CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE
B. Review of the Related Findings
The fifth theory of grammar learning strategies is from Lee (2006).
The strategies are; (1) reading some useful grammar books, (2) doing exercises to gain more practice, (3) using exam preparation course books, (4) reading newspapers articles and good readers, (5) listening to good speakers, watching films, videos and TV programs and (6) visiting some good grammar websites.
Those are the theories of grammar learning strategies from the five experts. For this research, the researcher adapted the theories by combining similar strategies from different theories, for instance, the strategies in Shoebottom (2007), ‘doing grammar exercises and writing out sentences that follow the same rules’ with the theories from Lee (2006) ‘ doing exercises to gain more practice’. In addition, the researcher also adapted the theories by excluding a part of them from this research. For example the strategy of ‘using online concordance program that can help learners in learning how words are used and how grammar works’ in Shoebottom (2007) since it is considered not applicable to the students at the English department of University of Bengkulu.
The result of the theories adaptation is the three grammar learning strategies, namely; implicit grammar learning strategies which focus on forms, explicit- inductive grammar learning strategies and explicit-deductive grammar learning strategies.
which have been conducted by many scholars especially in the context of a specific environment, for instance, in the context of Asian countries. As for the Asian context where English is as a foreign language, there are some researchers who have conducted researches on strategies used by Asian university students in learning English.
The first one was conducted by Kato (2005) on 194 (144 female and 50 male) Japanese university students from Bunkyo-Gakuin University in Saitama Perfecture, Atomi-Gakuen University and Komazawa University in Tokyo. The finding shows that; (a) there are five factors extracted from the research; metacognitive-affective strategies, memory-compensation strategy, social strategy, cognitive strategy and entrance exam-measured strategy and English proficiency; (b) there is a significant correlation among metacognitive- affective strategy and cognitive strategy; (c) there is a difference in strategy use associated with gender; (d) there is an implication made by the researcher that is more training should be given in using metacognitive-affective strategy and cognitive-memory strategy by embedded them into regular classroom activities.
The next research was conducted by Yang (2007) on the effects of ethnicity and language proficiency on the use of language learning strategies by 451 junior college students. It was found that ethnicity did play a significant role in the selection of language learning strategies, language proficiency influenced learners’ use of language learning strategies and more proficient students are using strategies more often than less proficient students.
After that, it was the research which conducted by Hong-Nam and Leavell (2007) on the language learning behaviors and thought processes of two geographically and socio-educationally different groups of Korean- Chinese University students. Among them, 428 are monolingual Korean and 420 are bilingual Korean-Chinese university students. The research finding shows that the monolinguals are using compensation strategies most and affective strategies least. Meanwhile, bilinguals preferred to use metacognitive strategies most and memory strategies least. Despite a less favorable formal English education environment in the Korean- Chinese community and less experience in learning English, bilingual Korean-Chinese reported higher use of learning strategies.
Then, it was the one conducted by Danapala (2007) on the learning strategies of 101 Japanese and Sri Lankan advanced learners of English in University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka and University of Hiroshima in Japan.
The research findings show that the metacognitive strategies were in the high use range, while the other five strategies (cognitive, compensation, memory, affective and social strategies) were in the medium usage.
Finally, it was the research conducted by Zhao (2008) on the use of language learning strategies by undergraduate students, the extent of use of language learning strategy categories in the Oxford Taxonomy, and the relationship between the use of language learning strategies and English proficiency of two hundred fifty four Chinese undergraduate students (123 male and 131 female) in Assumption University. The results showed that the students were medium users of overall strategies, compensation strategy was
the most frequently used, and memory strategy category was the least used. 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.
Meanwhile, In Indonesian context such as in Padang, especially at the graduate program of State University of Padang, there are two researches that had been conducted in relation to learning strategies. The first one was by Ismael (2004) who conducted a research at SMU 11 Padang. He did the research to discover English learning strategies used by the third class students and to find out whether there are any different strategies employed by good and poor English learners. The finding shows that a good learner and poor English learners were very different in learning English. Poor English learners were less successfully in employing English learning strategy, used the strategy wrongly or simply did not have a sufficient number of strategies to facilitate their English learning strategy than good English learning strategy.
The last one was Marjohan (2008) who observed the international class students’ general learning strategies and learning strategies of each language skill, listening, speaking, reading and writing at SMAN 3 Batusangkar. The findings show that many students of international class program at SMAN 3 Batusangkar did not ‘learn the culture of English speaking countries’ and use group strategies in mastering English. In relation to the skills, the mostly used strategies consecutively are compensation strategies for listening, reading and writing and memory strategies for speaking. The least used strategies are
affective strategies for listening, speaking and writing and cognitive strategies for reading.
In a more specific context that is grammar learning strategies, there are three researches found. The first research was conducted by Tilfarlioğlu and Yalçin (2005) who attempted to investigate the relationship between the use of grammar learning strategies and student achievement. In the research it has been proven that there is not a high statistical significant difference between the use of grammar learning strategies and students’ achievement. The study was conducted on the students of preparation school at the University of Gaziantep, Turkey. In addition, successful second language learners are aware of the strategies they use and why they use them. They are capable of using these strategies for the given tasks and for their personal needs as learners while learning a second or foreign language. Some students who are less successful can also identify some of these strategies; however, they do not know how to choose the appropriate strategies and how to use them in a given task.
The second one was the research conducted by Kemp (2007) who investigated the use of grammar learning strategies on 144 participants who knew between 2 and 12 languages each, using a language background questionnaire, a set of 40 grammar learning strategies on a 5-point Likert scale, and questions on other strategies used. The findings show that the more languages learners knew, (a) the greater the number of grammar learning strategies they used, (b) the more frequently they used them, and (c) the greater the number of participants who added their own grammar learning strategies to the 40 presented in the questionnaire. In addition, the multilingual participants
as a group used more of the 40 strategies than participants with knowledge of only two languages, and also responded '5 - I always do this' on the Likert scale more often. It is concluded that there may be a threshold effect for the use of grammar learning strategies so that an increase in the number and frequency of strategies used occurs to a greater extent during the acquisition of the third language, increasing more gradually in additional languages, than occurs in L2 learning.
The last and the most current one was the research by Pawlak (2009) who investigated the relationship between the use of grammar learning strategies and target language attainment of 142 English Department students of the Adam Mickiewicz University of Kalisz. The research finding shows that there is no strong positive relationship between the use of grammar learning strategies and achievement, irrespective of the level of the BA program, or statistically significant differences in this respect between lower-level and higher-level participants. But, when it comes to the application of the grammar learning strategies associated with three instructional modes, the mean frequency was the highest for implicit learning which focus on form followed by explicit deductive learning and explicit inductive learning.