An investigation on the frequency of using learning strategies of the second - Year english majors in productive skills in English class at Aaigon university

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN SAIGON UNIVERSITY 
 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL 
 ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY 
 Số 64 (4/2019) No. 64 (4/2019) 
Email: tcdhsg@sgu.edu.vn ; Website: https://tapchikhoahoc.sgu.edu.vn 
130 
AN INVESTIGATION ON THE FREQUENCY OF USING LEARNING 
STRATEGIES OF THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS IN 
PRODUCTIVE SKILLS IN ENGLISH CLASS AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY 
Khảo sát về tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập của sinh viên năm hai chuyên 
ngữ trong việc học các kỹ năng nghe nói tiếng Anh ở Trường Đại học Sài Gòn 
ThS. Phạm Lê Kim Tuyến 
Trường Đại học Sài Gòn 
Abstract 
This paper aims to investigate the autonomy of second-year English majors in English skill classes at 
Sai Gon University through four main focuses such as learners’ motivation to be engaged in 
autonomous learning, their attitudes towards autonomous learning, their level of self-esteem, and their 
frequency of using learning strategies for language skills. 176 second – year English majors at SGU 
answered the questionnaire from the researcher. The study’s findings show that the participants express 
high frequencies of using learning strategies in productive skill in English skill class with 78% for 
speaking skill, and 68% for listening skill. Besides, the most popular learning strategies applied are 
metacognitive, cognitive, and compensation whereas memory, affective, and social ones are not fully 
exploited. These findings lead to the fact that the participants are able to become considerably positive 
autonomous learners. Finally, the research suggests some implications for cultivating the learners’ 
employment of learning strategies in productive skills as wells as fostering their autonomy in learning 
English. 
Keywords: English class, English majors, learning strategies, productive skills 
Tóm tắt 
Bài viết khảo sát việc tự học của sinh viên năm thứ hai chuyên ngữ trong các lớp học kỹ năng tiếng Anh 
tại Đại học Sài Gòn với bốn vấn đề trọng tâm: động lực của người học để tham gia vào việc tự học, thái 
độ của họ đối với việc tự học, mức độ tự tin, và tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập cho các kỹ năng 
ngôn ngữ của họ. 176 sinh viên chuyên ngữ năm hai tại Đại học Sài Gòn đã trả lời bảng câu hỏi khảo sát 
về tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập trong các giờ học kỹ năng Nghe, Nói. Nghiên cứu cho thấy 
sinh viên được khảo sát thể hiện tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập trong kỹ năng Nghe, Nói Tiếng 
Anh rất cao với 78% đối với kỹ năng Nói và 68% đối với kỹ năng Nghe. Bên cạnh đó, các chiến lược 
học tập được áp dụng phổ biến nhất là siêu nhận thức, nhận thức và khen thưởng trong khi các chiến 
lược học tập liên quan đến trí nhớ, tình cảm và xã hội không được khai thác triệt để. Từ đó, có thể thấy 
rằng đối tượng sinh viên được khảo sát có thể trở thành những người tự học thật sự rất tích cực. Nghiên 
cứu cũng đưa ra một số đề xuất thực tiễn trong việc trau dồi cho người học sử dụng các chiến lược học 
tập trong các kỹ năng Nghe, Nói, đó cũng là một phần trong việc thúc đẩy sự tự học của họ trong việc 
học tiếng Anh. 
Từ khóa: lớp học tiếng Anh, sinh viên chuyên ngữ, chiến lược học tập, kỹ năng nghe nói 
Email: kimtuyen2206@gmail.com 
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1. Introduction 
No matter how many attempts have 
been continuously made towards 
enhancing the efficiency of English 
teaching in Viet Nam, the quality of EFL 
learning is still far from satisfactory, 
especially for productive skills (listening 
and speaking skills). There are, of course, 
several reasons to blame for this, both 
subjective and objective. However, it 
would absolutely be a mistake if we did not 
mention those stemming from learners 
themselves. In fact, students think there is 
no place other than the classroom where 
they can learn English. They seem to 
depend too much on their teachers without 
the initiative to learn on their own. 
Nevertheless, the fact is: 
 No school, or even university, can 
provide its pupils with all the 
knowledge and the skills they will need 
in their active adult lives. It is more 
important for a young person to have 
an understanding of himself or herself, 
an awareness of the environment and 
its workings, and to have learned how 
to think and how to learn 
(Trim, 1988, cited in Lijuan Jiao, 
2005, p. 27) 
In this background, learning strategies 
have been a buzzword within the context of 
foreign language teaching in the past 
decades, especially in relation to life-long 
learning skills. More and more teachers are 
focusing on developing students’ ability in 
learning English independently with a hope 
that they are more interested and active in 
learning English, consequently learning 
more effectively and gaining all-round 
abilities. As a result, it is extremely 
important for teachers to help students 
master how to learn by themselves as well 
as evaluate their learners’ learning process 
basing on the learning strategies they apply 
in their autonomous studying. 
2. Learning Strategies 
2.1. Definitions of Learning Strategies 
It seems that there has been no 
unanimous opinion on the definition of 
learning strategies. According to Elli 
(2004, cited in Wang Xianrong, 2015, p.7), 
the concept of learning strategies is still “a 
somewhat fuzzy one” and “not easy to tie 
down”. Hence, in an attempt to draw some 
main characteristics of learning strategies, 
we will review several definitions of 
learning strategies given by a number of 
leading figures in the second and foreign 
language field. 
O'Malley and Chamot (1990) define 
learning strategies as, “...special thoughts 
or behaviors that individuals use to help 
them comprehend, learn, or retain new 
information”. It can be understood from 
this definition that learning strategies can 
be either observable (behaviors) or 
unobservable (thoughts). Besides, this 
definition evidently mentions the goals of 
learning strategies that are to help students 
achieve comprehension and learning new 
information. 
Furthermore, Oxford (1990, cited in 
Selma Deneme, 2008) provides one of the 
most comprehensive definitions, 
considering learning strategies as “specific 
actions taken by the learner to make 
learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, 
more self-directed, and more transferable 
to new situations”. In Oxford's (ibid.) 
definition, the changed nature of learning 
when learning is enhanced by strategies is 
clearly described as “easier, faster, more 
enjoyable, more self-directed, and more 
transferable to new situations”. 
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It can be seen that while the scholars 
refer to “special” (O’Malley et al., 1990) or 
“specific” (Oxford, 1990) actions, thoughts 
and behaviors, they do not explicitly state 
whether strategies must be conscious. In 
other words, it is still not evident whether 
consciousness is an essential feature of 
learning strategies or not. Chamot (1992, 
cited in Wang Xianrong, 2015) definitely 
refers to strategies as “deliberate actions”, 
but other researchers avoid addressing this 
issue. Hence, we believe that strategies are 
conscious in most cases, but sometimes 
they are probably unconscious. 
Additionally, a distinction has also been 
made between learning strategies and study 
skills that are sometimes interchangeably 
used with each other. According to 
O’Malley and Chamot (1990), they wrote: 
“Study skills describe overt behavior, such 
as taking notes, writing summaries, or using 
reference materials, while learning 
strategies generally pertain to unobservable 
mental processes.” 
2.2. Classification of Learning Strategies 
In fact, different scholars have their 
own understanding of learning strategies. It 
is no surprise that there exists a diversity of 
classifications of learning strategies. 
Rubin's (1981, cited in O’Malley and 
Chamot, 1990) model of classification of 
learning strategies in second language 
acquisition makes a distinction between 
“direct strategies” and “indirect strategies”. 
“Direct strategies”, according to Rubin, are 
those that contribute directly to the 
learner’s language learning and include: (a) 
classification/ verification, (b) monitoring, 
(c) memorization, (d) guessing or inductive 
inferencing, (e) deductive reasoning, and 
(f) practice. “Indirect strategies” are those 
that benefit language learning indirectly: 
(a) creating opportunities for practice, and 
(b) using production tricks such as using 
circumlocutions, synonyms, or formulaic 
interaction. As Rubin’s model was based 
on her observations of the learners, 
particularly the good language learners, it 
certainly makes contribution to outlining 
the important strategies used by successful 
language learners. 
Nevertheless, O’Malley and Chamot 
(1990) distinguishes three major types of 
learning strategies in accordance with the 
level or type of processing involved: 
“metacognitive strategies”, “cognitive 
strategies”, and “social/ affective strategies” 
Although these two researchers made 
strenuous efforts in providing these useful 
classifications, there was a need to develop 
a more comprehensive classification 
system. Oxford (1990) is generally 
believed to have established one of the 
most widely accepted classification 
taxonomies in the language learning area. 
Initially adopting a version of Rubin’s 
direct or indirect distinction, Oxford (1990) 
also divides language learning strategies 
into two main classes, direct and indirect, 
which are further divided into six 
categories of learning strategies: memory 
strategies, cognitive strategies, 
compensation strategies, metacognitive 
strategies, affective strategies, and social 
strategies. Each of these will be 
respectively identified below and also 
illustrated with examples. 
Memory strategies: are those used for 
storage of information. They are specific 
devices used by learners to make mental 
linkages that will allow new information, 
most often vocabulary, to enter and remain 
in long-term memory, such as to make 
associations with what has already been 
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learned, to draw pictures to help remember 
new words, and to repeatedly pronounce or 
write new words in order to remember 
them. 
Cognitive strategies: are the mental 
strategies learners use to make sense of 
their learning. They help learners process 
and use the language for learning or for 
accomplishing a task involving the 
language. Examples of cognitive strategies 
are to watch TV in English, to listen to 
radio or CDs in English, to use English 
computer programs, and to find similarities 
between first and second languages. 
Compensation Strategies: are 
intended to make up for missing 
knowledge while listening, reading, 
speaking, or writing. For instance, use 
gestures or body language (for speaking), 
rephrase (for speaking and writing), ask for 
help (for listening, speaking, reading, or 
writing), and make guesses based on the 
context (for listening and reading) 
Metacognitive Strategies: help learners 
regulate their learning. “Meta” means 
“above” or “beyond”, so metacognitive 
strategies means “beyond” the cognitive. 
They encompass the planning, organizing, 
evaluation, and monitoring of one’s own 
language learning, such as to organize time 
for learning, or to check one's progress. 
Affective strategies: are concerned 
with the learner’s emotional requirements 
such as confidence to help learners deal 
with their own emotions, motivations, 
attitudes while learning English. Examples 
of such strategies are fo try to relax when 
feeling anxious about learning, or to 
reward oneself for succeeding. 
Social strategies: refer to how learners 
interact with other people in the context of 
learning languages and related culture. In 
addition, they are believed to lead to 
increased interaction with the target 
language. Take such social strategies, 
among others, as asking someone to speak 
slowly, practicing with others, or asking 
the teacher or friends to read your essay as 
some examples. 
As noted in the model shown above, 
Oxford (1990) broke down the social or 
affective category of O’Malley and 
Chamot (1990) into two categories, social 
and affective and included more strategies 
into these two categories. The O’Malley 
and Chamot’s model contains only a few 
strategies in the social or affective 
category, implying that social or affective 
strategies, in comparison with 
metacognitive and cognitive categories, are 
not very important. Furthermore, Oxford’s 
model unites the whole range of 
compensation strategies for making up for 
missing knowledge which, according to 
O’Malley and Chamot’s model, are 
classified under the label of cognitive 
strategies. Nevertheless, regardless of 
advances provided by this model, Oxford 
(1990) emphasizes: 
there is no complete agreement on 
exactly what strategies are; how many 
exist; how they should be defined, 
demarcated and categorized; and whether it 
is possible to create a real, scientifically 
validated hierarchy of strategies 
However, as Oxford’s framework is 
comprehensive, elaborate, systematic and 
used by researchers and teachers around 
the world, this classification will be 
adopted to serve as the basis for this study. 
3. The Study 
This paper was a part of a larger study 
entitled “An investigation on the autonomy 
of second-year English majors in English 
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134 
skill classes at Sai Gon University”. The 
study was conducted at Sai Gon 
University, Vietnam with the participation 
of 176 second – year English majors. The 
study employed questionnaire as the main 
instrument for collecting both qualitative 
and quantitative data to answer the 
question: “How often do the second-year 
English majors employ learning strategies 
in productive skills (listening and speaking 
skills) in English class?”. In general, all the 
questions in the questionnaire were built on 
the researcher’s teaching experience, 
knowledge, document review related to 
learning strategies as well as the feedback 
from the participants in the pilot study. 
4. Findings 
4.1. Students’ frequencies of using 
learning strategies in the listening skill 
Listening is an important skill in 
language learning. In fact, listening is the 
most fundamental skill to develop the other 
three skills namely speaking, reading, and 
writing. Therefore, awareness and use of 
listening skills would apparently assist 
students in increasing their listening 
comprehension skill. In this study, 
respondents were asked to rate their 
frequencies of employing twenty-five 
selected listening strategies in the learning 
process, which are divided into three main 
parts under the sub-headings of "Before 
listening” “While listening”, and “After 
listening”. From the table, we will easily get 
an idea of how often respondents of the 
study actually carry out listening strategies 
to help understanding in order to deal with a 
listening task from the pre-listening phase to 
the post-listening phase. The results are 
clearly described in the table below: 
Table 1: Students’ frequencies of using learning strategies in listening skill 
Learning Strategies 
Strategy 
category 
FREQUENCY 
Very 
often 
Often Sometimes Rarely Never 
High Strategy 
use 
Medium 
Strategy 
use 
Low Strategy 
use 
Before listening,  
1. I check that I understand the 
task I have to do 
Metacognitive 87% 9% 4% 
2. I decide what my listening 
purpose is and I listen with that 
goal in mind 
Metacognitive 75% 22% 3% 
3. I decide specific aspects of 
information to listen for, and focus 
on hearing that type of information 
(ex: number, date, name, etc.) 
Metacognitive 78% 17% 5% 
4. I look carefully at the title and 
any pictures to make predictions 
on what I am about to hear 
Cognitive 79% 19% 2% 
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Learning Strategies 
Strategy 
category 
FREQUENCY 
Very 
often 
Often Sometimes Rarely Never 
High Strategy 
use 
Medium 
Strategy 
use 
Low Strategy 
use 
5. I think of what I have known 
about the topic 
Cognitive 45% 20% 35% 
6. I try to remember as many 
words as I can do to deal with the 
topic 
Memory 36% 36% 28% 
While listening,. 
7. I identify if it is a conversation, 
an advert, a news bulletin, or a 
lecture 
Cognitive 81% 11% 8% 
8. I periodically check if the 
information is making sense to me 
Metacognitive 66% 24% 10% 
9. I pay attention to the tone of 
voice and any background noises 
for clues 
Cognitive 36% 25% 39% 
10. I use other clues like key words 
to identify the rough gist 
Cognitive 69% 26% 5% 
11. I use context, like familiar 
words, pictures and the content to 
help me guess the meanings of 
unfamiliar words I hear 
Cognitive 76% 15% 9% 
12. I imagine scenes or draw 
pictures of what I am hearing 
Cognitive 30% 16% 54% 
13. I use my knowledge of the 
world to make sensible guesses 
Cognitive 55% 22% 23% 
14. I don’t give up and just make 
wild guesses if I can’t hear 
anything 
Compensation 62% 15% 23% 
15. I try to break the stream of 
sounds down into individual words 
and write them down to see if they 
are like the words I know 
Cognitive 53% 24% 23% 
16. I listen out the names of people 
and places 
Cognitive 49% 31% 20% 
17. I listen out of grammar clues 
like tenses and pronouns 
Cognitive 11% 41% 48% 
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY No. 64 (4/2019) 
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Learning Strategies 
Strategy 
category 
FREQUENCY 
Very 
often 
Often Sometimes Rarely Never 
High Strategy 
use 
Medium 
Strategy 
use 
Low Strategy 
use 
18. I don’t panic when there is 
something I don’t understand, but 
I carry on listening for general 
idea because I don’t need to 
understand every word 
Compensation 79% 15% 6% 
19. I try to take notes Cognitive 75% 15% 10% 
20. I encourage myself by saying 
positive statements such as “You 
can do” 
Affective 66% 17% 17% 
After listening,. 
21. I check whether I 
accomplished my task for listening 
Metacognitive 72% 6% 6% 
22. I summarize (in my head or 
writing) important information 
that I heard. 
Cognitive 38% 26% 20% 
23. I rate my comprehension by 
reflecting on how much I 
understood what I heard 
Metacognitive 87% 39% 28% 
24. I check whether my predictions 
were correct 
Metacognitive 75% 11% 16% 
25. I decide whether the strategies 
or techniques I used helped me 
understand, and think of other 
strategies that could have helped 
Metacognitive 78% 27% 35% 
It is evident from table 1 that the 
picture emerging here was quite cheering 
with seventeen out of the twenty- 
five listening strategy items surveyed 
displaying the proportion of high strategy 
use being well over 50%. This obviously 
shows that the participants of the study 
significantly showed high strategy use on 
the majority of listening strategies given 
in the table above. Interestingly enough, 
these twenty-five strategies belonged to 
four strategy categories: metacognitive, 
cognitive, compensation, and affective 
with the number of cognitive strategies 
being the highest (9), followed by 
metacognitive strategies (6), compensation 
strategies (2), and affective strategies (1). 
In addition, clearly, the most frequently 
used strategy item in the cognitive strategy 
was strategy number seven - “I identify if it 
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is a conversation, an advert, a news 
bulletin, or a l