Learning Strategies of the Arab EFL Learners: Finding Correlation with Outcomes

Socio-psychological research and findings into learner differences led to the emergence of learner strategies research in the last century. With major contributions from the emerging field of Linguistics in the mid 1970s, language learning strategies began to receive considerable attention. It is worth noting that the primary concern of most of the studies on language learning strategies has been the identification of the characteristic of good language learners and what it is that they do to learn a second language ! The focus of this study, consequently, is the teaching of language learning strategies to facilitate better learning. It aims at differentiating the strategies of good language learners from those of poor language learners. The hypothesis is this would enable language teachers to propagate the successful strategies to ensure better learning outcomes: A major factor for socio-economic development in KSA. It analyses the strategies used by Saudi students in learning English as a foreign language. Further, it brings out the teacher's role in raising the students' awareness of different strategies, educating the teachers in the use of these strategies, and training them to assimilate these into regular classroom activities. Instruments used include a questionnaire administered to the students and interviews with the teachers.Keywords: Strategies, EFL, Saudi students, learning outcomes, learner difference