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A paper presented in the International TEFLIN Seminar at Ahmad Dahlan University- Yogyakarta on December 6-7, 2005
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS AFFECTING LANGUAGE ACHIEVEMENT IN INDONESIAN EFL SETTING: A CAUSAL MODEL
By Ag. Bambang Setiyadi
Lampung University
Abstract
Some studies have been conducted to relate individual factors with foreign language learning. This study attempted to investigate how individual variables with regard to attitude, motivation and learning strategies play important roles in learning English in Indonesian EFL setting.
The participants in this study consisted of 29 male and 50 female students of different faculties who were taking an English course at a language center. The students were mostly in the last year of study. The data of attitude, motivation and learning strategies, which were collected through newly developed questionnaires, were analysed by undertaking reliability analyses and factor analyses. The underlying constructs of attitude and motivation, the use of learning strategies and the language achievement were correlated one another.
The individual variables of attitude, motivation and learning strategies proved to be associated with language achievement. Attitude was significantly correlated with motivation; motivation was significantly associated with the use of language learning strategies and the learning strategies were significantly associated with language achievement. The findings suggest that motivation mediates the relationship between attitude and the use of language learning strategies, while, in turn, language strategies were significantly and positively correlated with the gain scores in learning English. The four individual variables of language learners form a causal model of English learning in Indonesian EFL setting. Implications for the classroom and future research are also discussed in this article.
Key Words: language attitude, learning strategies, motivation
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Human beings have the capacity to acquire another language. The acquisition process cannot be separated from the types of input available in their surroundings. Within the scope of SLA research, input data have most typically comprised recurrent linguistic features of speech and, in some studies, written texts, addressed to learners, as well as the function in assisting learners' comprehension, supplying feedback on their imprecisions, and guiding them toward more accurate production (Pica, 1991, p. 187). The input available to learners not necessarily becomes comprehensible for them to process. It involves the so-called input processing (Van Patten and Sanz, 1995, pp. 170-171). In this process, input is converted into intake. From this process learners must still develop an acquired system; it means that not all intake is automatically fed into the acquired system, and there are still some other processes that learners have to do before input becomes output such as the conversion of input to intake and encoding linguistically. Because it deals with individual processes, many variables are automatically involved in the process and different individuals will use different processes. Even though they receive the same input, at the end of the learning process, they may have different levels of second language quality in their output. The differences in output cannot be separated from the role of individual differences.
Second (foreign) language learners can differ in many ways. Skehan (1989, p. 4) states some of the individual differences of learners include age, intelligence, aptitude, motivation, attitude, personality, and cognitive styles while in the process of learning the learners may differ in strategies. In this study, not all of the individual variables will be discussed. This study only focus on individual variables of attitude, motivation and learning strategies in relation to the success in learning English. The three variables are considered important since the three individual differences are regarded as non-innate variables, by which English teachers can provide conditions for the three variables to be optimally conducive to learning English.
ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING
Baker (1992, pp. 31-32) interchanges the term attitude with motivation. It seems that the interchange is influenced by Gardner and Lambert. The term integrative and instrumental, which is used to classify attitude, is commonly used to classify motivation (Gardner and Lambert, 1972). Also, there seems to be some disagreement about the terms of integrative and instrumental motivation in classifying the reasons for learning a foreign language. Various researchers might classify reasons for learning a foreign language differently (Spolsky, 1989, pp. 155-156). The term “integration” seems to have resulted from the situation in Montreal, where integration is an important issue for English speaking people and French speaking people. However, it is important to note that Gardner and Lambert found that while aptitude for language is one factor in the equation why some learn quickly and others slowly, attitude or motivation to learn a language was found to be independent of language aptitude. Students with higher ability or greater aptitude were not the only ones with favorable attitudes, nor were they guaranteed to succeed in learning a second language (cited in Baker 1992, p. 33).
Although the term attitude and the term motivation refer to similar ideas, Gardner et. al. (1993) seem to have differentiated attitude from motivation. Their study shows that success in mastering a foreign language also depends on motivation, language attitudes and other individual differences. Gardner and Lambert (1972) further explain that the learner’s motivation for language study will be determined by his/her attitude and readiness to identify and by his/her orientation to the whole process of learning (1979, p. 132).
However, not all researchers are satisfied with Gardner’s model. Spolsky (1988, pp. 155-6) responds that attitude affects motivation, but does not directly affect achievement. It seems that Spolsky suggests attitude is not a component of motivation but another factor which influences SLA through motivation. Skehan (1989, pp. 67-78) also has objections to Gardner’s model, which focused mainly upon integrative and instrumental orientation even though he states that Gardner (1985) indicates that there are other orientations. He wonders whether Gardner’s model may not raise difficulties in different situations. Lukmani's study (1972) indicates that in the Indian context the motivation for learning the English language is instrumental and it is this type of motivation which, in her study, correlates positively with achievement. So, it is very possible that findings in Montreal (Gardner’s model) will be different from those in another country, such as Indonesia, where integration with an English speaking community is not an issue. Spolsky states that Gardner (1985) emphasizes the fact that his model is empirical and developing; he does not claim his model to be true and final.
The discussion of the role of attitude and motivation in second language learning seems not to be final. Els (1984, p. 117) states that Gardner and Oller have redefined the distinction between attitude and motivation. Attitudes are considered to be directly related to motivation and viewed as motivational support and not as factors which have direct effect on L2 learning. Motivation is considered to have a direct effect on L2 learning. Motivation to learn a language is not only determined by attitudes, but also by other factors, such as the desire to please teachers or the promise of a reward. Els (1984) further explains that a learner who is instrumentally motivated does not necessarily have positive attitudes towards the target language group.
As discussed earlier, Kuhlemeier et al. (1996, p.500) assumed a strong relationship between attitude and achievement but the empirical data in their study did not justify the assumption. Their study, which involved secondary school students of the first German language instruction in Dutch Secondary Education, suggests that at the end of the school year the attitude and achievement correlated as weakly as at the beginning of school year. Further, negative relationships between attitude and achievement were found in a study by Svanes (1988). None of three groups from different cultural backgrounds: Western, Middle East and Africa, and Asia, who were the subjects of his study, revealed a positive relationship between achievement and attitude. The two studies explored the relationship between attitudes and language achievement. Attitude in the current study was related to language learning strategies through motivation.
Attitudes that are probably related to motivation to learn a foreign language are attitudes towards the language, the teacher, and the course. Baker (1992, p. 29) states that language attitude is an umbrella term, under which resides a variety of specific terms, such as attitude to language groups, to language lesson, and to the uses of specific language.
The relationship between attitude and motivation seems to be challenging, in that different researchers have arrived at different findings. This has been due in part to differences in concepts and definitions of attitude and motivation, and the relationships between them. In the basic classification scheme, in this study three types of attitude were assumed to affect language-learning strategies through motivation. Attitude was assumed to have three components: attitude to English, to learning English and to native speakers of English and motivation has two sub-components: desire (intention) to learn English and intensity in learning the language.
The role of motivation in learning a foreign language is not in question; many studies of the relationship between motivation and language achievement, for example, Lukmani (1972) and Olshtain et al.(1990) have shown evidence of the relationship between them. Nevertheless, different results have been provided about the role of motivation in language learning and different studies have also proposed different types of motivation. As cited in Dornyei (1994, p.213), studies on the role of attitudes and motivation in foreign language learning have been dominantly inspired by Gardner and Lambert. In their initial study, Gardner and Lambert (1972) did not separate attitude from motivation; attitudinal variables were viewed as potential determinants of motivation. Later, Gardner (1983 & 1991) formalized the concept by explicitly separating attitude from motivation. The studies on attitude and motivation, however, have arrived at different presentation of findings in relation to language learning (Oller, 1982; Els, 1984; Au, 1988; Skehan, 1989; and Belmechri & Hummel, 1998).
LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
Learning strategies are defined as steps or actions taken by language learners to enhance any aspect of their learning (Oxford 1990, p. 70). Oxford's definition implies that learning strategies are conscious activities because students are learning a language while they are conscious of the process. However, not all writers agree with a concept that learning always takes place while subjects are conscious or aware of this. Some researchers have argued over the conscious-unconscious distinction (McLaughlin, 1978; 1990, Krashen, 1979). Kihlstrom (1996, p. 33) states that subjects may be simply unaware of some stimulus response, or of what they are learning; subjects can engage in learning when they are not conscious at all, for example when they are asleep or anaesthetized. Referring to Oxford's definition (1990), in the study reported in this article, learning strategies refer to conscious activities since students seem to be aware what actions or steps they are taking to enhance their learning process to acquire another language. Or, at very least the students initiate the use of those strategies purposively and they may later be said to have become an automatic part of the students' repertoire of behaviour for learning. This concept of learning strategies is also commonly used by many researchers, providing a framework for their predefined questionnaires of language learning strategies (Oxford and Nyikos, 1989; and Awang Hasyim and Syed Sahil, 1994; Green and Oxford, 1995; Park, 1997; and Kaylani, 1999).
Previous studies on language learning strategies have uncovered what students are doing when they are learning a second/foreign language. However, only a few researchers have investigated the reliability and validity of the instruments they used for data collection. As stated by Oxford and Burry-Stock (1995, pp.3-4), many researchers analyzed the collected data with "a priori" concepts without measuring the validity and reliability of their instruments. The researchers analyzed the collected data by putting them into prepared slots. Still, some others interpreted the observable data only, without considering data related to the mental processing of the learners, for which an interview with students is required. Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, 1990) is among few strategy instruments that involves what language learners from their point of view and for which validity and reliability have been published (Oxford & Burry-Stock, 1995). However, the grouping of the language learning strategies in Oxford's SILL by factor analyses is still dependent on the environment of the learners. The SILL, which has six categories, has been used in different countries (Puerto Rico, Taiwan, PR China, Japan, Egypt, and USA) and the findings support 9 categories that are slightly different among the countries even though there have been some categories in common (Oxford & Burry-Stock, 1995, p.15).
The classification of the language learning strategies in this study was based on theory driving decision-making and theories of skill-based learning strategies. The analysis indicates to some extent all of the scales are positively and significantly correlated. Since, four scales have significant intercorrelations, in this study they were grouped into one single scale that was called Language Learning Strategy Classification (LLSQ). These strategies cover four areas of the language skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing and each area consists of 20 items.
The reliability and validity of the new measurement in this study: LLSQ have been statistically reviewed. Reliability is discussed by considering the internal consistency of the items of the language learning categories and the correlation among the skill- grouped categories. The validity of the LLSQ by reference to the construct validity is also discussed and it was conducted by using peer rating (Setiyadi, 2004).
THE CORRELATION AMONG ATTITUDE, MOTIVATION AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
As assumed, attitude is considered primarily to be directly related to motivation and viewed as motivational support and not as a factor that has a direct effect on L2 learning. In contrast, motivation is considered to have a more direct effect on L2 learning strategies. This assumption was supported by the data in the current study. The data reveal that attitude is not significantly correlated with language learning strategies but motivation does have a significantly positive correlation with language learning strategies. That attitude is predictive of motivation and in turn motivation correlated with language learning strategies is not a path that has been well explored. Not many researchers on language learning have conducted studies in this field and some believe that attitude is not separate from motivation in language learning as mentioned earlier. Among the few researchers who have conducted studies on the role of attitude in language learning as separate from motivation are Kuhlemeier et al. (1996) and Svanes (1988).
The table provides data consistent with this assumption, suggesting that attitude is not correlated with learning strategies, while motivation in learning English is significantly correlated with learning strategies. The result of correlation analysis provided in the table shows how attitude was significantly correlated with motivation even though the correlation was not strong (r= .26, and p< .05). A significant predictor of the use of language learning strategies is motivation (Pearson r = .23, p< .05). In this study attitude affects motivation in learning the language and this supports an assumption proposed by Gardner and MacIntyre (1993, p.9) that motivation mediates any relation between language attitudes and language achievement.
The role of motivation in language learning in general has been well documented (Spolsky, 1969; Lukmani, 1972; Olshtain et al., 1990; and Wen & Johnson, 1997; Dornyei, 1998) but studies on the role of motivation in strategy use are very rare. The current study is among the few that have investigated the role of learners' motivation in employing language learning strategies (see also Oxford & Nyikos, 1989; and Green & Oxford, 1995)
That motivation plays a great role in language learning is not questionable; many studies have been conducted that support this statement. Wen and Johnson (1997, p. 35), for example, state that motivation (learning purpose), with other L2 learner variables, has a direct effect on English proficiency. The empirical evidence in their study, whose participants were university students in China, suggests that differences in motivation lead to differences in language proficiency. More recently, Olshtain et al. (1990) conducted a study to determine factors predicting success in EFL among culturally different learners. The finding of their study, which involved Hebrew-speaking children in the Israeli school system, also suggests that the correlation of motivation (and attitude) and achievement in English is strong and supports the argument that motivation affects achievement.
As mentioned earlier, a previous study that has considered motivation in the context of language leaning strategies was conducted by Oxford and Nyikos (1989). Their study, which investigated variables affecting choice of language learning strategies by university students, has provided evidence that motivation had extremely significant effects on language learning strategies. The more motivated students used learning strategies more often than did the less motivated students (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989, p. 294).
Relationship among the Individual Variables
The relationship between motivation and language learning strategies found in this study may suggest a notion that motivation in learning a foreign language, which is then operationalized in language learning strategies, predicts learning success. This conclusion is supported by the fact that motivational measurement was taken before the measurement of language proficiency and the gain made and the strategies used that may have contributed to that gain. Language learning strategies, which appeared to affect language achievement in this study, therefore, appear to mediate the relationship between motivation and language achievement.
In summary, the empirical data on attitude, motivation and language learning strategies show a significant correlation between attitude and motivation and a significant correlation between motivation and language learning strategies, which appeared to affect learning success. This study suggests that attitudes, in particular attitude to English and English learning, affect learning strategies through motivation. While attitudes have an indirect effect, motivation has a direct effect in language learning strategies. The findings on the relationship between attitude and motivation, and between motivation and language learning strategies in this study are consistent with the model in Tremblay and Gardner (1995, p.514), which suggests that attitude affects motivation in language learning, and motivation, in turn, affects language achievement.
The following diagram shows how the individual variables form a causal model of English learning in Indonesian EFL setting.
Causal Model of English Learning
SUGGESTION AND PEDAGOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Several considerations for future studies can be suggested from the findings on the roles of attitude, motivation and language learning strategies in learning English:
1. Since this study was conducted with a limited number of university students, other studies need to be replicated with bigger samples on different proficiency levels of students to explore to what extent each variable provides the contribution to learning success. This way may provide more trustworthy findings on the strength of each category.
2. This study seems to be the first that has investigated language learning strategies employed in the four language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing in EFL tertiary setting in Indonesia. It would be worthwhile to conduct other studies in EFL tertiary settings in different contexts to explore whether the individual variables also contribute similar success to the findings of the recent study.
By knowing that attitude affects motivation, motivation affects strategy use and language learning strategies predicts language achievement, some pedagogical implications can be provided based on the findings of this study:
- Language teachers should be committed to the confidence and ability to introduce approaches which assist in building positive attitude in learning English. Starting from the beginning of the class and before learning takes place, language teachers should think about motivating their students to learn English in order that their students have positive attitude and high motivation in learning English.
- Language teachers should be encouraged to introduce teaching strategies that enhance effective learning strategies. Language teachers language teachers should encourage their students not to overuse learning strategies that involve the lowest mental processing and should train their students to use learning strategies that have been proved to be effective in English learning.
These propositions which have emerged from research can be taken as providing directions for English teachers to provide English learners with more opportunities in order to be more successful English learners in Indonesian EFL setting.
REFERENCE
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Appendix
CurriculumVitae
Nama : Ag. Bambang Setiyadi
Tempat/tgl. Lahir : Lampung, 28 Mei 1959
Pekerjaan : Lektor Kepala di Program Studi Bahasa Inggris- Jurusan Bahasa dan Seni, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan -Universitas Lampung
Riwayat pendidikan :
1. Sarjana Pendidikan (1984) Universitas Sanata Dharma-Yogyakarta
2. Master (1988) School for International Training -Vermont-U S A
3. Ph.D. (1999) La Trobe University -Melbourne, Australia
Riwayat pekerjaan:
1. Guru SMU (1984-1987)
2. Dosen di FKIP Universitas Lampung (1987-sekarang)
3. Ketua Balai Bahasa Universitas Lampung (1991-1997).
Karya Ilmiah yang disajikan (International):
1. A Survey of Language Learning Strategies of Tertiary EFL Students in Indonesia. Australian Association of Researchers in Education- Swinburne University, Australia (1999).
2. Language Learning Strategies: Classification and Pedagogical Implications. TEFLIN International Conference. Universitas Indonesia- Jakarta (2000).
3. SILENT WAY: Teaching English to Children. TEFLIN International Conference. UNIKA Widya Mandala- Surabaya (2002).
4. A Newly developed Measurement and its power to predict achievement. International Seminar and Workshop. The State University of Padang- West Sumatra (2005).
Buku yang diterbitkan:
1. Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, dkk. Teaching English as A Foreign Language- book II. Penerbitan Universitas Terbuka. Jakarta (2003).
2. Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, dkk. Teaching English as A Foreign Language- book III. Penerbitan Universitas Terbuka. Jakarta (2004).
3. Ag. Bambang Setiyadi. Penelitian dalam Pengajaran Bahasa Asing: Pendekatan Kuantitatif. Bndar Lampung: Penerbit Universitas Lampung (2005).
4. Ag. Bambang Setiyadi, dkk. English Learning Strategies. Penerbitan Universitas Terbuka. Jakarta (forthcoming).
thanks ya informasinya semoga bermanfaat.
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