ESL Children’s Learning Strategies: Perceptions of ESL-Experienced Mainstream Teachers

This research examined teachers’ opinions regarding the effective learning strategy use of ESL and mainstream students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades in Alpine School District in Utah. The participants in this study were asked to compare the strategy use of mainstream and ESL students in the metacognitive, cognitive, social/affective and coping/concealing areas. The study was developed and conducted with the research goal of identifying the differences in strategy use between ESL and mainstream students and to more specifically determine which strategies ESL students struggle with the most. The results indicate that teachers did rate ESL students’ strategy use significantly lower than their mainstream counterparts. Most importantly, the study reveals the particular strategies and strategy areas where ESL students lag behind mainstream students. The most substantial discrepancy was found in the area of metacognitive strategies, those strategies used for planning and self-monitoring, which has been determined by researchers to be crucial to academic success and particularly to success in language learning. While the area of cognitive strategies also revealed substantial differences, the differences in the areas of social/affective and coping/concealing strategies were not as pronounced. The data were also analyzed to determine if the variables of teachers’ ESL experience or gender influenced teacher responses. For the most part, the influence of these variables was minimal. ESL experienced teachers rated ESL students significantly higher in their use of coping/concealing strategies, and mainstream students significantly higher in their use of cognitive strategies. Women generally rated both mainstream and ESL students slightly higher than men did. The study also yielded a variety of information regarding teachers’ opinions surrounding learning strategy instruction, observation of learning strategies, etc. The teachers expressed general agreement about the importance of providing learning strategy instruction while revealing a lack of confidence in their ability to accurately observe students’ strategy use. However, the significant findings of the study indicate that teachers may be more accurate observers than they realize.

Thesis Author: Durham, Julie Madsen

Year Completed: 2001

Committee Members: Lynn Henrichsen, C. Ray Graham

Thesis Chair: Neil J. Anderson