieving the target language (e.g., Huyền, 2004; and Hiền, 2007), some others investigated the choice of strategy use in relation to variables such as, age and gender, level of proficiency (e.g., Khương, 1997;

Hoàng, 2008 and Nhan and Lai, 2013)

Hoang (1999) finds out the most preferred strategies for learning English, the different and similar strategies of different groups, factors affecting the learning strategy choice and the need of a training course in LLS in Hue, Vietnam Eighty EFL learners at high school and university in Hue, Vietnam took part in his research; they are then divided into four groups according to their academic level Questionnaires are generated based on previous class observation and interview and administered to all the learners The result from his study shows that there are high correlations between the frequency and the usefulness of strategy use, and Vietnamese learners tended to be metacognitive learners The results also show that cognitive strategies were used the most frequently and social/affective strategies were used the least frequently among four groups of learners

Huyen (2005) conducts a research study to explore strategies in learning vocabulary employed by English-major university students as well as the frequency of strategies used Questionnaires based on Oxford‟s (1990) SILL were administered to students to gather data for her study Findings from her study show that students used more direct strategies than indirect strategies

Regarding vocabulary learning strategies, Hang (2008) explores vocabulary learning strategies which high school students employed, and the choice of strategies use in relation to their gender and majors 67 male and female high school students majoring in Mathematics and English participated in her study

Questionnaire adopted from Oxford‟s (1990) SILL was administered to the students to collect data for the study The results of the study show that there was no significant difference in the choice of strategies use in learning vocabulary in terms of gender Furthermore, the results also indicated that the English major students made use of strategies introduced in the questionnaire more frequently than the Mathematics students

Hien (2007) uses Oxford‟s (1990) SILL as the main instrument to investigate the relationship between language learning strategy use and language achievement of 200 second year English major students Results from the study reveal that students were the “medium” strategy users They use compensations strategies with a relatively high frequency; metacognitive, cognitive, affective, social and memory strategies with a medium frequency The findings also show that there was a positive correlation between the frequency of strategy use and the academic achievement

Recently, Nhan and Lai (2013) conduct a research study on the similarities and differences in the frequency of strategy use for EFL learning by 50 male and

50 female Vietnamese first-year-students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Natural Resources and Environment in Vietnam Using Oxford‟s (1990) SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language Learning) Version 7.0 as the questionnaire in English and Vietnamese, the study found that both male and female Vietnamese students reported a medium frequency for the use of language learning strategies although the reported strategy use was greater for males than females The female Vietnamese learners tended to use indirect strategies more often and direct strategies less often than the males did Compensation and social strategies were remarkably preferred by the males while memory and affective strategies were most employed by the females

So far, it can be seen that research work in language learning strategy with Vietnamese students has mainly been carried out with university students, and most of the participants are English major Students who come from ethnic minorities groups and non-English major have never been examined In previous research studies, language achievement, age, and gender have been used as the variables relating to students‟ use of strategies.

Theoretical Framework of the Present Study

Through the review of related research works and other materials on language learning strategies, the researcher gets general background and has evidence to locate the present investigation in the context of past research and the opinion of other researchers as to develop a specific theoretical framework for the present investigation

The main point of the present study focuses on how four independent variables which are: students‟ gender, students‟ major fields of study, students‟ levels of language proficiency, and students‟ learning styles relate to their uses of language learning strategies Before proposing the theoretical framework of the present study, the theoretical framework based on the empirical past research studies on language learning strategies is presented in order to give a clear picture about what variables affect language learning strategies Figure 1 below shows the theoretical framework based on the empirical research

Figure 2: Theoretical Framework based on the Empirical Research

Figure 1 reveals that types of language learning strategies and learners‟ frequency of language learning strategy use have been hypothesized to be influenced by two main sets of variables: 1) learner variables (e.g anxiety, attitudes, age, gender, field of study, motivation, and learning style, and 2) teaching and learning condition variables (e.g types of universities, teacher perceptions and teaching methodology, length of course study) in a single-directional relationship

Regarding learning outcomes (i.e levels of language proficiency, language ability and levels of language achievement), there is a two-directional relationship between learners‟ language strategy use and the learning outcomes It appears to indicate that more active use of strategies may indeed be responsible for raising language proficiency levels In other words, language learning strategy use can be resulted from learners‟ language proficiency and vice versa

The present investigation aims at examining variation in the use of overall strategy use and by looking individually at patterns of variation by gender, the

 Levels of language achievement or language performance major field of study, language proficiency and learning styles of ethnic non- English major students at Thai Nguyen University These variables are assumed to be related to students‟ choice of strategies used Figure 2 below shows the theoretical framework of the present investigation

Figure 3: Theoretical Framework of the Present Study

The theoretical framework proposed above shows that four variables (gender, field of study, language proficiency, and learning styles) will be investigated in relation to learner‟s choice of language learning strategies in this study The four variables of the present investigation are probably linked with one another as source of language learning and teaching to take place In the present investigation, some variables (e.g gender, language proficiency) have been investigated by many other researchers Variable as major field of study (natural sciences and social sciences) has hardly been found to be investigated to present

Moreover, no empirical research has been conducted with the ethnic students in mountainous areas

TNU ethnic students’ use of strategies

Conclusion

LLSs are defined as „steps‟, „actions‟, „techniques‟, and „behaviors‟ that language learners employ in their language learning Different researchers have defined LLS differently due to their purposes, experiences, and abilities The term LLS seems varied among researchers

In the present investigation, LLSs are understood as conscious behaviours or thought processes performing learning actions, whether they are observable (behaviours or techniques) or unobservable (thoughts or mental processes), that the TNU ethnic students use to enhance their English language learning

By reviewing of related literature and research works done on LLS in the world as well as in Vietnam, we can see that educational researchers have investigated differences in LLS based on; 1) demographic factors dealing with a variety of settings and target populations; 2) research design concerning methods of data collection, and focal points of the investigation; and 3) other related variables such learners‟ beliefs, career interests, different teaching and learning conditions…

It is clear that there has been no research exclusively focusing on the relationship between LLS of ethnic students, and their individual factors such as; gender, language proficiency, major field of study, and learning styles Thus, this study is an attempt to meet such research need It is also the major contribution of this research to the body of knowledge in EFL teaching and learning.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Context of the study

Thai Nguyen University (TNU) is located in the northern midland and mountainous region where many ethnic minorities live in harmony for a long tradition, in which ethnic minorities accounted for 24% - the highest rate in the country with their own cultural identities At present, TNU has a current enrollment of 90,000 students, of which there are about 65,000 undergraduate (55,000 full-time and 10,000 part-time) and others are professional vocational students The annual application average is from 70 - 80,000 applications from various parts of the country, mostly from 16 northern upland provinces of Vietnam

Given the established significance of this issue, all efforts to gain deeper insights into LLSs are worth doing This study is especially worthwhile in the EFL teaching and learning setting of Viet Nam, where context-specific research into different aspects of LLSs is still in its early stage It is expected that the careful investigation and evaluation of the LLS use by Vietnamese EFL students will help build the scientific premises on which practice-based efforts operate The present study aims at investigating types and frequency of LLS used by ethnic non-English major university students at TNU then examines whether there is any meaningful relationship between the LLS uses and students‟ gender, major field of study, level of English language proficiency and learning styles.

Qualitative Research

Definitions and Characteristics of Qualitative Research

There are many definitions of qualitative research, however, most of researchers, when defining the term, tend to focus on the purpose as follows:

“Qualitative researchers are interested in understanding the meaning people have constructed, that is, how people make sense of their world and the experiences they have in the world” (Merriam, 2009, p 13) From a different viewpoint, Parkinson & Drislane, (2011) emphasize an epistemological stance when they define qualitative research is research using methods such as participant observation or case studies which result in a narrative, descriptive account of a setting or practice Sociologists using these methods typically reject positivism and adopt a form of interpretive sociology Whereas, some others define qualitative research focusing on the process and context of data collection as “Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world

It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that makes the world visible

These practices transform the world They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (Denzin

In sum, the researcher agrees with Marguerite & Katherine (2010) that qualitative research, also called interpretive research or field research, is a methodology that has been borrowed from disciplines like sociology and anthropology and adapted to educational settings Qualitative researchers use the inductive method of reasoning and strongly believe that there are multiple perspectives to be uncovered

Regarding characteristics of qualitative research, Marguerite & Katherine

(2010) conclude some common characteristics of qualitative research as follows:

 Studies are carried out in a naturalistic setting

 Researchers ask broad research questions designed to explore, interpret, or understand the social context

 Participants are selected through nonrandom methods based on whether the individuals have information vital to the questions being asked

 Data collection techniques involve observation and interviewing that bring the researcher in close contact with the participants

 The researcher is likely to take an interactive role where she or he gets to know the participants and the social context in which they live

 Hypotheses are formed after the researcher begins data collection and are modified throughout the study as new data are collected and analyzed

 The study reports data in narrative form.

Quantitative Research

Definitions and Characteristics of Quantitative Research

Different researchers give different definitions to “quantitative research”

Here are some of them:

According to Barbie (2013), quantitative research is the numerical representation and manipulation of observations for the purpose of describing and explaining the phenomena that those observations reflect It is used in a wide variety of natural and social sciences, including physics, biology, psychology, sociology and geology In addition, according to Cohen (1990), quantitative research is defined as social research that employs empirical methods and empirical statements Typically, empirical statements are expressed in numerical terms Another factor in quantitative research is that empirical evaluations are applied Empirical evaluations are defined as a form that seeks to determine the degree to which a specific program or policy empirically fulfills or does not fulfill a particular standard or norm

In sum, the researcher agrees with Creswell (1994) when he defined quantitative research as a type of research that is “explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analyzed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics)” (p 127)

Punch (1998) includes the following characteristics of quantitative research:

• An emphasis on collecting and analyzing information in the form of numbers

• An emphasis on collecting scores that measure distinct attributes of individuals and organizations

• An emphasis on the procedures of comparing groups or relating factors about individuals or groups in experiments, correlational studies, and surveys.

Research Design for the Present Study

Cohen et al., (2002) state that “there is no single blueprint for planning research” (p 87) Burns and Grove (2003, p.195) also define a research design as

“a blueprint for conducting a study with maximum control over factors that may interfere with the validity of the findings” Parahoo (1997, p.142) describes a research design as “a plan that describes how, when and where data are to be collected and analysed” Since the research design is governed by the notion of

„fitness for purpose‟, and the purposes of the research determine the methodology and design of the research Therefore, when conducting research, it is very important to specify the purposes, types of research as well as to design a systematic plan of gathering the data from whom, how and when to collect the data, and how to analyse and interpret the data obtained Cohen et al., (2002), and

Robson (2002) suggest that research purposes and questions should be determined by researchers before setting a research design because of both of the research purposes and research questions specify the methodology and design of the research

The present study is a cross-sectional survey According to Babbie (1973), a cross-sectional survey is “the most frequently used study design” (p.65) and it

“can be used not only for purposes of description but also for the determination of relationships between variables" (p.62) These functions well fit the purposes of the present study In this study, the researcher, firstly, examines and determines the types and frequencies of LLSs used by ethnic students (the descriptive purpose) and, secondly, to find out the relationships between LLSs with regards to learner variables (the explanatory purpose)

This survey employed a mixed-method design, involving both quantitative and qualitative approaches The quantitative part was two questionnaire surveys and the qualitative component was a semi-structured interview Justifying the use of mixed methods research design in this study, it is appropriate to refer to its four major advantages as elaborated by Denscombe (2010, p 119) The advantages include (1) a more comprehensive account of the thing being researched; (2) clearer links between different methods and different kinds of data; (3) good use of triangulation; and (4) a practical problem driven approach to research

Accordingly, the potential to generate more substantial and meaningful results predominantly underpinned the choice of the mixed methods approach for this study The question of LLSs in essence is a complex inquiry with a multitude of aspects to explore In order to obtain a comprehensive picture, it was a necessity to adopt the mixed methods approach, using both questionnaires and interviews for data collection in this study

In a discussion of the combined use of quantitative and qualitative approaches, Creswell also (1994) posits three modes of design: the two-phase design, dominant - less dominant design, and mixed-methodology design The mixed-method design employed in the present study meets with the second mode which, according to Creswell (1994), is where the researcher presents the study in a dominant approach with one component of the overall study using an alternative approach In view of the present study, this dominant – less dominant design is represented by a dominant use of the questionnaire survey (the quantitative part) and the questionnaire survey is incorporated with the semi-structured interview (the qualitative part)

To highlight the feature of the mixed-method design, the researcher calls it an „unbalanced/sequential design‟ By referring to it as „unbalanced', the researcher means the two approaches differ in their roles The quantitative part plays a dominant role as findings from this part address major research questions

The qualitative findings are used to elaborate and illuminate the results from the quantitative part

By referring to it as „sequential‟, the researcher refers to time The quantitative design was used before the qualitative one The mixed design is depicted in Figure 4 below

Figure 4: Research Design for the Present Study

In other words, the study was implemented in two stages In the first stage, the Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (LLSQ) and Perceptual Learning-styles Preferences Questionnaire (PLPQ) to examine types and frequencies of language learning strategies used by the ethnic students and to determine the relationship between LLSs used and learners‟ variables administered to 527 students

In the second stage, ten participants who had high frequency use of language learning strategies were selected to take part in the semi-structured interviews

Data collected through these two stages reflected types, frequencies and the relationship between language learning strategies and learners‟ variables of non- English major students at Thai Nguyen University The overall design of the research is presented in as follows:

Stage 1 – Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire and Perceptual Learning-styles Preference Questionnaire

Format: The LLSQ contains 50 items, each having 5 choices ranging from

“the statement is never or almost never true of me” to “the statement is always or almost always true of me” Based on the strategy classification system put forward by Oxford (1990), these 50 items belong to the following 6 categories: memory strategies cognitive strategies, compensation strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, affective strategies and social strategies

The PLPQ is theoretically grounded in a perceptual modality approach with the intention of measuring a student‟s preference for one of four basic perceptual learning modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile) and two social interaction factors (individual or group learning)

Data collection: quantitative data of students‟ strategy use, learning styles

Number of participants: 10 Format: The participants were interviewed individually and a list of questions was given to the participants 10 minutes prior to the interview The interviews were audio-taped

Data collection: qualitative data of the opinions on use of strategies in regular practice with reference to their ethnic minority groups

In sum, Figure 4 below summarises the research design adopted in this study

Figure 5: The flow chart of the Research design

Mixed Methods Approach Research Design

Mixed-Methods Research

The use of both qualitative and quantitative research techniques in a single study constitutes mixed method research A consensus definition by Johnson et al

(2007) defines the approach as a type of research in which a researcher or a group of researchers combines the elements of qualitative and quantitative approaches in an effort to enhance the breadth and depth of research understanding and collaboration For example, the use of data collection, quantitative and qualitative viewpoints, and analysis and inference techniques in a single piece of research is an evident use of mixed research methodology According to Marguerite and Katherine (2010), educational researchers are increasingly recognizing the value of collecting both quantitative and qualitative data One of the major advantages is that it combines the strengths of both qualitative and quantitative research, providing both an in-depth look at context, processes, and interactions and precise measurement of attitudes and outcomes In mixed-methods research, the researcher has flexibility in choosing methods of data collection, and the presentation of results can be convincing and powerful when both summary numbers and in-depth portraits of a setting are included

In more recent research, there has been the identification that qualitative and qualitative research are not incompatible and their combination can result in better understanding of social phenomena (Hashemi & Babaii, 2013) The application of concurrent designs in mixed methods research is more common than the sequential design The effectiveness of the concurrent approach ensures that data obtained from both quantitative and qualitative approaches has the same time relevance This feature emerges from a study of linguistic articles since 1995 to

2008 Both strands of the mixed methods approach should receive equal emphasis at the point of analysis (Hashemi & Babaii, 2013) The nature of this approach to research as a versatile research methodology would facilitate more effective uses of mixed methods in the future

When conducting this study, the researcher always keep in mind what Greene (2001, pp 252-253) has summarized some of mix-methods purposes as follows, the researcher also note that that not all purposes are present in every mixed-methods study:

Triangulation: Mixing methods for this purpose seeks convergence, corroboration, and correspondence of results across the different methods

Complementarity: Mixed methods as used for this purpose measure overlapping, but distinct facets of the phenomena under investigation

Development: For this purpose, different methods are used sequentially in order to use the results of one method to help develop the other method or inform its implementation

Expansion: For this purpose, different methods are used for different inquiry components in order to extend the breadth and range of the inquiry

Initiation: For this purpose, mixed methods intentionally seek the discovery of paradox and contradiction, and new perspectives or frameworks via the recasting of questions or results from one method with questions or results from the other method

However, mixed-methods research also has some disadvantages As Marguerite and Katherine (2010) state mix-methods requires knowledge and skills in both qualitative and quantitative methods In addition, a mixed-methods study usually requires more time and resources to complete than a study using only one type of data The researcher must spend time developing quantitative measures and also in

In addition, another shortcoming of mixed method research is the inherent challenges of providing statistical measurements of qualitative data According to Roberts, quantified qualitative data is vulnerable to collinearity, where statistical relationships are a result of the coding strategy employed rather than a true reflection of the data (Roberts, 2000) To reduce the time used to analyse the data, researchers have to change their research design, including reducing the sample of the research in an effort to affect the statistical outcomes such as variance and t- test analyses As a challenge, this limits the researcher‟s knowledge and statistical power to support the outcomes of their research (Driscoll et al., 2007) Other challenges and weaknesses of mixed method research pointed out by Onwuegbuzie & Johnson (2004) are that it is time consuming and expensive, and it is also hard to find a dedicated researcher who has inherent knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative research methods Therefore, a balanced utilization of the two approaches in the same research becomes a challenge

In an effort to minimize the above disadvantages, a balance is struck between the two approaches (qualitative and quantitative) Data legitimation is achieved to determine the quantity of data to be used In addition, integration crises are resolved through a critical evaluation of the available resources and provision of these resources to the researcher prior to the commencement of the research The research takes a personal approach, where the researcher is involved with the participants in the presence of a neutral third party, eliminating the challenges of ambiguity and bias In addition, the best research method, with corresponding research tools, is the method which better provides an answer to the research questions In this study the qualitative data was used to compliment the quantitative data As it will be further explored below, a quantitative approach was more appropriate to answer the research questions 1-3, whereas a qualitative approach was used to find more answers and to have an in-depth look into the relationship between LLS and the factors affecting the choices of TNU students

In addition, according to Creswell, a combination of research methods is ultimately beneficial as opposed to utilizing qualitative or quantitative approaches alone (Creswell, 2009) Different themes and opinions emerge through the use of mixed methods that otherwise would not have been discovered (Driscoll et al.,

2007) It is the need for such a discovery that makes the use of mixed method research a reliable tool to use for research

To recall, this research aims to answer the following questions:

1 What English language learning strategies do TNU ethnic students employ for their EFL learning?

2 What English language learning strategies are frequently used by ethnic students at TNU?

3 To what extent do the students‟ choices of language learning strategies vary significantly with their gender, major fields of study, levels of proficiency and learning styles? If so, what are the main patterns of variation?

As noted above, the nature of the questions often dictates the most appropriate research method to be used Whereas questions 1 to 3 sought to establish an objective relationship between variables that could be easily measured Consequently, a quantitative approach was more appropriate to answer questions 1 to 3, whereas a qualitative approach was better suited to explore the perspectives of ethnic students at TNU As such, a mixed method approach needed to be followed in order to answer these questions Furthermore, some of the questions answered by participants via the (quantitative) LLSQ questionnaire were answered again in the context of a semi-structured (qualitative) interview, thus providing an opportunity for triangulation of data As a researcher, the need to present original, authentic and unbiased research results was a major factor that led to the adoption of the mixed method approach In addition, the merits mentioned previously will inevitably clarify and explain any conflicting theories or challenges encountered in the research.

Data Collection Methods

Researcher in the field used many instruments to collect data for the survey research i.e observations, case studies, test results, previous surveys; however, questionnaires and interviews is more commonly used It is because both of these instruments provide a means of obtaining data by asking people rather than by observing their behavior

While the questionnaire consists of a set of questions that the respondent answers on paper by himself, the interview consists of an interviewer asking the questions and recording the responses Guyette (1983, pp 60-61) compared the advantages and disadvantages of these two instruments as follows:

May seem cold to community persons or respondent may be suspicious

Greater response likely in community efforts

Time to complete questionnaire minimal/ Respondent may skimp on time or fail to respond to some questions

Completion rate usually higher than questionnaire

Educational level may affect interpretation of questions

Educational or experience level less of an effect because interviewer explains questions

Literacy Literacy required Literacy not required Language restriction May be limited to English or a written language

Interpreter may be trained for the interview

Questions may contain bias - usually detected during the pretest

Interviewer may influence the responses or cause tension -training may prevent this

Respondent can add comments, but usually does not take the time

Tends to yield more complete data/ Interviewer able to encourage and note comments

Cost primarily involves duplication, postage, and data processing

Besides copies of instrument for noting responses and data processing, additional costs are salary of interviewers and travel

Training for persons to code and process data, if needed

In-depth training needed for interviewers in addition to data preparation

Increased chance of non- responses may introduce bias into the study

Data summaries from open- ended questions difficult to summarize

More difficult to give back to the respondent, unless materials are mailed

Services, materials, or payment can be given to the respondent at the time of the interview

Respondent may not identify as closely with the project, due to the less personal nature of the method

Cooperation for future involvement of the respondent may be gained through the personal contact/

Respondent may feel more like a participant and take an interest in the results

The present study adopts the cross-sectional survey approach for the first phase of the present study Participants of 527 ethnic students in TNU were sampled The researcher then used the Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (LLSQ) and Perceptual Learning-styles Preferences Questionnaire (PLPQ) to examine and determine language learning strategy use of the ethnic students‟ in relation with learner variables (gender, major fields of study, level of proficiency and learning styles)

Since learners are individuals, and infinitely variable (Skehan, 1986), the researcher keeps in mind that that the wide variety of individual characteristics exemplified by the student interviewees will provide a comprehensive picture of the correlation between the language learning strategy use and learners‟ variables

Individual ethnic students were interviewed in phase 2 in order to investigate how the LLSQ and PLPQ results in phase 1 related to ethnic students on an individual basis Student interviewees were of varying ethnics, levels of proficiency, had different learning styles and also varied in gender and major fields of study.

Research Questions

The present study aims to examine types and frequencies of LLSs used and determine whether there is a relationship between language learning strategies and factors affecting the choices of LLSs of the TNU EFL ethnic learners In other words, the study investigates the influences of the students‟ gender, major field of study, level of language proficiency and learning styles on their use of language learning strategy To achieve the purpose of the study, the following research questions are proposed:

1 What English language learning strategies do TNU ethnic students employ for their EFL learning?

2 What English language learning strategies are frequently used by TNU ethnic students?

3 To what extent do the students‟ choices of language learning strategies vary significantly with their gender, major fields of study, levels of proficiency and learning styles? If so, what are the main patterns of variation?

Data Collection Instruments

In this study, the instrument used to elicit and collect information is in the form of questionnaire In order to measure language learning strategy use, The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning Version (SILL) was used The SILL, a self-scoring questionnaire, developed by Oxford (1990), is a tool to assess a broad range of general L2 learning strategies The SILL includes two versions: version 5.1 (70 items) and version 7.0 (50 items) Version 5.1 was designed to assess the frequency of use of language learning strategies by native-speaking English students and version 7.0 was designed to measure the use of language learning strategies by non-native speaking English students who are learning English as a second or foreign language

The SILL is a self-scoring survey and consists of 50 items, which Oxford and Burry-Stock (1995) divided into six categories:

1 Memory strategies, such as grouping, imagery, rhyming, and structured reviewing (nine items)

2 Cognitive strategies, such as reasoning, analyzing, summarizing (all reflective of deep processing) as well as general practicing (fourteen items)

3 Compensation strategies (to compensate for limited knowledge), such as guessing meanings for the context in reading and listening and using synonyms and gestures to convey meaning when the precise expression is not known (six items)

4 Metacognitive strategies, such as paying attention, consciously searching for practice opportunities, planning for language tasks, self-evaluating one‟s progress, and monitoring error (nine items)

5 Affective (emotional, motivation-related) strategies, such as anxiety reduction, self-encouragement, and self- reward (six items)

6 Social strategies, such as asking questions, cooperating with native speakers of the language, and becoming culturally aware (six items) (p 5)

Each item in the survey is a statement starting with, I do (e.g., I review English lessons often.), and students respond on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Never or almost never true of me) to 5 (always or almost always true of me)

The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) is the best-known strategy scale and is utilized widely for its high reliability and validity The internal consistency of SILL ranges from 0.89 to 0.98 in various studies (Oxford and Burry-Stock, 1995) Furthermore, the ESL/EFL SILL with its translation versions are reliable A number of studies using ESL/EFL SILL reflect the high reliability For instance, 94 using the Chinese translation with 590 Taiwanese University EFL learners (Yang, 1994) and 91 using the Korean translation with

59 Korean EFL learners (Oh, 1992) Therefore, the present study will use SILL as the survey instrument Specifically, the current study will use the 50-item version of SILL, which is designed for ESL/EFL learners Moreover, as Oxford and Burry-Stock (1995) found, SILL has a high degree of content validity, criterion- related validity and construct validity (see Oxford and Burry-Stock, 1995)

In regards to the content validity, the inter-rater agreement, which correlates five judges rating, was 95, a very high level of agreement statistically speaking

The LLSQ was then translated into Vietnamese, so that the students had no difficulty in understanding them As seen in Table 2.1, the Cronbach‟s alpha value revealed an excellent internal consistency of (α = 95) for the overall LLSQ questionnaire In addition, the Cronbach‟s alphas for the six components of the LLSQ were generally adequate The correlation coefficient for most of the LLSQ components was above (α = 8)

Table 2.1: The Reliability of the Vietnamese/English Version of the LLSQ

Measure and Components Cronbach’s Alpha

The overall reliability for the LLSQ 95

Despite the considerable merits of the SILL, there are some underlying disadvantages that challenge its use One is that it does not provide detailed information about the language learning strategies used by students in their response to specific language learning tasks The user of learner self-report is dependent on the attitude and willingness of the research participants to give free participatory information The learners must be willing and able to describe their behaviour, both cognitive and emotional, as reported by Harlow 1988, and emphasized by Oxford 1990 The validity of the approach becomes questionable due to the social desirability response bias, or the participants‟ tendency to answer in the way they perceive the researcher wants them to answer This bias is usually identified by a moderate to high correlation between the Marlowe-Crown Social Desirability Scale and a given instrument like the SILL However, it has been shown that this is not the case with the SILL (Oxford 1996)

Biased conclusions and recommendations and over-subjectivity and the inability to verbalize are clearly other challenges of the approach which face the researcher This is mainly due to low self-awareness among the learners

However, continued research in the field shows that learners are capable of recalling the strategies they use and can even describe them objectively and lucidly This is especially the case in situations where sanctions and grades are associated with the strategy being used (Chamot and Kupper, 1989; O‟Malley and Chamot, 1990) For these reasons, the researcher puts in mind all those disadvantages when using SILL in this study

2.8.2 Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire

The questionnaire used in the study was an adapted version of the Perceptual Learning Style Preference Questionnaire (PLPQ) which was designed and developed by Reid (1987, 1990, 1998) According to Walker and Burnhill (1997), the advantage of adapting an existing instrument is that the theory has been assessed in previous studies and validation has been undertaken and published

Building on previous work of an existing instrument also helps improve the quality of the instrument and allows the researcher to relate the findings of similar studies to one another The questionnaire is theoretically grounded in a perceptual modality approach with the intention of measuring a student‟s preference for one of four basic perceptual learning modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile) and two social interaction factors (individual or group learning)

The visual subscale includes items 6, 10, 12, 24 and 29 with statements describing a visual behavior in learning a second language like, “I learn better by reading what the teacher writes on the chalkboard” and “When I read instructions, I remember them better.”

The auditory subscale consists of items 1, 7, 9, 17 and 20, and has statements that describe learning through hearing and oral explanations such as “When the teacher tells me the instructions, I understand better” and “When someone tells me how to do something in class, I learn it better.”

The kinesthetic behavior involves items 2, 8, 15, 19 and 26, which refer to learning by experience in classroom The kinesthetic statements are ones like “I prefer to learn by doing something in class” and “When I do things in class I learn better.”

The tactile statements describe participants who learn best when having the opportunity to do “hands on experiences with materials” (Reid, 1995, p 206)

This section includes items 11, 14, 16, 22 and 25, and has statements such as “I learn more when I make something for a class project” and “I learn better when I make drawings as I study.”

The subscale that describes group-oriented learners includes items 3, 4, 5,

21 and 23 while the individual learning style subscale is composed of items 13,

18, 27, 28 and 30 The following statements “I get more work done when I work with others” and “I learn more when I study with a group” are examples of the group-oriented subscale items The individual subscale includes the following examples “When I study alone, I remember things better” and “I prefer to work by myself.” It includes the following items: 13, 18, 27, 28, and 30

Data Collection Procedures

According to the curriculum at TNU, all of the students have to enroll 6 credits of General English (GE) in the first two years (3 periods of 45 minutes per week) In the first semester of the 2nd year, they have to enroll 4 credits of English for Specific Purposes (4 periods of 45 minutes per week) The number of students in each class varies from 40 to 50 aged from 18 to 35 Most of them have completed 3 or 7 years of GE in secondary or/and high school Almost all of them come from mountainous areas in the northern Vietnam

In the first phase of data collection, the participants consisted of 527 ethnic students who were randomly selected from over 4000 ethnic students at TNU

They were respondents to the Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (LLSQ) and the Perceptual Learning-Style Preference Questionnaire (PLPQ) Most of the students are 18-35 years of age and they are from different ethnic minority groups, gender, major fields of study, levels of proficiency and learning styles

In the second phase of data collection 10 students were purposively selected to be interviewed The interviews were conducted after the LLSQ and LPLQ questionnaire phase of the study completed The interviewees were purposively selected to be as representative as possible of the learner variables included in the study in terms of ethnics, gender, major fields of study, language proficiency, and learning styles Although all participants had studied English as subject for at least 3 to 7 years in high school, however, generally speaking, their English is below the average according to their English scores after the first semester final exams

2.9.2 Characteristics of Participants in the Quantitative Phase

Descriptive statistical analyses and independent-samples t-tests were used to analyze the survey of participants‟ background variables, such as: gender, major fields of study, self-reported level of proficiency and learning styles In total, 527 TNU ethnic students from 6 universities participated in this study The participants‟ backgrounds are summarized in Table 2.3 below

Table 2.3 Details of the participants’ background

As shown in Table 2.3, in the current study, 108 participants were Nung ethnic, making 20.5% of the total, 145 were Tay ethnic, making 27.5% of the total, 94 were Thai ethnic, making 16.3% of the total, and 94 were H‟mong, ethnic making 17.8% of the total

The number of male ethnic students was 278, making 52.8% of the total and the number of female ethnic students was 249, making 47.2% of the total participants 221 (41.9%) students study natural sciences, whereas 306 (58.1%) their counterparts study social sciences

With regard to students‟ self-reported language proficiency level, 292 students reported themselves as low level, making 55.4% of the total, 157 students reported as medium level, making 29.8% of the total and 78 students perceived their level of language proficiency as high, making 14.8% of the total

In terms of perceptual learning styles, 135 students perceived themselves as visual style, making 25,6% of the total, 103 students were tactile style, making 19.5% of the total, 63 students were auditory style, making 12% of the total, 65 students were kinesthetic style, making 12.35% of the total, 78 students were group style, making 14.8% of the total, and 83 students were individual style, making 15.7% of the total participants

2.9.3 Characteristics of the participants in the Qualitative Phase

Each interviewee was coded in number in order to help the researcher for further reference The SILL results of the 10 selected student interviewees and their characteristics are in Table 2.4 below:

Table 2.4: Characteristics of the interviewees

Code Ethnic group Gender Major of

Code Ethnic group Gender Major of

As can be seen in Table 2.4, the interviewees were purposively selected according to their ethnic groups, gender, major field of study, levels of English proficiency and major learning style consisted of Tay group (4), Thai (3), H‟mong

(1), Dao (1) and Nung (1), female (4) and male (6), Natural Sciences (4) and Social Sciences (6), High level of English proficiency (4), Moderate level (4) and Low level (2)

Regarding learning styles, two of them preferred tactile style, kinesthetic (1),

In terms of responding to the LLSQ, all the interviewees‟ responses mean score ranging from 3.58 to 3.78 which belong to the high use of strategy level

Figure 5 below shows the results of the averages of the six groups of strategies in the LLSQ Based on the data, there were some distinct findings of strategy uses among the interviewees The results of the most frequently used strategies were compensation and memory strategies, whereas cognitive and social strategies were reported with comparatively lower usage than the other strategies

Figure 6: Group averages of the LLSQ scores

The average use of cognitive strategies was the lowest among the interviewees After cross-checking the responses, most of the ethnic students did not try to talk like native English speakers and did not find anything interesting in reading English

2.9.4 Data Collection 2.9.4.1 Quantitative data from the two questionnaires

Under the time constraints and within the scope of this study, it was determined that probability sampling, such as random sampling, could hardly be employed Instead, non-probability sampling would best suit its purpose and the given circumstances More specifically, opportunity or convenience sampling was employed to recruit the participants for the quantitative phase of this study Brady

(2006) states that opportunity sampling or convenience sampling is a technique for selecting data sources, where researchers “identify a sample, for example, using a researcher's local knowledge of an area on which to base a study or using a researcher's past experiences to contact participants” (p 205) Approaching the most convenient and easy-to-find members of the population, identified opportunity sampling or convenience sampling is considered the most common type of non-probability sampling (Denscombe, 2010; Weathington, Cunningham,

& Pittenger, 2010) The opportunity or convenience sampling in this study was selected on the basis of the availability of the ethnic non-English major students from 4 universities within Thai Nguyen University

Data Analysis

Data collected from the LLSQ and the PLPQ about students learning strategies and perceptual learning styles were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics, the post hoc Bonferroni-corrected paired t-tests and ANOVA through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) A probability level of less than 05 and 01 were adopted as the cut-off for significant results for the statistical analyses A Bonferroni correction was used with multiple comparison analyses to minimize the chance of making a Type I error (Green & Salkind, 2009; Huck, 2012; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013)

Prior to conducting the statistical analyses on the data sets, preliminary data cleaning was performed to inspect potential outliers, missing values, error coding, normality of data, unusual scores and problematic values, following Morrow‟s and Skolits‟s (2013) 12 steps for data cleaning Univariate outliers are outlandish cases with standardized scores of 3.29 standard deviation below or above the mean (Tabachnick & Fidell 2013) There were no outliers found in the data set

An exploratory data analysis was conducted to determine if the scores distribution obtained from LLSQ and PLPQ were normally distributed The univariate normality was assessed using Shapiro-Wilks test for normality, and the standardized skewness and kurtosis of each independent variable, making comparison against ± 3.29 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013) In this study, Shapiro-

Wilks test for normality (p = 000) in conjunction with the skewness and kurtosis test signified a departure from the normality for some of the data sets

Descriptive statistics method was used to examine the frequency of strategy use and to compare the degree to which strategies will be reported to be used frequently or infrequently by students in general There are three levels of strategy use: „high use‟, „medium use‟, and „low use‟ based on the holistic mean scores of frequency of strategy use In this study, this method was applied to answer Research question 2

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to test the significant differences among the means of two or more groups on a variable to see whether the variation is greater than predicted The independent variables are usually nominal, and the dependent variable is usual an interval For the present investigation, this method was used to determine the relationship between the ethnic students‟ reported strategy use and 1) gender (male or female), 2) major field of study (social sciences or natural sciences), 3) levels of language proficiency (high, moderate, or low) and 4) learning styles (visual or auditory or tactile or kinesthetic or individual or group)

Since more tests leads to more chances of getting something significant, the post hoc Bonferroni-corrected paired t-tests is used to examine the significant difference among the means of the six strategy categories as the result of ANOVA where the variable has more than two groups This test is used to indicate which pair of the groups under such a variable contributes to the overall differences As a result, in the present investigation, the post hoc Bonferroni-corrected paired t-test was used to test the significant differences of the mean of students‟ strategy use in six different categories of the LLSQ (memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective and social) The minimum level of significance predetermined for the tests conducted within the framework of this study was p 5 years

Part 2: Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire Direction