Uncovering the Links Between Strategy Use and L2 Proficiency : A Qualitative Study in a Mixed Methods Research Design

概要

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This study aims to reveal the details of strategy use and scrutinize the relationships between strategy use and English proficiency among Japanese lower secondary school students of English as a foreign language, following a quantitative study (Yabukoshi & Takeuchi, 2009). Two sets of qualitative data were collected from diaries kept by ten learners in a higher proficiency group and ten in a lower proficiency group, and interviews with eight of the twenty learners. The qualitative data were analyzed using inductive data analysis techniques, following a grounded theory approach. As a result, three major components that constitute the learners' strategy use emerged: (a) types of strategies utilized, (b) manners of strategy deployment, and (c) awareness of strategy use. Further analysis of the data revealed that the higher proficiency group seemed to use a wider range of strategies including some sophisticated strategies, coordinate strategies in an orchestrated way more frequently and appropriately with a given language task, and have a better understanding of their use of strategies than the lower proficiency group. Some of these results are discussed in light of self-regulation theory, which has recently been introduced by second and foreign language researchers to better understand success in language learning.
2014-03-31