LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES OF TURKISH AND ARABIC STUDENTS: A CROSS-CULTURAL STUDY

This study investigates the language learning strategy use of Turkish and Arabic students enrolled in middle schools and having differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (1989b), the study examines the cross-cultural differences in strategy use of the mentioned students while learning English as a foreign language. The study has found out that though there are a number of cross-cultural similarities in the language learning strategy use between Turkish and Arabic students, there are also significant differences between them. For instance, Turkish students prefer to use a dictionary while reading English texts, but Arabic students generally do not use a dictionary in their reading activities. Conclusions and pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed in the study. Article visualizations