Asian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Articles

Article Title
Nationality &Language Learning Strategies of ELT-Major University Students

Author
Mustafa Zülküf Altan.

Bio Data
Asst. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Z. Altan has been teaching for 17 years, and has both published and presented papers in Turkey and abroad. He currently chairs the ELT Department at Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey. His research interests include practicum in teacher education, teacher development, individual differences in language learning, and the theory of Multiple Intelligences.

              Abstract

              Although there has been an increase in research articles in recent 
              years dealing with language learning strategies, nationality is 
              one of the neglected variables. This paper presents the results 
              of an international study identifying the preferences of language 
              learning strategies of English Language Teaching (ELT) majors. The 
              subjects of the study are attending ELT departments of universities 
              in three different countries: China, Hungary and Turkey. The paper 
              also seeks to identify the most and the least used strategies by 
              these groups in addition to investigating the relationship between 
              nationality and language learning strategy preferences. According 
              to the results of the SILL, the findings indicate that very little 
              differences (although not at a significant level) in overall strategy 
              use emerged among Chinese, Hungarian, and Turkish background ELT-major 
              learners. Within strategy categories, however, significant differences 
              did emerge, and in terms of individual strategy use, major difference 
              also emerged, especially in the most preferred strategy groups. 
              