Variations of Language Learning Strategy Use among Three Colleges at a Private Four-year Technology University in Taiwan

Abstract

This study aims to examine the college students in Taiwan for the attributes of how their English test scores are being affected by language learning strategy use. The university is recognized as a second-tier technology university in Taiwan, as the students are considered to have low levels of English proficiency and learning motivation. A group of 156 students from three colleges (Engineering, Business and Management, and Humanity and Social Science) participated in the study. The result found that the students from Humanity and Social Science have the highest mean scores on their English tests and the highest level language learning strategies among the three colleges at the university. Cognitive strategy is found to be the only statistically significant difference among the study students from three colleges; the other five strategies are not found to be statisically significant. Compensation strategy is found to be most frequently used by all of the students. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies are found to be the least used among the study group.