Impact of exposure to ESL on self-perceived language ability through motivation and memory strategy / Tg Nur Liyana Tengku Mohamed Fauzi

The history of the English language in Malaysia began with the British era, and it has gone through different phases since the independence in 1957, which results in the diminution of English language exposure both inside and outside the classroom. The amount of exposure to English in school today is limited to a few hours a week, with little to no encouragement to apply the language outside the classroom. Despite the debate among research groups regarding implicit and explicit language exposure, the main focus is mutually positioned on providing a dynamic experience in language learning in order to influence language performance. Bandura (1972) in his Social Learning Theory (SLT) suggested that the relationship between stimulus and output is mediated by cognitive processes. In view of that, this study proposed motivation and memory strategy as the factors mediating relationship between exposure to ESL (stimulus) and learners’ perceived language ability (output). Consequently, the study is first aimed at examining the direct impact of each type of exposure on language ability (self-perceived), followed by the investigation on the parallel and serial mediation influences of motivation and memory strategy on the relationship. This cross-sectional study involved 460 undergraduate students from public and private higher learning institutions. Proportionate stratified sampling method was carried out and four strata were identified; Strata I and II were male and female undergraduates in public institutions, Strata III and IV were male and female undergraduates in private institutions. Instrument used was a questionnaire, divided into four main sections including demographic items at the end of the questionnaire. Nine main hypotheses were developed to answer five research questions. Five of them are on direct relationships while the remaining four are on indirect relationships. Each category consists of a total of nine sub-hypotheses. Seven sub-hypotheses from direct relationship are supported and two remaining sub-hypotheses are not supported. On the other hand, two of nine sub-hypotheses on indirect relationship are not supported, leaving the remaining seven supported and from this figure, three of them are supported with full mediation while four are with partial mediation. The findings show that; 1) implicit exposure does not have direct influence on the perceived language ability, but only through the mediation of motivation and memory strategies, 2) it also appears that motivation does not mediate the relationship between any type of exposure and perceived language ability, but positive emotions created by the stimulus received motivate learners to embrace effective learning strategies, 3) the effect of mediators (motivation and memory strategies) is important as they determine the effectiveness of the exposure to ESL based on the learners’ perceived language ability. Despite ranked as a secondary strategy, ‘memory strategies’ is found to significantly predict language ability as it ensures storing, processing, and retrieval of the target language