Factors Affecting Language Learning

StrategiesNurhuda Bt Mohamad Nazri

P71706

FACTORS

•Beliefs

•Personal Background

•Situational Factors

•Motivation

•Gender

1. Beliefs

• Research has revealed that adults tend to hold a numberof beliefs related to their language learning and thatthese beliefs influence the use of language learningstrategies both inside or outside the classroom (Nyikosand Oxford, 1993; Horwitz, 1987; Bialystok, 1981).

• Within the field of second language learning the beliefsof language learners may include beliefs on how best tolearn a language, that one particular language teachingmethod is more effective than another, that somelanguages are more difficult to learn than others, thatsome learning and communication strategies areinappropriate in certain settings as well as beliefs aboutthemselves (whether positive or negative) as languagelearners. (Horwitz, 1987; Wenden 1986a, 1986b).

• From a study conducted with twenty-fiveadults enrolled in part-time language classesin the United States, Wenden (1986b)concluded that these students held certainbeliefs related to language learning and thatthese in tum influenced the type of strategiesthey used. These beliefs related to theirapproach to language learning , to how bestto learn a language and to the criteria used toevaluate the effect of a particular strategy(Wenden, 1986b: 191-192). Implicit beliefsheld by the students, when revealed, werefound to influence the use of social strategies(Wenden, 1986b:194). Explicit beliefs,namely those related to the evaluation of aparticular strategy, had an effect on thelearning , communication and socialstrategies these students used.

• Negative beliefs may also have an effect on the typeof strategies used by language learners such thatthese beliefs prevent the language learner fromusing particular learning strategies, which may haveotherwise enhanced their language learning . In astudy by Nyikos and Oxford (1993) with 1,200students from a mid-Western university studyingone of five languages it was found that the low useof metacognitive and memory building strategieswere related to a number of negative beliefs thatthese students held. These beliefs were linked tohow best not to learn a language, that is, 'it is notworthwhile to invest oneself significantly in thelearning process when the rewards are notobvious'. Another belief held by students and whichis related to memory strategies was that memorystrategies are 'mere gimmickry and thereforecannot be legitimately used by serious students'(Nyikos and Oxford, 1993: 19-20).

2. Personal Background

• Personal background is said to be influential in frequency of use and the choice oflanguage learning strategies used by language learners. (Politzer and McGroaty,1985; Oxford and Nyikos, 1989).

• In this context the personal background of the language learner can refer to thecareer position, profession or the field the language learner has specialised in,and may also be reflected in their choice of university major, for example,engineering or the social sciences (Ehrman and Oxford, 1989; Oxford and Nyikos,1989), However, it may also refer to how many years of study have beenundertaken in learning the TL and whether the learner is an inexperienced orexperienced learner (Oxford and Nyikos, 1989).

• In a study by Oxford and Nyikos (1989) with 1,200 undergraduate foreignlanguage students studying one of five different languages career orientationsignificantly influenced the type of strategies used by these students. Careerorientation was reflected in their choice of university major, that is,humanities/social science/education and it was revealed that students withthis particular career orientation chose functional practice strategies andindependent, resourceful strategies.

• In this same study, it was also revealed that those students who had taken anew language as a requirement, as opposed to those who had chosen it as anelective, used less learning strategies. The researchers also found that studentswho had been studying a language for at least four or five years used strategiesmore often than inexperienced learners. The type of strategies used by studentswho had studied a language for up to five years also differed to those who hadonly been studying the language for up to four years. Functional practice(authentic language use) strategies were used far more by the former type ofstudents whilst the latter type of students used far more conversational inputelicitation strategies (Oxford and Nyikos, 1989).

3. Situational Factors

• Situational factors are also said toinfluence learning strategy usageand these factors include the tasksthe language learner is asked toperform, the actual language beinglearnt and the language teachingmethod (Bialystok, 1981; O'Malleyand Chamot, 1990; Politzer, 1983).

• In relation to task requirements, astudy by Bialystok (1981) withGrade Ten and Grade Twelvestudents learning French as a secondlanguage found that writing tasksand those tasks which requiredattention to form used monitoring asa strategy.

• The study also revealed that whilst writingtasks benefited from written strategies andoral tasks benefited from oral languagestrategies, on all four tasks undertaken bythese students functional practice wassignificant for achievement in the language.

• The second situational factor shown tobe influential in strategy usage, thelanguage being learnt, was a factorconsidered to be of some influence inan exploratory study by Politzer(1983). Politzer's study (1983) with90 undergraduate studentsundertaking French, Spanish andGerman courses revealed that foreignlanguage students learning French andGerman used more strategies thanthose students of Spanish.

• In this same study, language teachingmethod was seen to significantly influencethe language learning behaviour ofstudents in the study. Similarly, in a studyby Chamot and colleagues (O'Malley andChamot, 1990) with college students ofRussian and Hispanic students of Spanishfound that the students of Spanishreported fewer use of strategies than thestudents of Russian.

4. Motivation

• A number of research studies have looked atthe relationship between motivation and theuse of language learning strategies by adultlearners. This research has revealed that thisone factor, motivation, has a causal effect onstrategy use and often influences thefrequency of strategy use and the type ofstrategies used by language learners(Oxfordet al, 1993; Oxford and Ehrman, 1995; Oxfordand Nyikos, 1989). Seemingly, the moremotivated language learner uses languagelearning strategies more often than the lessmotivated language learner (Oxford et al,1993; Oxford and Nyikos, 1989).

• The reasons why a language learner becomesmotivated to learn a language, and continues to beactively involved with language learning for longperiods of time may be attributed to any one ofvarious types or kinds of motivation. Research onthe motivational orientation of language learnershas distinguished between some significantdichotomies in types of motivation; the mostimportant of these are integrative/instrumental,intrinsic/ extrinsic. Resultative motivation has alsobeen shown to affect the strategy use of adultlanguage learners (Oxford and Nyikos, 1989;Oxford and Ehrman, 1995; Pickard, 1995),

• Researchers have found that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation play a role in influencingthe use of language learning strategies by adult language learners. Both these motivationalorientations relate to the sort of gratification the learner receives or expects to receive from thelanguage learning process and tasks. Intrinsic motivation is essentially 'the desire to perform atask for its own sake' (Sdorow, 1998: 400), whereas extrinsic motivation 'is the desire toperform a task to gain external rewards, such as, praise, grades, money' (Sdorow, 1998: 400).

• In a qualitative research project by Pickard (1995: 35-7) all three case studies were found to beeither extrinsically and/or intrinsically motivated to learn English. The adult language learnersin his study learnt English because, for example, they needed English to participate in certainactivities, understand certain songs, to be able to read novels and because learning Englishwould create more opportunities abroad. Two of Pickard's (1995: 36-37) case studies werealso motivated to learn English because of their 'love of languages', which indicates that theywere intrinsically motivated to learn the language. Pickard (1995) suggests that out-of-classstrategy use by each of the case studies was influenced by their motivational orientations. Forexample, the love of languages led one participant to use out-of-class strategies such as 'readingbooks in their original version and understanding lyrics of pop songs' (Pickard, 1995: 35).

• A quantitative study, this time by Oxford and Ehrman (1995) found that a strong relationshipexisted between intrinsic motivation and strategy use. The participants in the study (520) werefrom different US government departments learning a variety of foreign languages and wereintrinsically motivated through their desire to use language outside the classroom. This samestudy also found that the type of strategies used by these participants was influenced bymotivation that was internally generated, with those users who used metacognitive andcompensation strategies being intrinsically motivated.

• Instrumental motivation arises from the language learner's desire to meet any one of a numberof 'instrumental' language learning goals (Gardner and Maclntyre, 1991: 58; Skehan, 1991:282). For example, the goal or advantage may be to be able to operate in one's job in the otherculture or to be able to understand a television program. In their classroom study of 1,200foreign language university students, Oxford and Nyikos (1989: 295) found that instrumentalmotivation played an important role in the frequency of strategy use and the kinds of strategiesused. The students in this study were instrumentally motivated by their desire to obtain highgrades, and this motivation apparently had an effect on the type of strategies they used inachieving this goal. These students were led to use formal, rule-related processing strategies.As socially interactive situations and the ability to become communicatively competent was notseen as contributing to student achievement the use of social strategies were not a high priority(Oxford, 1989; Nyikos and Oxford, 1993: 19).

• Resultative motivation has also been known to affect the use of language learning strategiesin adult language learners. This type of motivation is linked to the learner's level ofachievement. For example, if a language learner is successfully learning the language andattaining a reasonably high level of achievement then this in itself motivates the languagelearner even further (Ellis, 1994: 515-517), In a study by Oxford et al (1993) with 107 highschool students learning Japanese through satellite television, this type of motivation wasshown to influence language learning strategies used by these students. Oxford and hercolleagues (1993: 368) found that frequency of use of language learning strategies wasdefinitely linked to student achievement and that 'the more often the student used a varietyof learning strategies, the more motivated he or she became; and the cycle worked the otherway, too, with the more motivated students using even more strategies'.

• Distinction between instrumental and integrative relates to broader personaldesires/motivations for learning a particular language. Integrative motivation as originallydefined by Gardner and Lambert (1959: 267) 'is where the aim in language study is to learnmore about the language group, or to meet more and different people'. Others have definedit as a genuine desire to move into the target language community and communicate withthat community (Clements, 1987: 272; Gardner and Maclntyre, 1991: 58; Gardner et al,1991: 198; Skehan, 1991: 282; Stern, 1983). Seemingly, very little qualitative or quantitativeresearch has been carried out into the effect this type of motivation has on strategy use byL2 learners, and few conclusions can be drawn in this area.

5. Gender

• Another variable influencing strategy use is gender or 'sex'. Research to date suggests thatfemales report greater overall strategy use than males and that the choice of strategy isinfluenced by the language learner's gender (Bacon and Finnemann, 1992; Green andOxford, 1995; Ehrman and Oxford, 1989; Oxford and Ehrman, 1995; Oxford and Nyikos,1989; Oxford et al, 1993; Politzer, 1983). Studying 1,200 foreign language students from amid-Western University in the USA Oxford and Nyikos (1989) found that females usedconversation input elicitation strategies, general study strategies and formal rule-relatedpractice strategies more than males.

• Green and Oxford (1995) in a study with 374 students at different course levels at theuniversity of Puerto Rico provide further support for the findings of Oxford and Nyikos(1989) in that they found that women in their study used three different types of socialstrategies and two types of affective strategies more than the men.

• In addition to this. Green and Oxford (1995) also found that women used five of the seventypes of sensory memory strategies listed more than men. The findings of both Green andOxford (1995) and Oxford and Nyikos (1989) suggest that females choose to use morestrategies related to social interaction than do males.

References

• Bacon, S. M. and M. D. Finnemann (1992). 'Sex differences in self-reported beliefs about foreign language learning and authentic oral and written input.' LanguageLearning 42{4): 471-495.

• Bialystok, E. (1981). 'The role of conscious strategies in second language proficiency.' Modern Language Journal 65: 24-35.

• Ehrman, M. and R. Oxford (1989). 'Effects of sex differences, career choice, and psychological type on adult language learning strategies.' The Modern Language Journal 73(1):1-13.

• Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

• Gardner, R. C, J. B. Day and P. D. Maclntyre. (1991). 'Integrative motivation, induced anxiety, and language learning in a controlled environment.' Studies in Second Language Acquisition 14: 197-214.

• Gardner, R. C. and W. E. Lambert (1959). 'Motivational variables in second language acquisition,' Canadian Journal of Psychology 13(4): 266-272.

• Green, J. M. and R. Oxford (1995), 'A closer look at learning strategies, L2 proficiency and gender.' TESOL Quarterly 29(2): 261-297.

• Horwitz, E. (1987). 'Surveying student beliefs about language learning.' In Anita Wenden and Joan Rubin (Eds.) Learner Strategies in Language Learning. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall International. 119-127.

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• O'Malley, J. M. and A. U. Chamot (1990), Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

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• Oxford, R. L. and M. Nyikos (1989). 'Variables affecting choice of language leaming strategies by university students.' The Modern Language Journal 73(3): 291-300.

• Pickard, N, (1995). 'Out-of-class language learning strategies: Three case studies.‘ Language Learning Journal (12): 35-37,

• Politzer, R. L. (1983). 'An exploratory study of self-reported language learning behaviours and their relation to achievement.' Studies in Second Language Acquisition 6(1): 54-67.

• Politzer, R. L. and M. McGroaty (1985). 'An exploratory study of learning behaviours and their relationship to gains in linguistic and communicative competence.' TESOL Quarterly 19(1): 103-123.

• Sdorow, L. M. (1998). Psychology. Boston, Massachusetts, McGrawHill.

• Skehan, P. (1989). Individual Differences in Second Language Learning. London, Edward Arnold.

• Stern, H. H. (1983). Fundamental concepts of language teaching. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

• Wenden, A. (1986a). 'Helping language learners think about learning.' ELT Journal 40(1): 3-12.

• Wenden, A. (1986b). 'What do second language learners know about their second language learning? A second look at retrospective accounts.' Applied Linguistics 7(2): 186-201.

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