A Study On Language Learning Strategies And Factors Affecting Language Learning Of EFL Non-English Major Students In Mongolia

As a result of appropriate approaches in teaching that lecturers understand the individuals’distinctions of preferable learning strategies,and affective approaches are essential for meeting students’demands and expectations for successful study.It is necessary to illustrate terminologies such as learning strategies and language learning strategies of students within the scope of the research aim to focus on delving into the topic further in the depth.The technique is a part of the learning strategies and is part of a process of achieving the goal(Derry,1990 and Schnotz,1994).Language learning strategy is a comprehensive notion that involves the target language,the student’s character,and a combination of other strategies(Ehrman,Leaver,and Oxford,2003:315).The researcher paid attention to study language learning motivation,and strategies perception of non-English major students and strategies instruction of English teachers based on the characters including cultural aspects and socio-economic features in Mongolia as language learning is dependent on various factors except for the linguistic concept.Schumann’s social variables including a learner’s cultural background or psychological characteristics play important roles in a second/foreign language learners’ receptivity to the target language and the target language group(Allwright and Bailey,1991).Effective cooperation of a student-a teacher-a university would result in a student’s ability to compete successfully in international exams such as IELTS and TOEFL.The most statistically significant relationships with strategies use and learning motivation were found for the following five independent variables such as gender,region,years of studying at a university,university entrance score in English and experience of a foreign language.Discovering students’ language learning strategies and investigating factors affecting their language learning namely motivation,strategies instruction and other factors affecting to language learning based on questionnaires,and interviews will be considered as important aspects that can enable students to employ appropriate language learning strategies.Disclosing recommendations and suggestions related to student perceptions of language learning such as motivation role,strategies use,strategies instruction of teachers and other factors affecting language learning in College English classroom due to the research results including cultural soil in Mongolia.The research was conducted at the beginning of Academic Year,2019-2020 to maintain the reliability of the entire questionnaire the first-year students were not included in the quantitative and qualitative research’s questionnaire and interview.The mixed methodology analysis could suggest and recommend curriculum and syllabus considerations related to the language learning strategies’implementation process in College English classroom of Non-English major students.Learning motivation and strategies instruction relation in their background variables were investigated as they could encourage students to apply English learning strategies in the classroom.The data collection process consists of the following four main instruments:(1)Questionnaires for students,320 participants;(2)Questionnaires for teachers,50 participants;(3)Interviews of teachers,5 interviewees;(4)Interviews of students,20 interviewees,and 4 focus groups,andThe value of reliability or Cronbach Alpha student questionnaire is 0.80,and the teacher questionnaire is 0.84.The component matrix(KMO)of the student’s questionnaire is 0.74,while the teacher’s survey is 0.72 that presents further analysis as acceptable.Scholar Oxford measured learners’ strategies use "1-5" point Likert-scale which presents"3.5-5" as a high,"2.5-3.4" as a medium,and "1.5-2.4 as a low.Mongolian learners’ strategies use Mean 3.38 and Std.Deviation 0.85 shows they are medium users of the language learning strategies.Strongly motivated students tend to be more frequent and more effective users of language learning strategies.Participants’ language learning strategies degrees of frequency use are dependent on their degrees of motivation-low,medium,and high.Regression analysis’s results present that a teacher’s frequency of strategies instruction impacts positively on the confidence of the instruction and its statistical significance is,tSTAT=7.2,Sig.=0.000<0.01(1%).We answered the main question and six sub-questions based on mixed methodology included quantitative and qualitative data analysis.The results of this study raise several implications for the development of a theory and pedagogical practice about language learning strategies use,language learning motivation by students,instruction of strategies by English teachers and other factors affecting language learning in higher education.Using English teaching methodologies including strategies instruction focused on learning motivation and strategies use of EFL learners are necessary for extensive and successful curriculum implementation.1)The value of strategies instruction in English needs to be advocated by policymakers,school authorities,curriculum developers,and teacher educators.2)Important components such as teachers’ knowledge,interests,beliefs,and confidence play key role in the implementation of strategies instruction.Therefore,it is necessary to include and highlight them in teachers’ training courses of strategies instruction.3)Strategies instructional models enable teachers to provide specific steps and procedures in their teaching methodology.Finally,teachers play a key role in facilitating their learners by helping them to understand the needs and value of using learning strategies for effective English learning.