ESL Learning Strategy Among Grade Nine Bhutanese Secondary School Students in Chhukha, Bhutan

Abstract

This study was to survey the current practice of Rebecca Oxford’s Learning Strategies of grade nine Bhutanese secondary school students in ESL learning and to compare Rebecca Oxford’s Learning Strategies based on gender, age and number of years in ESL learning experience. The researcher employed mixed methods to carry out the study. The IOC of the research instruments were validated by three experts (one from Thailand and two from Bhutan). The quantitative data were gathered from 105 ESL respondents by using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) adapted from Rebecca Oxford (1990) which consisted 50 items, and qualitative data were gathered through focus group discussion which consisted 10 questions from one of the Central schools in Chhukha district. The quantitative data were analyzed using independent sample t-test for gender difference and One-way ANOVA for different age groups and different number of years in ESL learning experience. The qualitative data of the focus group discussion were analyzed using content analysis and the results were tabulated. The findings showed that the majority of the respondents practice metacognitive strategies than social strategies and relatively few were practicing memory, cognitive and affective strategies and the least was compensation strategies. The result showed that the current practice of Rebecca Oxford’s Learning Strategies at the moderate level as indicated by the mean score 3.40 by grade nine Bhutanese secondary school students in ESL learning. The result also revealed that ESL respondents in Bhutanese secondary school students did not have one common Language Learning Strategy suitable for all learners. The study concluded that there was statistically significant difference in use of Oxford’s learning strategies by gender, females employed the strategies most frequently than males.