Good Language Learners’ Strategies in Learning English

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate language learning strategies used by English undergraduate students at English Study Program in STAIN Curup. This study is important because it can discover the specific ways used by good learners in learning English, and the differences of the strategies used by among of the good learners. The classification of strategies in this research adopted from Rebecca Oxford’s taxonomy which is divided strategies into six categories. They are memory strategy, cognitive strategy, compensation strategy, metacognitive strategy, affective strategy, and social strategy. The respondents of this study were six good learning English as their study program in STAIN Curup. They were chosen by using purposive sampling technique. They are two students from second semester, two from third semester, and two from sixth semesters. The data was obtained from observation and interview. The observations were done on two weeks for each good learner’s activities in learning English. In observation the researcher spent his time in the field to investigate the stategies and activities of learning English. The interview used in this research is open-ended interview which consisted of ten questions. To enhance validity and reduce bias, the researcher used triangulation method. The finding revealed that the six good learners generally used all language learning strategies such as memory strategy and social strategy. In implementation of thise strategies, the good learners at hifher semester used cognitive strategy more frequently than do good learners at lower semester. They also created more language opportunities for metacognitive strategy.