GENDER AND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES

Gender and Language Learning Strategies The first research on language learning strategies dates back to the mid 1970s, when an approach was adopted to determine why some learners were more successful than others in learning a second language. Some scholars (Naiman, Frohlich, Stern, & Todesco, 1978; Rubin, 1975; Stern, 1975) drew attention to good language learners to determine their characteristics in secondlanguage learning. According to Rubin (1975, pp. 45–47), a good language learner: (1) was a great guesser; (2) had an urge to communicate; (3) was willing to apply his/her knowledge; (4) focused on form; (5) practiced the language; (6) observed both his/her and others’ speech; and (7) focused on meaning. Since then, language learning strategies have been thoroughly investigated (Cohen, 1998; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990, 2011) because they have been considered as influencing the way learners learn a SL or FL. Several definitions have been proposed during the 1980s and 1990s. Oxford (1990, p. 8) defines language learning strategies as “steps taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations.” For Chamot (1987, p. 71), they refer to the “techniques, approaches or deliberate actions students take in order to facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information.” However, there appears to be no consistency among scholars concerning the nature of these strategies, that is, whether they are mental, behavioral, or both mental and behavioral. Regarding the mental component, Cohen states that they are “the steps or actions consciously selected by learners either to improve the learning of a second language, the use of it, or both” (1998, p. 5). Oxford only considers behavior, and describes them as “behaviours or actions which learners use to make language learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable” (1989, p. 235). On the other hand, O’Malley and Chamot (1990) and Oxford (1990) declare that they are both thoughts and behaviors that learners apply to understand, learn, and retain new information. It should be considered that not only are language learning strategies mental and behavioral processes, but they also depend on other variables, such as age, gender, proficiency, personality, context, and purpose of learning. These factors will influence learners’ choice of these strategies, which would allow teachers and researchers to acknowledge the way learners learn a second or foreign language. Through strategy training, teachers could instruct learners in these strategies so that they could become more independent in the learning process. Other features of learning strategies are that they are problem-oriented, flexible, and support learning both directly and indirectly (Oxford, 1990). Concerning taxonomies, scholars have proposed many classifications (Cohen, 1998; O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990, 2011; Wenden, 1983) (See Table 1). Oxford divides learning strategies into two classes: direct and indirect. Direct strategies involve “working with the target language itself in a variety of specific tasks and situations.” They comprise memory, cognitive and compensation strategies. Memory strategies help learners “store and retrieve new information,” cognitive strategies allow learners to manipulate or transform the target language, and compensation strategies “enable learners to use the new language for either comprehension or production despite limitations in knowl edge” (Oxford, 1990, pp. 14, 37, 47). Indirect strategies “support and manage language learning without directly involving the target language.” They include metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. Metacognitive strategies “provide a way for learners to coordinate their own learning process,” while affective strategies refer to the positive emotions and attitudes that are produced in the learning process, and social strategies involve the use of language for com munication and interaction (Oxford, 1990, pp. 15, 136). The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990), as it will be discussed in the methodology, considers the strategies proposed by Oxford in 1990. These are the strategies that are going to be analyzed in this study because they seem to be more detailed and inclusive.