1. Factors that Affect
Language Learning
Strategies
Prepared by : Siti Shahkirah Bte Shaharul
Prof Dr Mohamed Amin Bin Embi
A143853

2. From my opinion, these are the five factors that affect
language learning strategies :
 Gender
 Cultural Background
 Motivation
 Learning Styles
 Experiences in Studying a Language

3. Gender

4. Politzer, 1983
 Females have consistently been reported as using LLSs
more frequently than males.
Green & Oxford, 1995
 Female students used Compensation and Affective
strategies more frequently than the male ones.
Tran, 1988; Wharton, 2000
 Males used learning strategies more than females when
learning a language.
Griffiths, 2003
 A significant relationship between strategy use and
course level was found, while there was no statistically
significant differences according to either gender or age
with strategy use.

5. Cultural Background

6. Politzerof & McGroarty, 1985
• To use certain types of strategies, and many
language learning strategies may be based on
ethnocentric assumptions about effective language
learning.
Bedell (1993)
• Different cultural groups use particular kinds of
strategies at different levels of frequency (cited in
Oxford et al., 1995). Furthermore, Asian students

7. Politzer & McGroarty, 1985
 Asian students tend to prefer rote
memorisation and rule-oriented strategies.
 Taiwanese students seem far more
structured, analytical, memory-based, and
metacognitively oriented than other
groups.
O’Malley & Chamot, 1990
 Asian students prefer their own
established rote learning strategies, and
showed Asian students to be less willing
than Hispanic students to try new learning
techniques (O’Malley et al., 1985).
Asian culture
Oxford, 1994

8. Motivation

9. Tamada, 1996
 Both intergrative and instrumental motivation had a
significant effect on learners’ choice of LLSs.
Chang and Huang, 1999
 The study showed that the total number of learning
strategies were associated with motivational level.
 Social strategies were the least frequently used strategies
by the participants and the only one associated with
extrinsic motivation.
MacLeod, 2002
 The strategy use was not affected by the participants’
particular motivational orientation (whether
instrumental or integrative), but, rather, by motivational
level.

10. Learning Styles
Ehrman and Oxford, 1990
 Show a strong preference for social strategies, while
introverts use metacognitive strategies more
frequently.
Rossi-Le, 1995
 Learners who favour group study are shown to use
social and interactive strategies, such as working
with peers or requesting clarification.

11. Experiences in Studying a
Language
Purdie and Oliver, 1999
 The language learning strategies used by bilingual
school-aged children coming from three main cultural
groups: Asian (predominantly Vietnamese or Chinese
dialect speakers), European (children who spoke Greek
and those who identified themselves as speakers of
Macedonian), and speakers of Arabic.
Carlson, 1990
 Studying abroad is deemed to have an influence on
students’ thought and learning style, especially in their
actual ability in language learning.

12. Thank you…