AbstractsEducation Research & Administration

This study investigated to what extent learners’ beliefs about language learning strategies (LLS) are subject to change as they are taken through a process of reflection. Three research questions were addressed: the profile of language learning strategies of the students, the nature of strategy use and belief about LLS and how the change of belief about LLS occurred. The study employed a minor quantitative measurement and qualitative analysis of the data. Findings at the beginning of the study are compared with the findings at the end of the study after the reflection procedure was implemented. The reflection was meant to provide time for the students to contemplate, and critically evaluate, their strategy use with regard to their English learning process. Twelve students participated in this study. Three types of data collection techniques were utilized to gather the data: survey, interview, and reflective journal writing. The Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL), developed by Oxford (1990) was used to collect data about the students’ current learning strategies. In-depth interviews about their learning experiences with reference to their language learning approaches were also employed not only to compare with the survey results but also to enrich the data needed for deep analysis. The last instrument was the reflective learning journal. Journals were assigned to all the students in all macro-skill subjects to explore their experiences regarding their language learning journey by documenting their success and failure stories. All these data were triangulated for verification and analysed accordingly to respond to the research questions. The findings indicate that before reflection in general the students were moderate users of the English learning strategies as formulated in the SILL. In terms of categories, metacognitive categories were the most frequently used strategies suggesting that, as adult language learners, the students were familiar with the strategies of planning, monitoring and evaluating their learning. However, they did not exploit their emotion sufficiently to facilitate their learning, as indicated by their affective strategies being the least frequently used categories. After the intervention of reflection, the frequency use of the strategies increased across categories the with the metacognitive strategy category remaining the most frequently used. Also there was a shift in the least frequently used categories from affective strategies to memory strategies. This finding weakened the popular claim that memory strategies were the most popular strategies` among Asian EFL learners. This finding also serves as evidence that reflection is among the determinants of the improved frequency use of learning strategies. This study shows that all of the students preferred collaborative learning especially in verbal skills, suggesting that this finding corroborates Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development and social learning. The fact that the students had different levels of English proficiency…