D. Factor Influencing Strategy Choice
4) Gender
Another key factor influencing strategy choice is gender. It has been found by many researchers that males and females employ different strategies in relation to their gender characteristics.
However, looking from a broader perspective, studies which have examined the relationship between gender and strategy use have come to mixed conclusions.
Ehrman and Oxford and Oxford and Nyikos discovered distinct gender differences in strategy use favoring female learners in terms of the number of strategies used in learning a foreign language.
The study by Green and Oxford came to the same conclusion.
Ehrman and Oxford‟s study, however, failed to discover any evidence of differing language learning strategy use between the genders9. E. Review of Related Findings
In accomplishing this research, the researcher used previous research suitable with the topic. The first research was Correlation study of physics achievement, learning strategy, attitude and gender in an introductory physics course. She concluded that this study found that there were positive correlation between study of physics achievement, learning strategy, attitude and gender in an introductory physics course.
In previous studies, some thesis which are relevant to this thesis will make the arrangement easier and to avoid repeating the same study. On this topic have ever researched By Senad Becirovic (2017) From International Bruch University, Bosnia and Herzegovina by the topic „‟The relationship between Gender, Motivation and Achievement in Learning English as a Foreign Language at elementary and high school levels in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The research sample consists of 185 students aged ten (fifth grade), fourteen (ninth grade) and eighteen (twelfth grade).
The results demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between gender and motivation. Ten-year-old students exhibit the highest motivation for learning English as a foreign language, while the eighteen-year-olds exhibit the lowest motivation.
In addition, female students are more successful at learning English as a foreign language than male students at each group/grade level.
Moreover, the findings also reveal statistically significant results in measuring the correlation between achievement and motivation and can be highly beneficial for teachers, parents and students in adopting the most effective approach to learning and teaching English as a foreign language.
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The other research was by Farzad Salahshour (2012) from Azarbaijan University of Tarbiat Moallem, Tabriz, Iran by the topic “The relationship between language learning strategy use, language proficiency level and learner gender at Iranian high school”. The results revealed that Iranian high school learners employed learning strategies with medium frequency; meta-cognitive strategies were the most frequent, while meta-cognitive strategies were the least frequent.
The use of learning strategies in terms of learners proveciency and gender was examined using a T-test. Proficient learners showed significantly more strategy use, as well as more use of meta-cognitive and social strategies. According to the results, females used learning strategies more frequently than males.
Research was by Hamsinah Hamsinah (2017), by the topic “The Relationship and Differences In Gender Between Language Learning Strategies and Students‟ Enlish Achievement in senior Secondary School”.
This research applied correlational research which deals with two predictors and one criterion variable. The population of this research was the students of grade XI IPA of SMAN 1 Bajeng, Gowa Regency, South Sulawesi Province.
The sample was taken by using proportional stratified random sampling technique. Therefore, the sample consisted of 76 students which were divided 38 females and 38 males.
The data of this research were collected through SILL questionnaire and the test. The data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistics through SPSS program version 20. Depending on the statistical results, the findings revealed that first of all, social strategies were the frequently language learning strategies used by the students and followed by metacognitive strategies. Second, there was no any significant relationship between language learning strategies (LLSs) and the English achievement of the students where the correlation coefficient was r =.182 at p > 0.05. Third,
there was no any significant difference in language learning strategies use due to gender where the computed ttest for the six types and the overall of language learning strategies (LLSs) were ttest = .539, 1.077, .850, 1.078, -.693, -1.109, and -.725 at p > 0.05. Fourth, there was a significant difference of students‟ English achievement due to gender where ttest= 3.24 at p < 0.05.
It indicated that female students more successful than male students in learning English.
Research was by Johannah Jamalul Kiram and Jumat Sulaiman from School of Science and Technology, University Malaysia Sabah, 88400 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. By the topic “The relationship between English language learning strategies and gender among pre-university students: An overview of UMS”. Previous researchers found that the more employment of language learning strategies, the more successful the learners are and those with higher level of strategy use are female rather than male. In this study, fifty-six pre-university students (22 males, 34 females) of University Malaysia Sabah participated in this study.
Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) self-report questionnaire was adopted to identify the students' language learning strategies, whereas their proficiencies were based on their Malaysian University English Test (MUET) results. Pearson's correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the t-test were utilized to make statistical interpretation about the relationship. The knowledge obtained from this study will be helpful for future studies on how to improve the quality of learning and proficiency in English.
Research was by Kevin Chi-Him Tam from The University of Hong Kong by the topic “A Study On Language Learning Strategies (LLSs) Of University Students In Hongkong”. The data for this research were provided by 50 first year university students from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, using SILL test version 7.0 developed by Oxford (1990) as the
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measurement instrument. The Use of English Examination Results (HKALE) was used as a proficiency indicator.
It was found that gender, second language proficiency, and socioeconomic status would affect the user‟s use of LLSs. The major finding was that males and females had a significant difference in using Memory, Compensation, Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Social Strategies to learn English, with females using all of these strategies more frequently than males. A positive correlation was found between Compensation, Cognitive, and Social Strategies and the users‟ second language proficiency.
It was also found that socioeconomic status would greatly influence local university students‟ use of Social Strategies. This result provides area for future research since the relationship between socioeconomic statuses since LLSs was seldom investigated in previous studies.
From the previous study above, it can be seen that language learning strategy has a big impact for students to learning the language better.
Moreover, there are so many facts that interesting that need to be investigate, like gender and achievement, in the first and second previous studies show that achievement has an important role in the use of learning strategy.
Additionally, all of them also mention that they wanted to examine were there any difference between males and females with learning strategy . it can be seen that achievement and gender have a special issues in language education. However, in this study, the writer only focused to describe what language that the learners at Seven Grade of Junior High School Al Azhar Jambi City
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RESEARCH METHODS A. Research Design
This research was conducted using qualitative descriptive . applied by The Students‟ Language Learning Strategy At Seven Grade Junior High School Al Azhar Jambi city. It means this research was focus on analyzing activities of language learning strategy at seven grade junior high school al azhar jambi city. It means this research was focused on phenomenon in the school environment as in the fact as clear as possible without manipulation .