The learning strategies of adult immigrant learners of English: quantitative and qualitative perspectives

© 2000 Dr. Elizabeth Helen LuntThis study examines the use of language learning strategies by a group of adult immigrant learners of English attending government-funded classes in Australia. It attempts to identify the language learning strategies reported by the learners and the particular factors which are influential on their use. The study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data on language learning strategy use. The quantitative data comprised the responses of 154 learners to the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), while protocols such as classroom observation, stimulated recall and think-aloud protocols, and individual and group interviews with the investigator were employed to gather qualitative data on strategy use from nineteen of the original 154 learners. The subjects’ response scores to two of the six SILL subscales, Compensation and Affective, were discarded after analyses of reliability revealed that those quantitative data were not reliable. The remaining four subscales were then analysed using SPSS. Coding and analyses of the qualitative data were conducted using the computer software Non numerical Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and Theory-building (NUD*IST). Results of the analysis of subjects’ responses to the SILL indicated a ‘high-medium’ use of the majority of SILL items and an overall preference for the use of Social strategies. Little effect was found for independent variables on reported strategy use. Analysis of the qualitative data, using NUD*IST, confirmed some of the SILL responses and also revealed additional strategies and factors, particularly of motivation, which were important and influential to the language learning of the immigrant adult subjects. The conclusion is reached that, in the case of the immigrant ESL learners involved in the study, the use of strategies is an individual choice and is consequent on the motivation which the learner brings to the learning situation. This motivation had been shaped by interacting internal and external factors, by the learner’s past experience and current life context. The thesis discusses the significance and limitations of the study, together with the theoretical, methodological and pedagogical implications which arise from the findings and suggests areas for further research