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The Role of Gender and Language Learning Strategies in Learning English

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The Role of Gender and Language Learning Strategies in Learning English THE ROLE OF GENDER AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY OKTAY ASLAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING September 2009 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Sencer AYATA Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Prof. Dr. Wolf KÖN ĐG Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gölge SEFERO ĞLU Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oya Yerin GÜNER Đ (METU, EDS) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gölge SEFERO ĞLU (METU, ELT) Assist. Prof. Dr. Çi ğdem Sa ğın ŞĐ MŞEK (METU, ELT) ii I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Oktay ASLAN Signature: iii ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF GENDER AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH Aslan, Oktay M.A., Program of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu September 2009, 158 Pages This study intended to investigate the language learning strategies used by learners of English as a foreign language, aiming to find the amount of strategies and the domain differences of the strategies used; to reveal the link between strategy use and success levels; and to find out the difference in strategy use between genders and its influence on their achievement in English. 257 (153 male, 104 female) students from Atılım University English Preparatory School participated in the study. At the time of the study all the participants were in the same proficiency level, and were distributed to different classes of the same level. The data were gathered through strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) of Oxford (1990), which was translated to Turkish by Cesur and Fer (2007). iv The instrument, based on Oxford’s (1990) classification of the language learning strategies, is composed of 50 items in six subscales. The participants responded to the inventory before the end of the level they were in. The data were analyzed through SPSS (15.0) to find the relationship of language learning strategies, gender and achievement in learning the target language. To reveal the interconnections between these factors, independent t-tests and an ANOVA test, along with post hoc procedures were performed on the gathered data. The findings of the study revealed that use of language learning strategies are positively effective in success in English, that females were significantly more successful than males in terms of achievement tests, and that they used more language learning strategies in learning English. Depending on the statistical results, it is discovered that there is a significant connection between gender, language learning strategies and achievement in English. Keywords: language, language learning, gender, language learning strategies and learning skills. v ÖZ İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRENMEDE CİNSİYET VE DİL ÖĞRENME STRATEJİLERİNİN ROLÜ Aslan, Oktay Yüksek Lisans, İngiliz Dili Öğretimi Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu Eylül 2009, 158 Sayfa Bu çalışma, İngilizceyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenenlerin kullandıkları dil öğrenme stratejilerini bulmayı, kullandıkları bu stratejilerin alt gruplamalardaki dağılımlarını belirlemeyi, dil öğrenme stratejilerinin kullanımı ile başarı düzeyleri arasındaki bağlantıyı ortaya çıkartmayı ve dil öğrenme stratejilerini kullanmaları bakımından iki cinsiyet arasındaki farkı tespit edip bu durumun İngilizce öğrenmedeki başarıları üzerindeki etkilerini belirlemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Çalışmaya Atılım Üniversitesi İngilizce Hazırlık Okulu’ndan 257 öğrenci (153 erkek, 104 Kız) katılmıştır. Çalışmanın yürütüldüğü sırada bütün katılımcılar aynı İngilizce yeterlik düzeyindeki farklı sınıflarda dağılmış bulunmaktaydı. Veriler, Cesur ve Fer’in (2007) Türkçeye çevirdiği, SILL (Dil Öğrenme Stratejileri Envanteri) (Oxford, 1990) ile toplanmıştır. vi Oxford’un (1990) dil öğrenme stratejilerini sınıflandırmasını temel alan araç altı alt kategori içinde 50 madde içermektedir. Katılımcılar, çalışmaya bulundukları yeterlik seviyesi döneminin son haftasında katılmıştır. Elde edilen veriler, dil öğrenme stratejileri, cinsiyet ve dil öğrenmedeki başarı arasındaki ilişkinin tespit edilmesi için SPSS (15.0) programında analiz edilmiştir. Bu faktörlerin birbiriyle olan bağlantısını bulmak için bir dizi t-test yöntemi ve bir ANOVA testi, ardından da post hoc prosedürü uygulanmıştır. Çalışma sonunda, dil öğrenme stratejilerinin kullanılmasının İngilizce öğrenmedeki başarı üzerinde olumlu bir etkisinin bulunduğu, sınav sonuçlarına bakıldığında kızların erkeklerden daha başarılı oldukları ve kızların İngilizce öğrenirken erkeklere oranla daha fazla dil öğrenme stratejisi kullandığı ortaya çıkarılmıştır. İstatistikî verilere dayanılarak; cinsiyet, dil öğrenme stratejileri ve İngilizce öğrenme başarısı arasında anlamlı ilişkiler tespit edilmiştir. Anahtar sözcükler: dil, dil öğrenme, cinsiyet, dil öğrenme stratejileri ve öğrenme becerileri. vii to my dear wife, Elif Hicran… viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The preparation of this thesis would not have been possible without the support, hard work and endless efforts of a large number of individuals. I would first like to express my gratitude for my thesis supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gölge Seferoğlu for her great interest, invaluable guidance, patience and encouragement during the preparation of this work. I would also like to express my special thanks to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Oya Yerin Güneri and Assist. Prof. Dr. Çiğdem Sağın Şimşek for their interest in my study and their precious advices. I am deeply grateful to Mrs. Aytuna Kocabıyıkoğlu, who provided the opportunity to conduct my study. I also owe a lot to all my colleagues who helped a lot in data collection process. I particularly thank to David Boddington for his great effort in this work. I am also indebted to Dilek Karaduman, Gaye Aksoy and Sevil Çetin for their precious assistance and help. My greatest thanks to my family; my parents Tahsin Aslan and Lütfiye Aslan, and brothers Mehmet Aslan and Mustafa Aslan, who have always been around to support and help me whenever I needed. I lastly thank to my wife, Elif Hicran Aslan for her continuous encouragement, support and great patience throughout this study and my life. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..iii ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………iv ÖZ …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..……vi DEDICATION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………………………………….…………………..ix TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………….……………………………………………………………..x LIST OF TABLES…………………………….……………………………….…………………………………………………...xv LIST OF FIGURES…………………………….………………………………………………………………………………..xviii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………..………………………………………………………………….………1 1.0 Presentation.………….………………….…………….………………………………………………….……...1 1.1 Background to the Study.……………………………………….……………………………………………1 1.2 Setting ……………………….………………………………….…………………….……………………………..4 1.3 Purpose of the Study…………………..…………………….………………………………………….….….5 1.4 Significance of the Study…………………………………….……………………………………………….5 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE….……………………………………………………………………………….……….6 x 2.0 Presentation.………………………………………………………………..……………………………………..6 2.1 The Definition of Gender…………………………..…….……………...…………………………………..6 2.2 Gender and Language Overview……………….………………………………………………………….7 2.2.1 Deficit Model…………………………………..………………………………………..…………………9 2.2.2 Dominance Model………………………..…………………….……………………..………………10 2.2.3 Cultural Difference Model…………….…………………………………………………..……….11 2.2.4 Post-structuralism and De-essentializing Gender……….……..……………………….12 2.2.5 Current State of Gender and Language Interaction………………….…………………14 2.3 Gender and First Language Acquisition……………………………………………………..……….16 2.4 Gender and Second Language Acquisition (SLA) …………………….………………………….18 2.4.1 Research Studies Conducted on Gender in SLA ………………………..……………….19 2.4.1.1 Mainstream SLA Research and Gender..…………………………………….……21 2.4.1.2 Social-Psychological Research and Gender …..…………………………………23 2.5 Language Learning Strategies …………………………………………………..……………………….25 2.5.1 Main Features of Language Learning Strategies ……………………..…………………28 2.5.2 Factors Influencing Strategy Choice …………………………………..………………………29 2.5.2.1 Psychological Type …………………………………….……………………………………30 2.5.2.2 Motivation ………………………………………………………………………………………31 xi 2.5.2.3 Nationality ………………………………………………………………………..…………….31 2.5.2.4 Gender …………………………………………………………………………………………...32 2.5.3 The Classification of Language Learning Strategies ……………….…………………..33 2.5.3.1 Direct Strategies ………………………………………………………..……………………35 2.5.3.1.1 Memory Strategies ……………………………..…………………………..35 2.5.3.1.2 Cognitive Strategies ……………..………………………………………….38 2.5.3.1.3 Compensation Strategies ………..…………………………………….…41 2.5.3.2 Indirect Strategies ………………..…………………………………………………………43 2.5.3.2.1 Metacognitive Strategies …………………………………………………44 2.5.3.2.2 Affective Strategies ………………………………………………………….46 2.5.3.2.3 Social Strategies ………………………………………………..…………….49 2.5.4 Research
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