THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL AND UNSUCCESSFUL LEARNERS IN THE USE OF LEARNING STRATEGIES IN LISTENING
SKILL
By
MUHAMMAD REZA FEBRIAN
This present study aimed to investigate whether (1) there is any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful learners in using different learning strategies in English listening skill, (2) learning strategy that is most
effective in students’ listening ability, and (3) learning strategies most frequently used by the students in listening at the second year students of SMA Negeri 14 Bandar Lampung. There are three classifications of learning strategies used in this present study namely metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social strategies.
This is a quantitative study. The independent variable is learning strategies and the dependent variable is learners’ listening skill. The samples of the study were the
learners at the second grade of SMA Negeri 14 Bandar Lampung. For the instruments, the researcher used Language Listening Strategy Questionnaire and objective listening test. The data were obtained from both test. Independent t-test
was used to analyze the data of learners’ listening skill and learning strategies.. The hypothesis was computed by SPSS 19 at the significant level of 0.05.
The result showed that (1) there is significant difference between successful and unsuccessful learners in using cognitive and social learning strategies in English listening skill. Yet, this study found that there is no significant difference between successful and unsuccessful learners in using metacognitive in English listening skill (2) The most effective learning strategies can be used by the students in listening ability is metacognitive strategies (3) Social strategy is the type of language learning strategies mostly used by the students in English listening ability. On the metacognitive, it was resulted that t value is 2,254 and its two tailed significance showed p>0.05 (p=0.065). Moreover, on the cognitive table resultedthat t value is 6,215 and its two tailed significance showed p<0.05 (p=0.02). On the social, t value is 3,545 and its two tailed significance showed p<0.05 (p=0.02). The highest mean of students’ listening score is achieved in metacognitive learning strategies, both in successful (83,8) and unsuccessful learners (73,67). The present study showed that there are 8 students (22.2%) who use metacognitive strategy, 7 students (19,4%) use cognitive strategy, and 21 students (58,4%) use social strategy.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In the name of Allah SWT, the most Merciful God, the writer praises his
thankfulness for the blessing so that the writer was able to finish this work. This
research entitled “The Difference Between Successful and Unsuccessful Learners in the Use of Different Learning Strategies in English Listening Skill”. This
research is submitted as a compulsory fulfillment of the requirements for S-1
Degree of English Education Study Program in Language and Art Education
Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty at Lampung University.
Gratitude and honor are addressed to all people who have helped and supported
the writer to complete this research. Since, it is necessary to be known that this
research will never have come into its existence without any supports,
encouragements, and assistances by several outstanding people and institutions.
Therefore, the writer would like to acknowledge his respect and sincere gratitude
to:
1. Prof. Ag. BambangSetiyadi, M.A., Ph.D. as the first advisor, for whose
guidance, advice, and assistance were invaluably useful.
2. Drs. RamlanGintingSuka as the second advisor for his assistance, ideas,
vii added a lot to the entire research project.
4. Dr. Ari Nurweni, M.A. as the Chief of English Education Study Program
and all lecturers of English Education Study Program who have
contributed their guidance during the completion process until
accomplishing this research.
5. Mam Susan as the English teacher of SMAN 14Bandar Lampungwho has
given the full support for this research.
6. The writer’s beloved parents, Muhammad Gufron,S.Pd. and Dra. Hanifah,
M.Pd who have always been in writer’s mind and heart.
7. The writer’s brother, Muhammad Kevin Naufal, who has supported the writer.
8. The writer’s special one at this moment, KetrinViollitaS.Pd., who always encourages, motivates and inspires the writer to finish the study soon.
viii
Finally, similar to other novice research, the writer believes that his writing is still
far from perfection. There may be drawbacks and weaknesses in the research.
Thus, comments, critiques, and suggestions are always welcomed for the purpose
of better research. Somehow, the writer hopes this research would give a positive
contribution to the educational development, the reader, and to those who want to
accomplish further research.
Bandar Lampung, December 2014
The writer,
v
MOTTO
Never stop dreaming even if you keep falling.
Because unconsciously you will be standing far
from where you were at the first time.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
The writer’s name is Muhammad Reza Febrian. He was born on February 9th 1992
in Pekalongan. He is the first child of Muhammad Gufron, S.Pd. and Dra.
Hanifah, M.Pd.
He began his formal educational institution for the first time at TK Ismariain 1996
and graduated in 1997. He continued his study at SD Al Kautsar Bandar
Lampungand graduated in 2003. Then he continued to study at SMPN 2 Bandar
Lampung and graduated in 2006. After that he pursued his study at SMAN 2
Bandar Lampung and graduated in 2009. At the same year, in 2009he was
registered as a student of English Education Study Program in Language and Art
Education Department of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Lampung
University.
From July02nd to September 10th 2011, he carried out Teaching Practice Program
DEDICATION
I dedicate this humble work to:
My dearest parents
–
Muhammad Gufron, S.Pd. and Dra.Hanifah, M.P
My Brother M. KevinNauval
My FianceeKetrinViollita, S.Pd.
3.2. Population and Sample ... 37
4.3. Result of the Listening Test Reliability ... 54
4.4. Normality Test ... 56
4.5. Hypothesis Testing of the Research ... 58
4.6. The Most Effective Learning Strategies in Students’ Listening Ability ... 60
xi
LIST OF TABLES
TablePage
1. Specification Table of Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire….. 42
2. Specification of Listening Test ... 42
3. The Result of First Test and Second Test of Listening Test………. 55
4. The Result of Descriptive Statistic Frequencies Analysis for Learning Strategies and Listening Ability Data ... 56
5. The Comparison Between Skweness Value and Std. Error of Skweness and the Comparison between Kurtosis Value and St. Error Kurtosis Value ... 57
6. The comparison of means between successful and unsuccessful learners 60 7. The Frequency of Learning Strategies Questionnaire ... 63
LIST OF APPENDICES
10.Level of Difficulty & Discrimination Power ... 109
11.Normality Test ... 110
12.Hypothesis Testing ... 112
I. INTRODUCTION
This chapter discuss about introduction of the research that is used in this study
such as; background of the problem, formulation of the problems, objective of the
research, uses of the research, scope of the research, and definition of terms.
1.1. Background of the Problem
English teaching has been conducted in every school in Indonesia. It starts from
elementary school to university level as a compulsory subject. In order to come to
the objectives of English learning effectively, various learning strategies are
needed by the students. Since different learners may use different learning
strategies, they need to be aware of choosing appropriate and effective strategies
in order to be able to successfully learn English and to easily face several tasks
given. The success or failure in English learning is affected by the learning
strategies used by students. As Rubin (1975:41) states:
The different success of second or foreign language suggests a need to examine in detail what strategies successful language learners employ. An indication is given of what these strategies might consist of and a list of several widely recognized good learner strategies are given. Teachers can improve their performance by paying more attention to learner strategies already seen as productive.
The statement stated above means that language learning strategies used are
crucial aspect for learners in English learning because the success of learning a
learners. The learners can develop their language skills in a better way if they
have a capability in using a wide variety in language strategies. The more frequent
students use a greater variety and number of learning strategies, the more
proficient they would be. Thus, it is essential to know the strategies students have
in language learning.
Specifically, language learning strategies play important roles in one of receptive
skills i.e listening skill. According to Griffee (1986), listening can be considered
as the first step in learning a language. Besides that, McIntosh (1979:65) stated
that listening is one of the most important and fundamental of the four skills in
language learning because listening gives the students information from which to
complete the learners’ knowledge in using English. The strategies employed by the students in comprehending the message in listening will determine how the
students achieve the objectives. It is assumed that the students who use good
strategies will be able to answer the listening test items and to comprehend the
received message well. In other words, using an appropriate learning strategy
might result in the success of study particularly in listening. Moreover, it can be
assumed that in some cases using appropriate learning strategy has correlation
towards students’ listening achievement. Even so, many students of all ages seem
relatively uninformed about effective learning strategies (Barnett, 2001; Pintrich &
De Groot, 1990; Prawat, 1989; Schommer, 1994a).
As indicated by Cohen (2000), many researchers in the field of second and foreign
language (L2) listening agree on the idea that listeners do not often utilize these
learners may be not aware of what and how the strategies they have to use in
facing several tasks, especially in listening skill.
Based on the researcher pre- observation, it was found that students’ has a very limited knowledge of learning strategy. Most of them had no idea of what learning
strategy is and how can it be applied trough out their studies even though they are
using it unconsciously. This assumption is in line with theory of Chamot et al that
learning strategy is some classified habits of people’s natural behavior in learning.
This present study focuses on learning strategies used by successful and
unsuccessful learners. Successful learners then can be defined as the learners who
have good preparation before the class is started, a great curiosity on what is being
learned, and they also achieve above average- grades. Meanwhile unsuccessful
learners are often carelessly prepared, are forced to attend the class, and they earn
low average grades. Concerning the fact above, the researcher would like to
evidence and to classify the students learning strategies used in by the second
grade of SMAN 14 Bandar Lampung and analyze the difference of listening skills
among successful and unsuccessful learners in using language learning strategies,
and the use of their different learning strategies will characterize their
achievement.
The writer chooses senior high school students because they have more capability
in understanding how they learn so the research will be more reliable.
Furthermore, by identifying learners’ strategies and analyze the difference of listening skills among successful and unsuccessful users in using language
language learning, especially in listening process. This research will also give the
information of which learning strategies is the most effective in listening learning
process. The teacher then will be able to make a positive effort to prevent or
reduce the students’ problem which is related to the learning strategies traits
especially in mastering listening subject.
Therefore, this research attempts to investigate whether there is any significant
difference between successful and unsuccessful learners in using different
learning strategies in English listening comprehension ability at the second year
students of SMA Negeri 14 Bandar Lampung.
1.2. Formulation of the Problems
Based on the identification of the probem above, the researcher formulates the
problem as follow
1. Is there any significant difference between successful and unsuccessful
learners in using different learning strategies in English listening
comprehension ability?
2. Which learning strategy is the most effective in students’ listening ability? 3. What type of language learning strategies do the learners use most frequently
1.3. Objective of the Research
The objectives of this research are:
1.3.1 To find out whether there is any significant difference between successful
and unsuccessful learners in using different learning strategies in English
listening comprehension ability.
1.3.2 To find out which learning strategy that is most effective in students’ listening ability.
1.3.3 To explore learning strategies most frequently used by the students in
1.4. Significance of the Research
The significances of this research are:
Theoretically, this present research can be used to:
1. Verify and contribute the previous studies and theories related to theories in
this research
2. Be used as a reference for further research
Practically, this present research can be used to:
1. Encourage English teachers and learners in applying learning strategies in
their learning process, especially in listening.
2. Persuade learners to use appropriate and effective strategies in listening
comprehension.
1.5. Scope of the Research
This research is quantitative in nature. The independent variable is learning
strategies. There are three major learning strategies that were investigated namely
cognitive, metacognitive, and social strategies. Meanwhile, the dependent variable
is learners’ listening ability. The focus of this research covers the identification of learning strategies used by the students and their achievement in listening ability.
This research also intends to answer which strategies mostly used by the students in
their listening and which is the most effective. This research was conducted at the
second grade students of SMA Negeri 14 Bandar Lampung which consists of 36
students in academic year 2013/2014. The researcher determined the sample by
using simple random sampling and chose one class by using lottery as the sample.
The measurement of learners’ learning strategies is based on the questionnaire proposed by Setiyadi called Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire (LLSQ). The students’ listening comprehension was measured by narrative text of
1.6. Definition of Terms
Based on the description above, the researcher provides several definitions of
terms that can across often during the research. The term below will guide the
reader in reading and understanding the thesis.
Language Learning Strategy is a term that refers to particular thoughts and behaviors used in the purpose of attaining learning objectives independently.
Cognitive strategy
It deals with the all activities that take place in the brain in order to acquire a
foreign language.
Metacognitive strategy
It refers to the study of the ways in which people monitor and control their own
cognitive strategy.
Social strategy
It concerned with the nature and form of social interaction and how people come
to influence one another’s behavior.
Listening is an active skill requiring listeners to deal with a variety of complicated tasks, such as discriminating between sounds and interpreting stress
and intonation.
Successful learners is a group of students which categorized by their high achievement in listening ability (upper group from the median score).
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses about the literature review used in this study such as:
concept of learning strategies, concept of metacognitive learning strategies,
concept of listening, concept of listening comprehension, the correlation between metacognitive learning strategies and students’ listening comprehension,
theoritical assumptions and hypothesis.
2.1. Concept of Learning Strategies
English is a compulsory subject that must be taught since it is a global language
that have to be mastered by the students as a means of communication. However,
some of the students have difficulties in English both oral and written. There were
many approaches introduced to motivate students in learning English. However,
those approaches are not enough for mastering English if the students do not have
the effective strategies that can boost up their ability in learning English. Students
should have the effective strategies that can make them learn the language more
effectively.
In real definition, “strategy” is often used in military which means preparation and
management of troops in order to reach victory in war. Meanwhile, in teaching
learning goal. The use of language learning strategies significantly predicts
success on learning English. Setiyadi (2011:45) says that teachers should
introduce learning strategies to their students and provide opportunity for their
students to implement the strategies which have been proved to be more effective
than other strategies. Learning is the conscious process used by the learners to
achieve the objectives, while learning strategy is the steps taken by language
learners to enhance any aspect of their language.
The researcher assumes that students’ learning strategies can be one of the best
approach in getting new information and knowledge in order to achieve the
learning objectives. O’ Malley and Chamot (1990: 1) in Brown (2005: 5) defines
learning strategies as the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information. Supporting O’ Malley and
Chamot’s definition, Bialystok’s early definition (1978: 71) points out about
learning strategies in the concept of second language. Learning strategies is
optimal means for exploiting available information to improve competence in a
second language, while Oxford (2004) defines that learning strategies are specific
behaviors or thought processes that students use to enhance their own L2 learning.
These concepts imply that learning strategies can be used by the students to
exploit more knowledge in language acquisition and to have better result in students’ achievement.
By having appropriate language learning strategies, the researcher assumes that
the students will be easier to get new information and to acquire the language.
Besides, language learning strategies are also able to lead the students learning
states that language learning strategies refers to language learning behaviors that
learners actually engage in to learn and regulate the learning of second or foreign
language. The research also pointed out that learner who uses learning strategies
becomes more effective learner. Therefore the use of appropriate language
learning strategies often results in improving proficiency or achievement overall
or specific skills area (Thompson and Rubin in Oxford 1990). .
Several researchers might have different classification of learning strategies due to
a lot of learning strategies categorization proposed. Yet, they basically have the
same point of view in classifying learning strategies. According to O’Malley, et
al. (1985: 582-584) in Hismanoglu (2000), typical strategies are divided into three
categories, i.e. metacognitive, cognitive, and social strategy. Metacognitive
strategies is a term to express executive function, strategies which require
planning for learning, thinking about the learning process as it is taking place,
monitoring of one’s production or comprehension, and evaluating learning after an activity is completed. Cognitive strategies are strategies which refer to the
steps or operations used in learning or problem- solving that requires direct
analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials. Cognitive strategies
are more limited to specific learning tasks and they involve more direct
manipulation of the learning material itself, for instance repetition, resourcing,
translation, grouping, note taking etc. The last is social strategies which are
related to social-mediating activity and transacting with others. Cooperation and
Based on the explanations and classifications of learning strategies above, it can
be inferred that it is worth noting that the students have to be independent learners
since they do not always need the teacher around to guide them. In order to reach
that, the students are to have suitable strategies in their learning so that they can
learn easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more effective in
order to reach greater self-confidence, involvement, and proficiency. Besides, the
researcher also concludes learning strategy as a term that refers to particular
thoughts and attitudes used in the purpose of achieving learning goals
independently. The thoughts and attitudes can be categorized into metacognitive,
e.g. managing the learning objectives; cognitive, like summarizing; and social,
such as sharing ideas and thoughts to peers.
2.2. Concept of Listening
Listening is an action requiring participation on the part of listener in gaining and
comprehend the whole message. According to Margaret (1988:19) listening is an
active process in which the listener plays a very active part in constructing the
overall message that is actually exchanged between the listener and speaker. The
idea above indicates that the listeners are usually playing an active role because
they should have ability to digest the message of the speaker. Underwood
(1985:1) stated that listening is the activity of paying attention to and trying to get
meaning from something we hear. He also states that the essence of listening is
the listener; the listener should be encouraged to engage in active process of
Moreover, Nation (1985:17) adds that listening is not only the way of learning
language that can give the learner information from which to build up the
knowledge necessary for using the language but also the way to get information or
to understand the sense of communication which will be sent in oral. The importance of listening can be seen from Oliver’s statement (1962:227) who says
that some studies indicate that we spent about 9 percent of our communication
time writing, 16 percent reading, 30 percent speaking, and 45 percent listening.
Referring to the statement above, it can be concluded that listening has the largest
proportion in communication than other skills.
According to Brown (2007: 308) there are two skills required in listening process,
they are; macro and micro skills. Macro skills would be directly related to
candidates needs or to course objective, and might include: (1) listening for
specific information, (2) obtaining gist of what is being said, (3) following
directions. Micro skills might include: (1) interpretation of intonation patterns
(recognition of sarcasm, etc), (2) recognition of function of structures (such as interrogative as request, for example, Could you pass the salt?).
As mentioned on the paragraph above, there are some types of macro skill in
listening. Listening for specific information means that the students try to find
clear information from the source. For example, the students try to get information
about weather from the weather forecast in the television. Then, listening of gist
refers to understanding what the speaker said in a general way. For example, the
students try to find the main topic of what the speaker had said. Listening by
following directions means that the students should listen spoken direction from
do the activity based on the direction from the native speaker. Moreover, there are
also some types of micro skill in listening. Interpretation of intonation patterns
means that the students try to understand the meaning of the speaker said based on
the intonation whether it is normal conversation or it is a sarcasm. Then,
recognition of function structures means that the students have to identify what
the speaker said based on the function of structures. In this case, the writer choose
to put more focus on macro skill since it is not really difficult to understand and it
also more appropriate for the level of senior high school students.
Concerning the explanation above, it reveals that listening in main skills is not
easy since the listener should seriously pay attention, interpret, and be able to
understand what the speaker said in order to comprehend the message. Listening
effectively to others can be the most fundamental and powerful communication
tool of all. When someone is willing to focus without talking then begin truly
listening to others, all of their interactions become easier, and communication
problem can be eliminated.
Based on the several previous paragraphs, it can be stated that listening is an
active skill requiring listeners to deal with a variety of complicated tasks, such as
discriminating between sounds and interpreting stress and intonation. To face this
listening process, the students should have appropriate strategies in order to get
2.3. Concept of Listening Comprehension
Listening, being an invisible mental process, is difficult to describe, for listeners
must discriminate between sounds, understand vocabulary and grammatical
structures, and interpret stress and intention within the immediate utterance.
Listening was commonly viewed as a receptive language skill in which listeners
passively assimilated the messages they got from oral input, but in fact it involves
a more complex process. In the last two decades, listening has been found to play
an important role in language acquisition and has thus been described as an ―interactive, interpretive process in which listeners engage in a dynamic
construction of meaning (Murphy, 1991, p. 56).
Listening involves linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, and meaning
construction. Rost (2011, p. 2) defines listening, in its broadest sense, as a process
of receiving what the speaker actually says (receptive orientation); constructing
and representing meaning (constructive orientation); negotiating meaning with the
speaker and responding (collaborative orientation); and, creating meaning through
involvement, imagination and empathy (transformative orientation).
Oral texts exist in real time and need to be processed quickly; when an oral text is
over, only a mental representation remains. As a result of this, listening is the least
explicit of the four language skills and the most difficult skill to learn. Listening
involves physiological and cognitive processes at different levels (Field, 2002;
Lynch, 2002; Rost, 2011). Several theories have been advanced to account for
Anderson (1983, 1995) proposed a cognitive framework presenting listening as a
three-stage process of Perceptual Processing, Parsing, and Utilization. In the
perceptual processing phase, attention is focused entirely on the text, and
phonemes are segmented from the speech stream (1995, p. 137). Therefore, such
listening strategies as ―selective attention (attending to specific language aspects
while listening) and ―directed attention (maintaining attention while listening)
are crucial in this stage (Vandergrift, 2003a). In the parsing stage, meaning
representations are formed from words and phrases by matching them with
linguistic information stored in the listener‘s long-term memory to construct
meaning mental representations. ―Grouping (classifying information in a listening tasks) and ―inferencing (using text information or context to guess the
meanings of unfamiliar language items) strategies are dominant in the parsing
stage. And finally in the utilization phase, information collected from the previous
two stages is linked with the schema — the previous knowledge of the listener. As
a factor related to the present study, schema is further reviewed later in this
chapter. Listeners use their prior knowledge to aid comprehension and recall. At this stage, ―elaboration (using prior knowledge or context to fill in missing
information) strategy is a crucial strategy (Vandergrift, 2003a).
This model has the advantage in that it provides recognizable stages in the process
of listening, and thus facilitates research into each of the stages (as in O'Malley,
Chamot, & Kupper, 1989). Nevertheless, as argued by Graham & Macaro (2008, p. 748), ―it is perfectly possible for listeners to start by utilizing fragments of
parsed text and then draw incorrect inferences. In light of the parallel processing
convincing, recursive model was suggested in which listeners operate within more
than one of the listening stages — an interactive top-down and bottom-up
processing model of listening. Listeners use ―bottom- upprocesses when they use
linguistic knowledge of sounds and word forms and build up to more complex
lexical items and grammatical relationships to interpret the input. Listeners use
bottom-up processes when they construct meaning by accretion, gradually
combining increasingly larger units of meaning from the phoneme-level up to
discourse- level features. Listeners also use ―top-down processes when they
employ familiarity with the listening context and prior knowledge (topic, genre,
culture, and other schema knowledge in long-term memory) to build a conceptual
framework for comprehension. Listeners use content words and contextual clues
to form hypotheses in an exploratory manner.
Listening comprehension is not just top-down or just bottom-up processing, but
an interactive and interpretive process in which listeners use both linguistic
knowledge and prior knowledge to understand messages. In other words, the
listener comes to a listening task with two sets of resources: his/her own linguistic
and schematic knowledge (Rumelhart, 1980) and the information contained in the
actual listening text. Within an interactive model, a listener might begin by
activating his/her schemata as a result of knowing the topic of the text, or of
understanding a few words of the text, and thus perceive, parse and match the
incoming speech stream with the elaborations that he/she previously activated
(Graham & Macaro, 2008). Also, while these processes interact in some form of
more than the other will depend on their knowledge of the language, familiarity
with the topic or the purpose for listening. Research (e.g., McClelland &
Rumelhart, 1986; O'Malley, Chamot, & Kupper, 1989) on these cognitive
processes suggests that L2 listeners need to learn how to use both processes to
their advantage, depending on their purpose for listening. For example, listening
for gist involves primarily top-down processing, whereas listening for specific
information, as in a weather broadcast, involves primarily bottom-up processing
to comprehend all the details. The above research has also shown that successful
and less successful listener process input quite differently.
Peterson (2001) states that less successful listeners tend to rely primarily on either
top-down or bottom-up processing and spend a great amount of conscious effort
on perceptual activity (e.g., identifying boundaries, recognizing meaningful sound
units) so little is left over for high- level operations (e.g., relating new information
to information stored in long-term memory). In contrast, higher-proficiency
listeners use both top-down and bottom-up processes to understand oral input,
2.4 Characteristics of Successful and Unsuccessful Learners
Every learner has particular characteristics on how they process their learning and
achieve their goals. In the same line, the things usually done by the learners play
important role on how they can successfully or unsuccessfully get their best
achievement in the academic field. Below are the characteristics of successful
and unsuccessful learners.
Characteristics Successful Unsuccessful
Preparation SSs are prepared. Their
assignments are complete, accurate, and carefully written. They complete their assigned readings, and their attention to details.
The work of USs is often carelessly-prepared, incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistent, late, or not submitted at all. Their obvious lack of preparation..
Curiosity SSs show interest in their classes
and their subject matter. They look up what they don't understand, ask questions, and make thoughtful comments in their classes.
past learning experiences with the present, and use these experiences to help them understand new material. They are willing to learn how to think critically (i.e., to comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information) , and they understand how these skills can benefit them in school and in their future careers.
When USs study, they
concentrate more on memorizing than comprehending. Their idea of studying is to memorize terms
SSs earn above-average grades. They learn from the feedback they receive from their teachers, their performance increases steadily once they understand what is expected of them.
2.5 Categories of Learning Strategies
Different researchers might use different taxonomy of language learning
strategies, since there are many classifications of language learning strategies
proposed. Oxford (1990:8) states that learning strategy is specific actions taken by
the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed,
more effective and more transferrable to new situations. It means that to know the learners’ successful in target learning, it can be observed by their strategies
because by using strategies their teaching learning activity become easier, faster
and more enjoyable. Besides, students can use the strategies in any situations.
Many researchers classify the learning strategy into four categorizations, namely
cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, social strategies, and affective
strategies (Naiman, dkk., 1978; O'Malley dan Chamot, 1990; ) 1990; Oxford,
1990). Cognitive strategies relate to the learners’ thinking in processing English materials. Metacognitive strategies relate to the learner’s way in facing and processing the english materials. Social strategies relate to how the learners and their
friends work together to reach the learning goal. And affective strategies relate to the
2.5.1 Rubin’s Classification of Learning Strategies
First classification of learning strategy was proposed by Rubin. Rubin (1975:45-8)
classifies language learning strategies into seven categories of good (successful) language learners’ use in learning language skill, they are:
1. The good language learner is a willing and accurate guesser.
2. The good learner has a strong drive to communicate, or to learn from a
communication.
3. The good learner is often not inhibited; he is willing to appear foolish if
reasonable communication results.
4. The good language learner is constantly looking for patterns in the language.
5. The good language learner practices.
6. The good language learner monitors his own and the speech of others.
2.5.2 Naiman’s Classification of learning strategies
The second classification of learning strategy was proposed by Naiman et al.
Similar to Rubin‟s study, the study of Naiman et al. (1978) also focused on the
strategies of successful language learners used in learning a second language
categorized into five common strategies. The strategies are:
1. The active task approach,
2. The realization of language as a system,
3. The realization of language as a means of communication and interaction
4. Management of affective demands,
5. Monitoring of L2 performance.
Based on the description above, it can be inferred that the good learners have their
own strategies in mastering the skill that they want to achieve. Green and Oxford
(1995) define strategies as a specific actions or techniques that students use to
improve their progress in developing L2 skills. By using proper strategies,
students know what they are doing and what they are supposed to do in the
2.5.3 Fillmore’s Classification of Learning Strategies
The third classification of learning strategy was proposed by Fillmore. Fillmore
(1979) classifies language learning strategies under two categories, the first
category was called social strategy and the second was called cognitive strategy.
In general, different studies have uncovered different findings. It can be argued
that the different studies of language learning strategies have revealed what
language learners do to acquire a foreign language (Setiyadi, 2011:19).
2.5.4 O’ Malley’s Classification of Learning Strategies
O'Malley et al. (1985:582-584) divide language learning strategies into three main
subcategories namely metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social
strategies.
Metacognitive is a term to express executive function, strategies which require
planning for learning, thinking about the learning process as it is taking place,
monitoring of one's production or comprehension, and evaluating learning after an
activity is completed. Among the main metacognitive strategies, it is possible to
include advance organizers, directed attention, selective attention,
management, functional planning, monitoring, delayed production,
self-evaluation.
Besides metacognitive strategies, there is other strategy called cognitive
strategies. Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning tasks and they
involve more direct manipulation of the learning material itself. Repetition,
auditory representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer,
inferencing are among the most important cognitive strategies.
The last strategies proposed by O’Malley is socioaffective strategies. As to the
socio-affective strategies, it can be stated that they are related with
social-mediating activity and transacting with others. Cooperation and question for
clarification are the main socio-affective strategies (Brown 1987:93-94)
2.5.5 Oxford.’s Classification of Learning Strategies
Besides those experts in classifying language learning strategies, the next
classification of learning strategies was discovered by Oxford.
Firstly, Oxford (1990) divides the learning strategy into two categorizations,
namely direct and indirect strategy. Then the categorizations are classified again
in details, direct strategy is divided to memory strategies, cognitive strategy, and
compensation strategy; while indirect strategy is divide to metacognitive strategy,
social strategy, and affective strategy. Therefore, there are 6 broad learning
strategy categories by Oxford, namely memory strategy, cognitive strategy,
compensation strategy, metacognitive strategy, social strategy, and affective
Figure 1. Oxford’s LLS Taxonomy (1990a)
a. Memory Strategy
Memory strategy is used by the learners by using their experience and knowledge
that they had before, such as grouping, imagery, rhyming, and structured
reviewing. This strategy use memory most, for example the learners repeat the
lesson that they had at school before, including the sound that they heard before or
the movement thet they ever seen before.
b. Cognitive Strategy
Cognitive strategy is the whole learners‟ actions in teaching learning process
relate to the use of learners‟ tthinking capacity. This strategy can be formed as
activities such as reasoning, analyzing, summarizing (all reflective of deep
c. Compensation Strategy
Compensation strategy is used by the learners who have a very high skill. This
strategy is usually used 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.
d. Metacognitive Strategy
Metacognitive strategy is learners‟ actions that relate to the ways of they face and
process the teaching learning materials, such as paying
attention,consciouslysearching for practice opportunities, planning for language
tasks, self-evaluating one‟s progress, and monitoring error.
e. Affective Strategy
Affective of emotional,motivation-related strategy is the strategy which relate to
the attitude and the feeling in facing the teaching learning english process, such as
anxiety reduction, self-encouragement, and self-reward.
f. Social Strategy
Social strategy is the strategy which relates to how the learners and their friends
work together to reach the learning goal, such as asking questions, cooperating
with natives peakers of the language, and becoming culturally aware.
Based on the taxonomies above, all the learning strategies classifications cover more or less the same classification. Thus, the researcher will use the O’ Malley et
al’s (1985) study since the researcher has found on Setiyadi‟s book (2011:26). In
the book, it is stated that there are three main categories of language learning
strategies which are used in Indonesia. The three categories are cognitive,
study. Therefore, the researcher assumes that it is better to analyze the three main
categories in students’listening ability for Indonesia students especially the
sample on this research. Those classifications are considered as the effective
learning strategies in listening.
2.6. Learning Strategies in Listening
There are many strategies that students can use to promote their language skills. In
listening skill, it was found that there are several learning strategies which can be
used by the students. Considering the focused strategy in this study, the research
will analyze the cognitive, metacognitive and social strategy as the students’
strategies in practicing listening in order to increase their listening achievement.
O’ Malley introduced categories that involved self awareness. In O’ Malley et
al’s study (1985) the classification consists of three categories, namely:
metacognitive strategy, cognitive strategy, and social strategy.
1. Metacognitive Strategy
In practicing listening skill, sometimes students relate their prior knowledge to
what they will hear. In order to monitor before they want to listen something, they
need metacognitive strategy. Oxford (1990a) states that metacognitive strategies
include: centering learning, arranging and planning learning, and evaluating
learning.
In Zakin’s study (2007) of metacognitive strategies, students are taught to
recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their own thinking processes and how
comments as, “OK, here is where Iusually make the mistake of…” “What is the
question I need to ask myself here?” and, “I know I often confuse….with ….., so I
need to go slow now.” Once students feel comfortable with general questioning
techniques as well as those that address their specific difficulties, they would
engage in partner and small group sharing, scaffolding their peers in
self-questioning techniques tailored to individual needs. Ongoing metacognitive
training assisted by inner speech would enable students to internalize the
self-guiding, self-monitoring, and self-correcting skills required for complex problem
solving.
O’Malley and Chamot’s study (1985) as cited in Setiyadi (2011:15-16) say
that this strategy relates to the awareness of learning, it requires planning for
learning, thinking about the learning place, monitoring of one’s production of comprehension, and evaluating learning after an activity is completed.
Metacognitive strategies allow learners to control their own learning through
organizing, planning and evaluation and are employed for managing the learning
process overall.
2. Cognitive Strategy
A cognitive strategy is all activities that take place in the brain in order to acquire
a foreign language. In O’ Malley and Chamot’s study (1990) it clarified that
cognitive strategy include: rehearsal, organization, inferencing, summarizing,
deducing, imagery, transfer and elaboration. Cognitive strategy refers to all the
mental process, except processes that involve self-monitoring and self evaluating,
The word cognitive means thought. So, “cognitive styles” refers to thought
patterns. Studies of cognitive styles suggest that people fall into open-minded and
closed-minded categories. Cognitive strategies enable the learner to understand
and produce new language.
- Practicing (for example, using formulas and patterns).
- Receiving and sending messages (for example, focusing on the main idea of a
message and outlining).
- Analyzing and reasoning (for example, analyzing expressions).
- Creating structure for input and output (for example, taking notes).
3. Social Strategy
In social strategy, students have to work with other language learners to obtain
feedback and information (cooperation). Besides, they are questioning for
clarification and self talk. Stratton and Hays (1988) states social strategy is the
nature of social interaction, how people come to influence one another’s behavior.
Social strategy is the way that students use towards their learning process that take
place in groups. Social strategy includes asking questions, cooperating with
others, and empathizing with others. Social strategies will help learners work with
and interact with other people. Asking questions (for example, asking for
clarification or verification of a confusing point), talking with a native-speaking
conversation partner, and) help the learner work with, cooperating with others (for
example, asking for help in doing a language task) and empathizing with others
(for example, developing cultural understanding and exploring cultural and social
Social strategy includes joining a group and acts as if you understand what is
going on, give the impression with a few well chosen words that you speak the
language, and count on your friends for help (Fillmore, 1979).
2.7 The Frequency of Using Learning Strategies
In this study, students’ frequency of using learning strategies relates to amount as
of how frequent they use learning strategies will be shown by the total score of the
questionnaire. Students’ frequency of using learning strategies will become one of
the concerns of this research, because there is an assumption said that when
students use a great number of learning strategies, more proficient they will be.
In this study, students’frequency of using learning strategies will be measured by
questionnaire. The questionnaire is developed by using Likert-Scale, in which it
provides the students with these following optional answers:
1 = Never or almost never true of me. 2 = Usually not true of me.
3 = Somewhat true of me. 4 = Usually true of me.
5 = Always and almost always true of me.
The questionnaire is used to identify students’ strategies in learning speaking.
There are five chosen where 1 means never or almost never true of me; 2 means
usually not true of me; 3 somewhat true of me; 4 means usually true of me and 5
means always or almost true of me.
Students’ listening ability and learning strategies should be correlated because
using appropriate language learning strategies often results in improved
Thompson & Rubin, 1993). Besides that, the successful language learners tend to
select strategies that work well together in a highly orchestrated way, tailored to
the requirements of the language task (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). These learners
can easily explain the strategies they use and why they employ them (O'Malley &
Chamot, 1990).
Another study states that in speaking ability, cognitive (e.g., translating,
analyzing) and metacognitive (e.g., planning, organizing) strategies are often used
together, supporting each other (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).
2.8 Review of the Related Research
Language Proficiency and Language Learning Strategies Use
Many studies showed the relationship between language learning strategies and
language proficiency, and Juan Zhao (2004) found the result that there was a
positive correlation was found between the use of language learning strategies and
the English proficiency, which were indicated by students’ grades and
self-efficacy. The students were medium users of overall strategies, Compensation
Strategy was the most frequently used, and Memory Strategy category was the
least used. Another prove was shown in Candradewi’s study. Based on Candradewi’s study (2008), there was difference among students who were in the
level of high, medium and low mark in speaking got different score when they
2.9 Theoritical Assumption
Referring to several literatures that have been discussed above, the researcher
assumes that students learning strategies in listening have a great contribution on
the ability of the students in comprehending the information heard in listening
process. As the first step of acquiring language, students have to be able to get the
message or the idea of the text heard. The researcher assumes that students’
learning strategies can be one of the best approach in getting new information and
knowledge in achieving the learning objectives. Thus, students have to use their
strategies in listening. There are many strategies that students can use for
increasing their ability in listening. Even so, many students of all ages seem
relatively uninformed about effective learning strategies (Barnett, 2001; Pintrich
& De Groot, 1990; Prawat, 1989; Schommer, 1994a).
As O’ Malley et all’s (1985) who categorized learning strategies into three
classification, namely: metacognitive strategy, cognitive strategy, and social
strategy, the researcher will use the O’ Malley et al’s (1985) study since the
researcher has found on Setiyadi‟s book (2011:26). In the book, it is stated that
there are three main categories of language learning strategies which are used in
Indonesia. The three categories are cognitive, metacognitive and social strategy. The classification supports O’ Malley et al’s study, thus, the researcher will
classify the student’s in three categories above by using the questionnaire
proposed by Setiyadi called Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire (LLSQ).
Effectiveness is the capability of producing a desired result. When something is
deep, vivid impression (Wikipedia). The researcher wants to find out which is the
most effective learning strategy in listening. In order to know that, after
classifying the students into the three different strategies the researcher analyze
their listening achievement. Furthermore separate them in two groups, successful
and unsuccessful learners.
From those frame theories above, the researcher came to the assumption that there
will be a significant difference between successful and unsuccessful learners in
the three group of learning strategies after comparing the means of their listening
achievement. But, the most effective learning strategy will be the one with no
significant difference. Because from the frame theory above, the researcher also
came into assumption that the most effective learning strategy will be the most
easy to apply in the learning process, no matter how vary the level of the learners
are. Learning strategy which has the most insignificance difference will tell us
clearly that the listening achievements between two groups (High and Low) are
both giving a satisfying result, with insignificance difference.
2.10 Hypothesis
Based on the frame of theory and the main theoretical assumption mentioned
above, the researcher would like to formulate the hypothesis that the difference
between successful and unsuccessful learners in three different learning strategies
of English listening comprehension ability may vary, with the one which has the
most insignificant difference as the most effective learning strategy in listening
III. RESEARCH METHOD
This chapter illustrates how the research was implemented; what design of the
research is, who the population and the sample are, and how the data were
collected. It also covers the validity and realibility of the instrument, scoring
system, research procedures, data analysis, and hypothesis testing.
3.1Research Design
This research is quantitative by design. The writer used ex post facto design. In
this research, the researcher used Independent t-test study, which is one of the
kinds of ex-post facto design. The t- test is probably the most widely used
statistical test for the comparison of two means. The t-test is used to compare
means between two different groups and is taken in a different
The design of this research could be decribed as follows:
X1 : Metacognitive Strategies’ achievement
X2 : Cognitive Strategies’ achievement
X3 : Social Strategies’ achievement
Y1 : Successful learners
Y2 : Unsuccessful learners
(Primary Data)
Meanwhile, in the data collecting, the researcher gave a listening test first in order
to see the students’ listening comprehension ability. Having done the listening
test, the students were distributed the questionnaire in order to know the learning
strategies employed by the language learners in listening comprehension and for
grouping them. Then, the researcher grouped the learners again into successful
and unsuccessful learners from their listening achievement and compared the
mean among all variables. X3
Y1
Y2
3.2Population and Sample
3.2.1 Population
The population of this research is the second grade of SMA Negeri 14 Bandar
Lampung in academic year 2013/2014. There are six classes of the second grade
in that school. The number of the students of each class is about 36 students.
3.2.2 Sample
The sample was taken through probability sampling by using simple random
sampling, where every individual in population has a chance to be chosen as
sample. For this research, the researcher chose one class by using these
procedures :
- The researcher collected the data based on the students’ list.
- The researcher wrote down the six names of the classes in the rolled papers and
put it into a bottle.
- The bottle was shaken and poured until one rolled paper came out.
3.3 Data Collecting Technique
To collect the data, the researcher uses the following techniques:
1. Administering the listening test
Listening test is one of objective tests that is used to measure students’ listening
comprehension. Listening comprehension test consists of 40 items, with four
options each (A, B, C,and D)
2. Administering the questionnaire
The questionnaire is a list of statements and questions that are to be answered
by the students to measure students’ use of learning strategies in listening
comprehension.
3.4Research Instrument
In this present study, the researcher used two kinds of research instruments. They
are language questionnaire and listening test. Research instrument is necessary
and play important role in a research. Research instrumentis the generic term that
researchers use for a measurement device . Below is the discussion about the
questionnaire and listening test used in this present study.
3.4.1 The Questionnaire
The first instrument used in this research is the questionnaire. Since this study concerns on the students’learning strategies in listening, the researcher used Language
20 items where each of them refers to cognitive strategies, metacognitive
strategies, and social strategies. Items 1-11aremetacognitive strategies, 12-18are
cognitive strategies, and 19-20 are social strategies. The Likert Scale was used by
the researcher in this research where each item has five alternative answers started
from 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Below is the list of statements dealing with the alternative scored:
1 = never or almost never true of me;
1. I try to guess what somebody is saying by using grammatical rules.
2. I learn English by watching English TV programs.
3. I learn English by listening to English songs or other listening
7. I concentrate on the grammar rather than on a communication.
8. I try to understand the idea by referring to previous experiences I have had.
9. I try to guess by using a word(s) that is familiar to me.
10. In Listening, I take notes to remember ideas.
11. I try to understand every individual word to understand the passage.
12. I listen to what I say to practice my listening skill.
13. Before practicing my listening skill, I prepare a topic, pronunciation or grammatical rules which give me the greatest trouble.
15. After a listening practice, I check and recheck my understanding.
16. I correct the mistake that I produce orally.
17. I try to be aware of which sounds give the greatest trouble. In this way I can pay special attention to them while I listen and practice. 18. If I cannot understand what somebody is saying, I ask him/her to
slow down or say it again.
19. Listening to what somebody is saying improves my listening skill.
20. In a group discussion, my listening skill is improved.
Adapted from Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire (LLSQ) proposed by Setiyadi 3.4.2. Listening Test
The second instrument is listening test. It is a series of questions that was given to
the students in order to measure the students’ listening ability in understanding the
text they would hear.
3.5 Criteria of Good Test
In this research, to prove whether the test has good quality, it must be tried out
first. A listening test will be said have a good quality if it has good validity,
reliability, level of difficulty and discrimination power. The students’ strategies
questionnaire could also be called as a good test if it has good validity and
3.6Validity of the Instrument
Validityis the extent to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to
measure and performs as it is designed to perform. It is rare, if nearly impossible,
that an instrument be 100% valid, so validity is generally measured in degrees. As
a process, validation involves collecting and analyzing data to assess the accuracy
of an instrument. There are numerous statistical tests and measures to assess the
validity of quantitative instruments. The discussion below focuses on content and
construct validity of the two instruments; the questionnaire and the listening test.
3.6.1 The Validity of the Questionnaire
The validity of questionnaire is also measured to find if the components are
proportionally suitable and related to the relevant theories of students’ learning
strategies. According to Hatch and Farhady (1978) there are least two validity
should be fulfilled; content and construct validity. Since the questionnaire was
adopted from LLSQ constructed by Setiyadi, the researcher considered that the
construct validity of the questionnaire has been standardized. Therefore the
researcher measured the content validity only. The following table described the
aspects of learning strategies used by the L2 students based in listening developed
Table 1. Specification Table of Language Learning Strategies Questionnaire
Aspects of Questionnaire Number of items
Metacognitive strategies 1-11
Cognitive strategies 12-17
Social strategies 18-20
It can be seen from the table above that all the aspects oflearning strategies
inlistening relate to the theories of learning strategies classification
(metacognitive, cognitive, and social strategies). The construct and content
validity of this questionnaire was proved since the researcher had asked three
raters to analyze each indicator.
3.6.2 The Validity of the Listening Test
Validity is a matter of relevance; it means that the test measures what is claimed
to measure. To measure whether the test has a good validity, it can be analyzed
from its content validity and construct validity. Content validity is concerned
whether the test is sufficiently representative for the rest of test or not. While
construct validity focuses on the relationship between indicators within the test.
Table 2 : Specification of Listening Test
No. Macro aspects of listening Item Percentage 1 Determing main idea 5 12.5 % 2 Finding specific information 15 37.5%
3 Inference 10 25 %
4 Vocabulary 10 25%
Since the writer put focus on macro skills, the item test would be the macro
aspects of listening which consists of determining main idea, finding specific
information, inference, and vocabulary. Those macro skills aspect were classified
by Brown (2007).
3.7 The Reliability of the Instruments
Reliability can be called as a consistency. A good instrument is an instrument
which consistently measures what it is intended to measure. In other words, a
good instrument should have a good reliability. It is not possible to calculate
reliability; however, there are four general estimators can be used in the research.
a.Inter-Rater/Observer Reliability: The degree to which different raters/observers give consistent answers or estimates.
b.Test-Retest Reliability: The consistency of a measure evaluated over time.
c.Parallel-Forms Reliability: The reliability of two tests constructed the same way, from the same content.
d.Internal Consistency Reliability: The consistency of results across items, often measured with Cronbach’s Alpha.
