The reported use of grammar learning strategies by L3 english learners at secondary school

Abstract

Language Learning Strategies (LLS) and their implication in language acquisition have been researched for decades now (Rubin, 1975; Oxford, 1986; Wenden and Rubin, 1987; Larsen-Freeman, 1995; Chamot, 2001; Oxford, Lee and Park, 2007). Many researchers (Rubin, 1975; Wenden and Rubin, 1987; O'Malley and Chamot, 1990; Cohen, 2011) support the idea that LSSs play an important role in Second Language (L2) acquisition by stating that these set of strategies serve as an aid for students in their Target Language (TL) learning process and they are a key factor for their success in the acquisition of their L2. LLS have been defined in many ways: Chamot (2001), for instance, defined LLS as procedures that help the process of learning, and although LLS have been widely investigated, there is a part of language learning that has been paid little attention to, these being Grammar Learning Strategies (GLS). GLS are defined as the intentional thinking and steps that the learner uses in their process of learning and improve their use of grammatical structures. The reason for investigating GLS lays on the important role grammar plays in language acquisition and further research ought to be carried out to investigate the GLS learners employ in the process of their L2 learning (Anderson, 2005). The scarce research that has been conducted in this field has investigated the reported grammar strategy use of mainly adolescent and adult students (Tilfarlioğlu, 2005; Supakorn, Feng and Limmun, 2018; Pawlak, 2018; Mulugeta and Bayou, 2019). These studies have revealed that the set of strategies both adolescent and adult students reportedly employ with the highest frequency belong to the categories of Cognitive, Metacognitive and Social Strategies. Furthermore, adolescent students reported using Affective Strategies more frequently than adult students (Tilfarlioğlu, 2005; Muguleta and Bayou, 2019). The aim of the present study is to contribute to the little research that has been carried out on the reported use of GLS by secondary-school adolescents by investigating the reported use of GLS in Spanish/Basque bilingual L3 English learners at Secondary School. The 75 participants of this study were divided into two groups according to their choice of studying the subject of History in English or Basque. The reason for having made this distinction is to 3 be able to discover if there is any difference in the frequency of use of the GLS between the group that is more exposed to English (Group 1) and the one that is less exposed to it (Group 2). The participants of this study completed 3 tasks: a background questionnaire in order to find out information about their linguistic background, an English level test and Pawlak’s (2018) Grammar Learning Strategy Inventory (GLSI) questionnaire. The results of the study seem to show that secondary school learners reported using Social Strategies with the highest frequency in terms of general strategy use closely followed by Cognitive Strategies and Metacognitive Strategies, reportedly using Affective Strategies with the least frequency. When the distinction between the two groups is taken into account, the results show that the difference in exposure between the two groups did not lead to any difference in the reported use of GLS. The set of strategies both groups reportedly used with the highest frequency are Cognitive Strategies while Affective Strategies were reported with the least frequency. The results obtained coincide in some aspects with the research that has previously been carried out in this field, where university-level students reported employing Cognitive, Metacognitive and Social strategies with the highest frequency (Tilfarlioğlu, 2005); on the other hand, the results do not support Tilfarlioğlu’s (2005) finding where adolescent students who had been less exposed to the TL had reported having used GLS with a lesser frequency than those who had been more exposed to their TL. Furthermore, the data presented in the present study agrees with the findings in Supakorn, Feng and Limmun’s (2018) study, where they found that higher proficiency students made use of Metacognitive, Social and Cognitive Strategies with the highest frequency