Identifying language learning strategies among polytechnic commerce students in learning communicative english / Nurzawanah Rohaizat

The scholarly debate on effective second language learning strategies is intensifying with increased globalisation and internalisation of education. Inadequate English language proficiency among Malaysian students has elicited interest in the efforts to appreciate context-specific language strategies suitable for Communicative English classes. This study aimed to identify the language learning strategies employed in Communicative English classes by commerce students in a polytechnic. The study was based on a Malaysian context and targeted a population of commerce students from which a random sample of 90 students was selected to respond to the questionnaire. The research instrument was the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire version 7.0. Data collected was coded and entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0 for analysis. The tests conducted revealed that male and female commerce students utilised memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social language learning strategies, but females applied the strategies significantly more than males. Metacognitive strategy was found to be the most popular strategy among the students. It was recommended that learning institutions inspire male students to appreciate the need to use language learning strategies to improve their communicative competence in English.