1. GGGE 6533 Language Learning Strategies Instruction LLS used by Successful Language Learners in a rural school (SMK Triang) Pahang Amara Yeoh Jo Ann GP03729

2. 6.0 Findings and Discussion 6.1Strategies for Improving Listening Skills Strategies to increase exposure to English I’ve used & I’d use it again I’ve never used it but am interested It doesn’t fit me Attend out-of-class English events523 Listen to various electronic media910 Listen to people speaking English1000 Corresponds with Melor Md Yunus, Nur Ainil Sulaiman & Mohammed Amin Embi (2013) & Wong (2011) [watching English movies & paying attention to people speaking English - top ten frequently used strategies] easy access to electronic media not many English events in a rural town English literacy in rural areas is limited to the school and resembles that of a foreign language (Hazita Azman 2006)

3. Strategies to become familiar with English sounds Associate new sounds with sounds of familiar words 541 Imitate native speakers721 similar to Melor Md Yunus, Nur Ainil Sulaiman & Mohammed Amin Embi Yunus (2013)

4. Strategies to listen to conversation in English Pay attention to pronunciation910 Predict what will be said910 Read background materials beforehand712 Listening to key words640 Pay attention to pauses712 Pay attention to intonation910 Practise skim listening613 Avoid word-for-word translation910 Focus on context910 Listen for specific details910 Likewise, Kayaoğlu (2013) found that poor learners used more word-for-word translation compared to good learners. -Students may think that they should pay attention to everything -happens in real time  no second chance for repetition (Brown 2006). skim listening

5. Strategies for dealing with incomprehensible listening tasks. Ask speakers to repeat901 Ask speakers to slow down811 Ask for clarification811 Use speaker’s tone of voice820 Guess based on what has been said901 Watch speaker’s gestures721

6. 6.2Strategies for Improving Speaking Skills Strategies to practise speaking I’ve used & I’d use it again I’ve never used it but am interested It doesn’t fit me Practise saying new expressions721 Think how a good speaker might say something 631 “speaking English to parents” “singing English songs” “talking to teachers and friends during the English periods”.

7. Strategies to engage in conversation Talk with good speakers523 Initiate conversations532 Talk about familiar topics721 Plan in advance622 Encourage others to correct errors in my speaking. 910 Ask questions820 Predict what will be said531 Try new topics841 Asking others to correct errors is often a favoured strategy (Kuen & Mohamed Amin Embi 2012; Melor Md Yunus, Nur Ainil Sulaiman & Mohammed Amin Embi Yunus 2013; Hong-Nam & Leavell 2006). “going over the things that they want to speak about again and again” “taking a deep breath to calm down before speaking”, “avoid using mother tongue when speaking English”.

8. Strategies when I can’t think of a word or expression Ask conversational partner to help 640 Use a different way to express820 Use gestures820 Switch back to mother tongue820 The least used strategy is asking conversational partner for help. This differs from Kuen & Mohamed Amin Embi (2012) who found that students favour asking for help from conversational partner

9. 6.3STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING READING These are in line with Takeuchi (2003) who found that good language learners prefer to read aloud multiple times, do extensive and analytical reading. Strategies to improve my reading ability I’ve used & I’d use it again I’ve never used it but am interested It doesn’t fit me Read extensively820 Read for pleasure730 Choose proficiency appropriate materials 730 Plan, monitor & check reading622 Skim and then read carefully721 Read several times820 Look at organisation of text541 Make ongoing summaries361 Make predictions721

10. “scanning the excerpt or synopsis before reading a book to understand it better” “underlining key words” “learn the lyrics of a song to improve reading” -6 students understand the importance of metacognition -2 name it as a strategy that they dislike  Learners are still unfamiliar with metacognition.  contradicts Cohen (2014) who found that highly successful learners widely used metacognitive strategies Least used  making ongoing summaries. Melor Md Yunus, Nur Ainil Sulaiman & Mohammed Amin Embi Yunus (2013), it is still mainly sometimes used with the data at 51.9%. - a strategy of medium usage (Hong-Nam & Leavell 2006).

11. Strategies when words are not understood Guess meaning based on context1000 Use dictionary to find meaning of words 901 -”try to predict meaning or words that I don’t understand” -“download dictionary apps that can function offline” so that that she can find the bilingual meaning anytime and jot them down in a book. -“ask teacher or friends about the sentences and words that (she does) not understand” Likewise, also found that students utilise dictionaries in learning vocabulary (Azadeh Asgari & Ghazali Bin Mustapha 2011).

12. 6.4STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING WRITING Strategies for basic writing I’ve used & I’d use it again I’ve never used it but am interested It doesn’t fit me Practice writing new words730 Plan, monitor & check writing730 Write different types of text541 Take class notes in English721 Strategies for writing an essay Use a different way to express820 Review written stuff before writing more1000 Use reference materials such as dictionaries, essays 901 Edit words after ideas are down640 “re-reading the sentences that had been written to correct them” Usage of reference materials - echoes Takeuchi (2003) good language learners favour borrowing expressions from reading materials to improve their writing

13. Strategies to use after writing a draft of an essay Revise writing once or twice910 Get feedback from others550 “check grammar again after writing the essay” “do correction after teachers have marked the essay” The least used strategy  getting feedback from others. The other learners expressed interested in this strategy.

14. STRATEGIES FOR VOCABULARY ENHANCEMENT Strategies for learning new words I’ve used & I’d use it again I’ve never used it but am interested It doesn’t fit me Focus on word structure820 Write words in sentences730 Break words into identifiable parts541 Group words into categories541 List related words541 Make mental images451 Use flash cards442 Act out action verbs361 -“write down words that (they) do not understand”; “interesting words” and “unknown words from English subtitles” or “lyrics”. -“read more stories or articles and jot down the vocabularies”. Jotting down unfamiliar words seems to be a favourite strategy as supported by Takeuchi (2003).

15. Least favoured strategies  acting out action words, making mental images and using flashcards. Echoes Wong (2011) and Melor Md Yunus, Nur Ainil Sulaiman & Mohammed Amin Embi Yunus (2013) who noted that flashcards were the least popular strategy but contradicted the latter whose findings showed that making mental images are highly used. -“checking the dictionary to find ‘”bombastic’ words” & “meanings of unknown words” “use the Internet to find more phrasal words, proverbs and idioms and avoid using normally used words again and again”  echoes Melor Md Yunus, Nur Ainil Sulaiman & Mohammed Amin Embi Yunus (2013)

16. Strategies to recall vocabulary Go over new words often1000 Look at meaningful parts730 Remember the context622 Visualise the spelling910 Strategies to make use of new vocabulary Use new words in different ways730 Use familiar words in many ways631 Use idiomatic expressions550

17. STRATEGIES FOR GRAMMAR IMPROVEMENT Strategies for learning new grammatical rules I’ve used & I’d use it again I’ve never used it but am interested It doesn’t fit me Take grammar notes811 Associate new structures with known ones820 Compare English grammar with mother tongue 901 Group newly learnt grammar into categories (nouns etc) 532 Infer grammar rules802 Write sentences using new rules550 Combine new & known grammar structures to make longer sentences 640 This corresponds with Hong-Nam & Leavell (2006) who noted that finding grammatical patterns is a strategy that is highly used

18. Strategies for improving grammar Look at mistakes & correct them1000 Find the reasons behind mistakes910 Ask others to correct mistakes910 Ask teachers about mistakes730 Strategies when using grammar Focus on rules when using English811 Use another structure if unsure811 All these findings corresponds with Gürata (2008) who most learners prefer cognitive strategies compared to other strategies in learning and utilising grammar structures.

19. IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING It is important to teach learners’ strategies to weaker students to that they may learn to employ the same strategies that better learners use Listening Strategy Use Most learners prefer s ‘listening to people conversing in English’ and ‘listening to talk shows on the radio, watching TV shoes or watching movies’, -bring downloaded audios containing episodes of authentic listening tasks contain transcripts /exercises -Charles Kelly's Learn a Song podcast site  cater to weaker learners Podcasting (Stanley 2006).

20. To prepare students to listen to conversation in English -do prediction exercises -ask students to read related background materials When listening to conversation -Do ‘skim listening’ by playing the text twice (once for students to focus on outline & another on context) View a DVD with captions in L1  L2  no captions (Markham, Peter and McCarthy 2001 as cited in Vandergrift 2004).  provide graphic organisers -Beginners often face working memory constraints (Vandergrift 2004). -Teach how to ask someone to slow down, repeat and clarify. -Teach prediction based on what had been said. When dealing with incomprehension

21. Vocabulary Strategy Use Teachers should teach weaker learners to: pay attention to the structure of the new words ask them to make meaningful sentences using the new words break words into identifiable parts lists new words (from reading or movie subtitles) with words that are related act new action verbs make mental images of new words Teachers should teach good learners to: group words into parts of speech Conduct spelling tests, quizzes, visualisation activities to help students review and recall words periodically set a target level of vocabulary acquisition (Takeuchi 2003).

22. Speaking Strategy Use Teachers can assign a speaking partner to each student teach students how to plan conversations, initiate, ask questions, direct conversation to familiar topics and even try new topics Teach students to take a deep breath and be mentally prepared to speak encourage students to speak English as much as possible during English periods Partners should be changed frequently:  Learners vary their language when interacting with different speakers.  allows students to practice communicating different things with different partners  prevents slacking (Maher 2011; Plough and Gass (1993); Tarone and Liu (1995) as cited in O’Sullivan (2002): O’Sullivan (2002)

23. Reading Strategy Use encourage students to read extensively choose materials that match students’ level of proficiency Skimming, scanning and making predictions and metacognition should be taught to weaker learners while making ongoing summaries can be taught to good learners as many are unaware of the strategy Teach students to guess the approximate meaning using contextual clues Use songs to teach reading encourage students to download offline dictionaries

24. Writing Strategy Use Teachers should teach weaker students: -plan, monitor and check their writing. -use different ways to write  elaboration, using synonyms and descriptions. -do correction -read similar topics to the writing task Peer feedback (Tsui & Ng 2000)  make learners aware of an audience  increases awareness strengths and weaknesses encourages collaborative learning  helps students to take ownership of the text.

25. Grammar Strategy Use To teach grammar, teachers can ask learners to: compare newly learnt grammar structure with the students’ equivalent native language, infer and associate the rules with other known grammar structures. To improve grammar, teachers should teach students to examine the mistakes that have been marked and correct them. Teachers may do:  direct correction /simple underlining of errors  reduce long-term error -direct correction is the preferred method  speedy & easy -students learn more from self-correction and simple underlining of errors (Chandler 2003).

26. Conclusion Good language learners use many strategies in improving their language learning. It is important for teachers to find out the strategies used by good learners so that they can be taught to weaker learners