Khảo sát về tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập của sinh viên năm hai chuyên ngữ trong việc học các kỹ năng nghe nói tiếng Anh ở Trường Đại học Sài Gòn

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN SAIGON UNIVERSITY 
 TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL 
 ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY 
 Số 64 (4/2019) No. 64 (4/2019) 
Email: tcdhsg@sgu.edu.vn ; Website: https://tapchikhoahoc.sgu.edu.vn 
130 
AN INVESTIGATION ON THE FREQUENCY OF USING LEARNING 
STRATEGIES OF THE SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS IN 
PRODUCTIVE SKILLS IN ENGLISH CLASS AT SAIGON UNIVERSITY 
Khảo sát về tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập của sinh viên năm hai chuyên 
ngữ trong việc học các kỹ năng nghe nói tiếng Anh ở Trường Đại học Sài Gòn 
ThS. Phạm Lê Kim Tuyến 
Trường Đại học Sài Gòn 
Abstract 
This paper aims to investigate the autonomy of second-year English majors in English skill classes at 
Sai Gon University through four main focuses such as learners’ motivation to be engaged in 
autonomous learning, their attitudes towards autonomous learning, their level of self-esteem, and their 
frequency of using learning strategies for language skills. 176 second – year English majors at SGU 
answered the questionnaire from the researcher. The study’s findings show that the participants express 
high frequencies of using learning strategies in productive skill in English skill class with 78% for 
speaking skill, and 68% for listening skill. Besides, the most popular learning strategies applied are 
metacognitive, cognitive, and compensation whereas memory, affective, and social ones are not fully 
exploited. These findings lead to the fact that the participants are able to become considerably positive 
autonomous learners. Finally, the research suggests some implications for cultivating the learners’ 
employment of learning strategies in productive skills as wells as fostering their autonomy in learning 
English. 
Keywords: English class, English majors, learning strategies, productive skills 
Tóm tắt 
Bài viết khảo sát việc tự học của sinh viên năm thứ hai chuyên ngữ trong các lớp học kỹ năng tiếng Anh 
tại Đại học Sài Gòn với bốn vấn đề trọng tâm: động lực của người học để tham gia vào việc tự học, thái 
độ của họ đối với việc tự học, mức độ tự tin, và tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập cho các kỹ năng 
ngôn ngữ của họ. 176 sinh viên chuyên ngữ năm hai tại Đại học Sài Gòn đã trả lời bảng câu hỏi khảo sát 
về tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập trong các giờ học kỹ năng Nghe, Nói. Nghiên cứu cho thấy 
sinh viên được khảo sát thể hiện tần suất sử dụng các chiến lược học tập trong kỹ năng Nghe, Nói Tiếng 
Anh rất cao với 78% đối với kỹ năng Nói và 68% đối với kỹ năng Nghe. Bên cạnh đó, các chiến lược 
học tập được áp dụng phổ biến nhất là siêu nhận thức, nhận thức và khen thưởng trong khi các chiến 
lược học tập liên quan đến trí nhớ, tình cảm và xã hội không được khai thác triệt để. Từ đó, có thể thấy 
rằng đối tượng sinh viên được khảo sát có thể trở thành những người tự học thật sự rất tích cực. Nghiên 
cứu cũng đưa ra một số đề xuất thực tiễn trong việc trau dồi cho người học sử dụng các chiến lược học 
tập trong các kỹ năng Nghe, Nói, đó cũng là một phần trong việc thúc đẩy sự tự học của họ trong việc 
học tiếng Anh. 
Từ khóa: lớp học tiếng Anh, sinh viên chuyên ngữ, chiến lược học tập, kỹ năng nghe nói 
Email: kimtuyen2206@gmail.com 
PHẠM LÊ KIM TUYẾN TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN 
131 
1. Introduction 
No matter how many attempts have 
been continuously made towards 
enhancing the efficiency of English 
teaching in Viet Nam, the quality of EFL 
learning is still far from satisfactory, 
especially for productive skills (listening 
and speaking skills). There are, of course, 
several reasons to blame for this, both 
subjective and objective. However, it 
would absolutely be a mistake if we did not 
mention those stemming from learners 
themselves. In fact, students think there is 
no place other than the classroom where 
they can learn English. They seem to 
depend too much on their teachers without 
the initiative to learn on their own. 
Nevertheless, the fact is: 
 No school, or even university, can 
provide its pupils with all the 
knowledge and the skills they will need 
in their active adult lives. It is more 
important for a young person to have 
an understanding of himself or herself, 
an awareness of the environment and 
its workings, and to have learned how 
to think and how to learn 
(Trim, 1988, cited in Lijuan Jiao, 
2005, p. 27) 
In this background, learning strategies 
have been a buzzword within the context of 
foreign language teaching in the past 
decades, especially in relation to life-long 
learning skills. More and more teachers are 
focusing on developing students’ ability in 
learning English independently with a hope 
that they are more interested and active in 
learning English, consequently learning 
more effectively and gaining all-round 
abilities. As a result, it is extremely 
important for teachers to help students 
master how to learn by themselves as well 
as evaluate their learners’ learning process 
basing on the learning strategies they apply 
in their autonomous studying. 
2. Learning Strategies 
2.1. Definitions of Learning Strategies 
It seems that there has been no 
unanimous opinion on the definition of 
learning strategies. According to Elli 
(2004, cited in Wang Xianrong, 2015, p.7), 
the concept of learning strategies is still “a 
somewhat fuzzy one” and “not easy to tie 
down”. Hence, in an attempt to draw some 
main characteristics of learning strategies, 
we will review several definitions of 
learning strategies given by a number of 
leading figures in the second and foreign 
language field. 
O'Malley and Chamot (1990) define 
learning strategies as, “...special thoughts 
or behaviors that individuals use to help 
them comprehend, learn, or retain new 
information”. It can be understood from 
this definition that learning strategies can 
be either observable (behaviors) or 
unobservable (thoughts). Besides, this 
definiti ... HỌC SÀI GÒN 
139 
learners often neglect or have difficulty 
with oral production no matter how many 
words and grammar rules they have 
acquired. In addition, most often think that 
the ability to speak a language is the 
product of language learning, but speaking 
is also a crucial part of the language 
process. Furthermore, one special thing 
about speaking is that we cannot practice 
speaking when we are alone. For the other 
three skills, we can do alone, on our own, 
without anyone else. We can listen to the 
radio alone. We can read a book alone. We 
can write a letter alone. Nevertheless, we 
cannot really speak alone. That is why we 
should make every effort possible to find 
somebody to speak with. Thus, speaking 
strategies seem to be the key to difficulties 
that most language learners encounter in 
their master of spoken English. In this 
study, I have chosen eighteen speaking 
strategies, which are separated into three 
sub-parts: pre-speaking, while-speaking, 
and post-speaking strategies. The table 
below sketches the picture about students’ 
frequencies of using learning strategies in 
the speaking process: 
Table 2: Students’ frequencies of using learning strategies in the speaking skill 
Speaking Strategies 
Strategy 
category 
FREQUENCY 
Very 
often 
Often Sometimes Rarely Never 
High 
Strategy use 
Medium 
Strategy 
use 
Low Strategy 
use 
Before speaking, . 
1. I check that I understand the task 
I have to do 
Metacognitive 91% 9% 0% 
2. I decide my goal for speaking by 
thinking about what to 
communicate 
Metacognitive 91% 7% 2% 
3. I think about what information is 
the most important to the listener 
so I can focus on it 
Metacognitive 86% 6% 8% 
4. I think of what I have known 
about the topic 
Cognitive 77% 17% 6% 
5. I brainstorm words and phrases I 
can use while talking 
Memory 76% 22% 2% 
While speaking, . 
6. I try to figure out if I’m not 
making sense to the listener so I 
can correct myself 
Metacognitive 77% 19% 4% 
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY No. 64 (4/2019) 
140 
Speaking Strategies 
Strategy 
category 
FREQUENCY 
Very 
often 
Often Sometimes Rarely Never 
High 
Strategy use 
Medium 
Strategy 
use 
Low Strategy 
use 
7. I focus on topics that I know 
how to talk about, and I use 
language structures I am familiar 
with so that others can understand 
me 
Metacognitive 85% 14% 1% 
8. I imagine or draw a picture or 
situation that I want to talk about to 
guide me when I’m speaking 
Cognitive 49% 19% 32% 
9. If I don’t know the word for 
something, I describe it 
Compensation 63% 24% 13% 
10. If I don’t know the word for 
something, I substitute what I do 
know how to say 
Compensation 52% 40% 8% 
11. I use mime or gestures or a 
facial expression when I can’t 
think of the word for something 
Compensation 63% 30% 7% 
12. If I don’t know the word for 
something, I ask for help 
Compensation 40% 24% 36% 
13. If I don’t know the word for 
something, I show I need help such 
as pausing, a puzzled expression, 
etc. 
Compensation 37% 32% 31% 
14. I try to guess what the other 
person will say next in English 
Compensation 29% 27% 44% 
15. I use “stalling strategies” like 
“Well, now let me see, as a matter 
of fact, let me think, I have never 
given it a thought before, etc. 
Compensation 59% 31% 10% 
16. I encourage myself by saying 
positive statements such as “You 
can do” 
Affective 66% 17% 17% 
After speaking, . 
17. I check whether I accomplished my 
goal for speaking 
Metacognitive 79% 15% 6% 
18. I rate how well I did Metacognitive 70% 17% 13% 
PHẠM LÊ KIM TUYẾN TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN 
141 
The table tells us that over three-fourth 
of the total eighteen speaking strategies 
examined had their rate of high strategy 
use accounting for well over 50%, which 
appeared to be somehow very encouraging 
compared with listening and reading 
strategies. In details, there were fourteen 
strategies being used either “very often” or 
“often” by almost half of the participants, 
in which up two strategies, strategy number 
one and number two, were claimed with 
their high strategy use by well over 90% of 
the total students. 
With respect to low strategy use, 
noticeably enough, only four strategies 
were reported by over 30% of the students. 
Most prominently, strategy number 
fourteen - “ I try to guess what the other 
person will say next in English” was either 
“rarely” or “never” employed by nearly 
44% of the informants, implying clearly its 
unpopularity among all the speaking 
strategies surveyed. Next came strategy 
number twelve (36%), number eight 
(32%), and number thirteen (31%). 
Another evident point to know from the 
table is that none of the participants 
displayed their low strategy use on the first 
speaking strategy - “I check that I 
understand the task I have to do”, making it 
the only learning strategy all the subjects in 
the study showed either high strategy use 
or medium strategy use on. 
4.2.1. Students’ frequencies of employing 
pre-speaking strategies 
All the pre-speaking strategies, 
encouragingly enough, were employed 
with high strategy use by the majority of 
the students, which seemingly bore a 
strong resemblance to pre- reading 
strategies. It is apparent that well over 75% 
of the students either “very often” or 
“often” adopted all the five selected pre-
speaking strategies, thus revealing their 
even greater popularity among the 
participants in the study in comparison 
with pre-reading strategies. Specifically, 
nearly 91% of the subjects reported their 
high strategy use on metacognitive 
strategies number one - “Identifying the 
purpose of a learning task’ and number two 
- “Setting goals and objectives” making 
them the two most frequently used pre-
speaking strategies. What is more, there 
seemed to be a gradual decline in the 
proportion of students showing their high 
strategy on metacognitive strategy number 
three, cognitive strategy number four, and 
memory strategy number five with the 
corresponding figures being 86%, 77%, 
and 76%. In fact, the memory strategy as a 
pre-speaking strategy was implemented 
with the greater rate of high strategy use 
than memory strategies of the pre-listening 
and pre-reading stages. Furthermore, from 
the result above, we can see a great 
dominance of metacognitive strategies over 
cognitive strategies or memory ones at the 
pre-reading stage. 
4.2.2. Students’ frequencies of employing 
while-speaking strategies 
As far as while-speaking strategies are 
concerned, as many as seven out of the 
eleven strategy items altogether were 
reported with high strategy use by well over 
half of the students. These seven strategies 
fell into three categories of strategy 
including metacognitive, compensation, 
and affective, in which the number of 
compensation strategies led with four items 
followed by metacognitive (2) and affective 
(1), but it was metacognitive strategy that 
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY No. 64 (4/2019) 
142 
took a lead in terms of frequencies. It is 
quite clear that metacognitive strategy 
number seven - “I focus on topics that I 
know how to talk about, and I use language 
structures I am familiar with so that others 
can understand me” had the highest 
percentage of high strategy use (85%), and 
another metacognitive strategy number six - 
“I try to figure out if I'm not making sense 
to the listener so I can correct myself” came 
second with approximately 77% of the 
respondents showing high strategy use on. 
Another noticeable thing is that of the 
seven compensation strategies designed for 
speaking skill, interestingly enough, 
although the four strategies, comprising of 
strategies number nine, eleven, fifteen, and 
ten, were reported with their proportion of 
high strategy use being 63%, 63%, 59%, 
and 52% respectively, there still lie the 
other three strategies, all of which were 
listed in the table summarizing the fourteen 
least frequently used strategy items. 
Besides, not less noticeably, cognitive 
strategy number eight - “I imagine or draw 
a picture or situation that I want to talk 
about to help guide me when I'm speaking”, 
by the same token, appeared to be among 
the fourteen least frequently used strategy 
items with the proportion of low strategy 
use accounting for nearly 32%. 
Furthermore, it is clearly shown that the 
only affective strategy - “Encouraging 
oneself’ turned out to be relatively popular 
among the respondents because as many as 
66% of the surveyed students claimed that 
they either “very often” or “often” adopted 
it for their speaking process, proving once 
and again the undeniable importance of the 
affective strategy to facilitate the learning 
process. 
4.2.3. Students’ frequencies of employing 
post-speaking strategies 
With respect to post-speaking 
strategies, both of the metacognitive 
strategies chosen specially for this speaking 
stage were shown their high strategy use by 
over 70% of the participants, displaying a 
rather encouraging picture of students’ 
frequencies of employing post-speaking 
strategies. In details, metacognitive strategy 
number seven - “I check whether I 
accomplished my goal for speaking” was 
either “very often” or “often” adopted by up 
to 79% of the informants, closely followed 
by metacognitive strategy number eighteen 
- “I rate how well I did it” with the 
corresponding figure being 70%. 
5. Discussion and Recommendations 
Table 3: Breakdown of learning strategies by productive skills 
Strategy category/ Language skill Listening Speaking Total 
Metacognitive 8 7 15 
Cognitive 13 2 15 
Compensation 2 7 9 
Memory 1 1 2 
Affective 1 1 2 
Social 0 0 0 
Total 25 18 43 
PHẠM LÊ KIM TUYẾN TẠP CHÍ KHOA HỌC ĐẠI HỌC SÀI GÒN 
143 
From Table 3, the picture for students’ 
frequencies of using learning strategies in 
productive-skill learning process emerging 
here is rather comforting. Among 43 
learning strategies categorized by language 
skills, there are 25 listening strategies and 
18 speaking strategies in total. This means 
that the number of learning strategies is 
fairly equally distributed among two 
productive skills. With respect to the six 
strategy categories, interestingly enough, 
we can see that metacognitive and 
cognitive strategies appear to dominate in 
listening skill strategies, whereas both 
metacognitive strategies and compensation 
skills seem to exert their dominance in 
speaking skill. In other words, the most 
obvious difference between the speaking 
strategy pattern and that of listening skill is 
that compensation strategies proved their 
dominance over both metacognitive and 
cognitive strategies in the speaking skill. 
Furthermore, not less interestingly, only 
one memory strategy item and one 
affective strategy item designed for each 
language skill is carefully chosen to 
discuss the students’ frequencies of using 
learning strategies for these two strategy 
categories. Last but not least, it is also 
apparent that although there still exist 
enormous disparities about what strategy 
categories were preferred for each phase of 
language skills, most of the total students 
in the study displayed preferences of 
adopting metacognitive strategies with 
high strategy use over other strategy 
categories both before carrying out and 
after finishing a language task. 
All in all, by taking all these main 
findings mentioned above into 
consideration, we can arrive at the 
conclusion that surveyed second-year 
English majors at SGU demonstrate a 
quite high level of employing a range of 
learning strategies in productive skills 
in English class to study effectively 
and independently. To a certain extent, it 
means that they are capable of becoming 
autonomous learners, which has been the 
final target of many learning and teaching 
methodologies. 
With a desire to further promote the 
autonomy of English majors at SGU, 
bearing in my mind that although it is 
rather encouraging to explore that the 
majority of the students reported their high 
strategy use on most of the learning 
strategies, it is also apparent that students 
do not fully exploit the range of learning 
strategies given. Therefore, it is highly 
recommended that English teachers should 
pay more attention to empower their 
students with the ability of learning how to 
learn. For example, more concern should 
be invested in raising the students’ 
awareness of adopting social strategies as 
well as providing learner training because 
social strategies, among the six strategy 
categories, appeared to be the least fully 
exploited among the six strategy 
categories. It is the teacher's role to offer 
their students a great deal of guidance in 
order to help them decide on what 
strategies that work for them and 
experiment with those strategies, with 
which they are not so familiar. 
SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL OF SAIGON UNIVERSITY No. 64 (4/2019) 
144 
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Wang, X. (2015). A Tentative Study on Language Learning Strategies of Non-English 
Majors at Teachers’ Colleges. M.A Thesis. Anhui Province: Anhui University. 
Ngày nhận bài: 29/3/2019 Biên tập xong: 15/4/2019 Duyệt đăng: 20/4/2019