This paper investigates the relationship between language learning strategies and L2 proficiency. Language learning strategies were measured by the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, ESL/EFL Student Version), and L2 proficiency was determined by the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) for 332 university students learning English in Korea. The findings of this study are: (1) the relationship between language learning strategies and L2 proficiency was linear; (2) all six categories of language learning strategies as well as total language learning strategies were significantly correlated with the TOEFL scores; and (3) cognitive and social strategies were more predictive of the TOEFL scores than the other four strategy categories, jointly accounting for 13 percent of the total variation in the TOEFL scores. These findings provide evidence that L2 learners need language learning strategies, specifically cognitive and social strategies in the Korean context, to facilitate L2 acquisition and suggest that language learning strategies be taught in classrooms, focusing on effective strategies that may improve the results of strategy training.
This study examined the latent constructs of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS) using two different groups of Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) university students. Maximum likelihood exploratory factor analysis with direct oblimin rotation was performed among the first group of 217 participants and produced two meaningful latent components in the FLCAS. The two components of the FLCAS were closely examined among the second group of 244 participants to find the extent to which the two components of the FLCAS fit the data. The model fit indexes showed that the two-factor model in general adequately fit the data. Findings of this study were discussed with the focus on the two components of the FLCAS, followed by future study areas to be undertaken to shed further light on the role of foreign language anxiety in L2 acquisition.
This study compared L2 listening comprehension with L2 reading comprehension in terms of the roles of linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, and question types among 168 university students learning English in Korea. The analyses ojthe data found that L2 listeners processed inferential information more easily than factual information, while the reverse was true for L2 readers. In addition, linguistic and background knowledge exerted significant effects on L2 listening comprehension. In L2 reading comprehension, however, linguistic knowledge played a significant role, while background knowledge played only a moderate role. In terms of the interaction among linguistic knowledge, background knowledge, and question types, only linguistic and background knowledge in L2 listening comprehension and linguistic knowledge and question types in L2 reading comprehension were significant. Third, linguistic knowledge and background knowledge combined explained a total variance of 14% in L2 listening comprehension and 20% in L2 reading comprehension. These findings show that L2 listening comprehension and L2 reading comprehension differ from each other and that the comprehension of an oral and written text is a more complex process than the interactive process model holds.
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