Language learning strategies employed by civil engineering students of polytechnic in a synchronous learning setting / Mohd Faeiz Ekram Mohd Jasmani

This research aims to explore the English language learning strategies used by the polytechnic students of civil engineering based on Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (1990) and the students’ perceptions towards learning English in synchronous setting. 98 students of semester one taking Diploma in Civil Engineering (June 2020 session) at Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah, Kuantan, Pahang who completed their Communicative English 1 subject in January 2021 were asked to answer the demographic and SILL questions in the online questionnaire created using Google Form. Next, 10 random students who obtained grade A for the subject were chosen for the interview. The findings revealed the Top 3 of each language learning strategy used by the students i.e. Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Compensation Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies, Affective Strategies and Social Strategies. Furthermore, the researcher found out that the students felt the lesson went well for them when they took the English subject but they were having problems mainly related to the internet connection. Besides that, they prefer hybrid learning (face-to-face and synchronous learning) as the method allows them to ask questions to the lecturer directly. Lastly, the students rejected the idea that English language should be taught fully online as they want to have a real interaction with their peers and lecturer to practise their English language.