Chinese ESL Students Learning Strategies : A Look at Frequency, Proficiency, and Gender

This article reports on a study of language learning strategies used by 175 ESL students from the People’s Republic of China. The aims of the study were to survey the frequency of strategy use and to determine how it is influenced by the learners’ proficiency level and gender. The SILL questionnnaire (Strategies Inventory of Language Learning) by Oxford (1990) was administered. It consists of 6 categories: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social. Results from the survey indicated that metacognitive strategies were most frequently used, while memory strategies were least frequently used Statistical analysis showed that significant differences were to be found in the use of cognitive and compensation strategies among learners at three proficiency levels. Gender also played a role in influencing the kids of strategy used; female students were found to use compensation and affective strategies significantly more often than male students. Findings from this study could help teachers identify appropriate strategies to facilitate the learning of a second language by Chinese learners.