Hwa Kang Journal of TEFL May 2004 

The question following a mindfully selected and assumingly suitable language textbook is: How can we make the best use of it for the most effective language learning to occur? Grant (1991), for instance, obviously cognizant of the significance of this issue, provides five options for the language teacher to use textbooks: using, adapting, replacing, omitting or supplementing the methods and materials used in textbooks (p. 16). He reveals, however, that it is the students, not the teacher or the textbook, that matter the most (p. 9). How teachers use textbooks fulfills merely one side of the textbook-use story and may not correspond to that of the students. Even the students are divided as to the effectiveness of using textbooks for language acquisition. Although the values of the learner-centered approach and learner autonomy have been acclaimed in recent years (e.g., Weden), the existing research literature has not dealt with the issue of learner strategies in using textbooks. All the foregoing reasons have fueled the necessity of this study.

This study aims to examine learner strategies in using textbooks for language learning, with a special focus on listening textbooks. In other words, this study attempts to investigate four questions related to the issue of strategies used by adult EFL learners with their language textbooks:

1. What are the strategies EFL university learners adopt in using a textbook to improve their listening abilities?
2. Are there any differences in textbook-using strategies between high and low achievers?
3. Are the textbook-using strategies effective as reported by these adult learners?
4. What implications or insights can we draw from textbook-using strategies as perceived by students for better instructional outcomes?

Related Research

Second-language learning strategies have received attention ever since the mid-Seventies by Rubin in the United States and Naiman, Frohlich and Tdesco in Canada. Their research has centered around five main areas of issues:

1. good learners' learning strategies (e. g, Rubin, 1975; Naiman et al., 1978);
2. differences in English using strategies between good and poor learners (e. g., Huang and Van Naersson, 1985; Abraham and Vann, 1987; Ellis, 1994);
3. the relationship between the use of strategies and language achievements (e. g., Bialystok, 1981; Politzer and McGroarty, 1985);
4. factors affecting use of strategies (e. g., Bacon, 1992, Bialystok, 1981; Weden, 1987); and
5. training of strategies and measurement of the effects (e. g., O'Malley and Chamot, 1990; Oxford, 1990; Weden, 1991).

Early research on second language learning strategies, as just mentioned, has been broad and general in nature, but has paved a way for future research. Recent research has seen these strategies applied to more specific aspects of second language learning; for example, the impact of strategies-based instruction on speaking a foreign language (Cohen, et al., 2000). In most learner-strategies research, thus far, the textbook has been integrated into other aspects of second language acquisition, and assumed a subordinate or negligible part. This paper aims at examining adult EFL learner strategies in using a listening textbook and provides new insight to the existing research of its kind.

Subjects. Forty-eight graduate students who attended the researcher's Graduate English course in the 2003-04 academic year at Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan were subjects for this study. They came from two major fields of study; specifically, 25 students of History and 23 students of Life Science graduate institutes. Twenty-three History majors were first-year graduate students, with two in the second year; 20 Life-Science majors were first-year graduate students, with three in the second year. There were sixteen males and nine females in the History Department, while there were nineteen females and only four males in the Life Science Department.

As the student data showed, the majority of students were 24 years old, with five on-the-job students with ages ranging from 30 to 40. They had received almost the same formal English education in high schools and universities, but their semester final scores showed three noticeable levels of English proficiency.

A questionnaire of two open-ended questions (Appendix A) was distributed to the 48 subjects at mid-semester after the textbook Listen In 1 had been used for seven weeks. Students were asked to answer the two questions in either Chinese or English to the effect of best conveying their thoughts. It was discovered that the majority used Chinese as the medium for response.

Given a week to write their responses, all of them submitted the questionnaire with departments, names, and student numbers clearly designated on a sheet of paper with handwritten answers. Students were first asked to list, retrospectively or introspectively, three textbook-using strategies of Listen In 1 (features of which are described in Appendix B), and then self-evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies enumerated.

The data collected from the student responses to the two questions were classified and analyzed. The classifying and analytical procedures are stated in Appendix C. The data were classified and analyzed by major of study and English proficiency level. The results of classifying and analyzing the data are listed in Tables 1-3.

Based on the first semester final average scores, which were the results of a written final examination and several writing exercises, five highest and another five lowest scoring students in each of History and Life Science majors were selected for comparison. The strategies they adopted for using the Listen In 1 textbook are listed in Table 2.

A word of note must be made regarding the frequency counts listed in the tables: Although the questions asked each student to enumerate three textbook-using strategies and three reasons for the effectiveness of the strategies used, there were examples of overlaps, repetitions, ambiguous wordings, and more than three answers.

Before discussing the types of textbook-using strategies of the subjects of this study, let us look at four main types of strategies classified by O'Malley and Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990), Cohen (1998), and Skehan (1989).

O'Malley et al. (1985, pp. 582-584) classified learning strategies into three groups:

1. meta-cognitive strategies: advance organizer, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, functional planning, self-monitoring, delayed production, and self-evaluation;
2. cognitive strategies: repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note-taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, keyword, contextualization, elaboration, transfer, and inferencing;
3. socio-affective strategies: cooperation, question for clarification.

Oxford (1990) divided strategies into two main kinds:

1. the direct strategies, including memory, cognitive strategies, and compensation strategies;
2. the indirect strategies, including meta-cognitive strategies, affective strategies, and social strategies.

Cohen (1998), based on the purpose of using strategies, classified them into two types:

1. language learning strategies, including identifying the material for learning, distinguishing it from other material, grouping it for easier learning, repeatedly engaging oneself in contact with the material, and remembering it with efforts;
2. language using strategies, including retrieval strategies, rehearsal strategies, cover strategies, and communication strategies.

Skehan (1989) divided strategies into two types:

1. management strategies, which manage both the cognitive and affective processes, including setting up goals, making plans, choosing strategies, self-control, self-evaluation, and self-adjustment;
2. language learning strategies.

Findings and Discussion

It is interesting to discover that the subjects in this study showed almost as wide a variety of textbook-using strategies as the classification of language learning strategies just mentioned. Although somewhat differently worded, the strategies listed in Table 1 bear some, albeit not exact, correspondence to the four groups of classification. The verbiage used to describe strategies by the students was less specific, specialized, professional, or academic than what the linguistic writers described.

Translated into academic terminology, the students' self-reported strategies stated in Table 1 can be re-grouped as follows:

1. Cognitive Strategies
.

a.) repetition: repeat what has been learned; listen and speak out loud repeatedly;

b.) resourcing: look up the unknown words before class; listen to the CD;

c.) note-taking: mark the new words and write out the usages; write opinions or comments in the textbook;

d.) grouping: identify different types of listening;

e.) imagery: use the pictures for dialogue and listening practice;

f.) auditory representation: listen to the audio CD before class --key word: note the key word in the listening comprehension exercise;

g.) memorization: memorize the new words; and

h.) brainstorming: use brainstorming

2. Meta-Cognitive Strategies.

a.) advance organizer: preview according to the syllabus;

b.) directed attention: pay attention to the teacher's lecturing;

c.) self-management: spend several hours studying English every week;

d.) self-monitoring: review what the teacher has taught in the textbook;

e.) read the textbook to make a good studying habit; and

f.) delayed production: try to communicate in and listen to English.

3. Socio-Affective Strategies.

a.) play a skit based on the textbook content with classmates;

b.) practice the textbook dialogues with classmates or friends;

c.) discuss with friends questions in the textbook;

d.) learn English in a relaxed way

4. Language-Using Strategies
.

a.) make sentences with the materials provided by the textbook;

b.) do the self-study practice after class;

c.) use the knowledge and skills from the textbook; and

d.) use the textbook to practice speaking.

5. Management Strategies
.

One of the findings was that History major and Life Science major students showed different preferences in using the textbooks for listening acquisition. For the former, the three most used strategies were "listen to the audio CD before class" (22.91 percent), "preview according to the syllabus" (18.75 percent), and "review what the teacher has taught in the textbook" (14.58 percent). For the latter the three most used strategies were "use the CD to practice listening" (16.66 percent), "preview according to the syllabus" (12.5 percent), and "look up the unknown words before class" (12.5 percent). There was one commonality between the two majors of students, that is, "preview according to the syllabus."

Another finding was that the History major students showed a slightly greater concentration on the three most used strategies than the Life Science major students. In addition, the former possessed a slightly wider spectrum of strategies (26) than the latter (22).

As indicated in Table 1 (see page 9), both majors of students used more strategies for previewing (9) and reviewing (10) than using in class. Surprisingly, one of the in-class learning strategies that the teacher-researcher has unmistakably observed but which was not mentioned in the student survey was the note-taking strategy. The only exception was when one student mentioned "write opinions or comments in the textbook." Among the "Other Textbook-using Strategies," the majority were related to the general EFL learning strategies, including affective, cognitive, and vocabulary acquisition strategies.

The one remarkable difference between the higher and lower achievers of English proficiency was the number of textbook-using strategies used. As the statistical figures showed in Table 2 (see page 11), the higher achievers in both majors used more strategies (19 for History and 16 for the Life Science majors) than those (12 for History and 13 for the Life Science majors) of the lower achievers. There were two strategies that all four groups of students used, that is, "listen to the audio CD before class" and "do the self-study practice after class." The two strategies the higher achievers of both majors used most were "listen to the audio CD before class" (which reveals the importance of the CD for listening acquisition) and "preview according to the syllabus" (which indicated the importance of previewing).

The second most used strategies for the higher achievers of both majors were "do the self-study practice after class" (which meant that the higher achievers are more independent or autonomous in learning).

The most used strategy for the lower achieving History majors was "look up the unknown words before class" (which implies that the lower achievers have a smaller vocabulary), while the most used strategies for the lower achieving Life Science majors was "practice the textbook dialogues with classmates or friends" (which indicates that lower achievers of this major rely more on social skills for English learning).

Strategy Effectiveness

Of the 48 students surveyed, 46 of them considered that the textbook-using strategies they adopted were effective. One of the two who had a different opinion claimed that his textbook-using strategies were only partially effective in that "the standard pronunciation I got used to from the textbook was different from what I heard from the daily conversation." The other student with a negative answer contended that it was hard to judge the effectiveness of the textbook-using strategies she was adopting, as "the effectiveness of the strategies had less impact upon her than the lack of interest in learning English."

Although sharing the same affirmative answer, the 46 students showed a variety of reasons. As indicated in items 1 through 6 in Table 3 (see page 13), the majority of students attributed the reasons for the effectiveness of textbook-using strategies to the components of the textbook per se, ranging from the interest level, the audio learning accessory, the pictures, and contents (topics, exercises, and situations).

As indicated in items 8 through 13, the effectiveness of textbook-using strategies was reflected in learners' psychological and emotional boosting. For instance, some indicated being "not afraid of listening to and speaking English anymore;" some expressed being more "motivated, confident, and bold in learning and using English;" and some showed growth in interest, perseverance, and abilities in listening. More inspiringly, one student expressed being an autonomous and independent learner by saying: "I try to understand and learn on my own."

Still, there were two reasons that were difficult to categorize, items 16 and 17, which state, "I use words more properly" and "I become immersed in an English environment."

I think the strategies I use the textbook Listen In 1 are effective for improving my English because:

The results of this study have shed some inspiring lights of instructional implications on the researcher-teacher. First, the findings of the survey have revealed the breadth, width and depth of the textbook-using strategic knowledge the students possessed. The teacher may use such strategic knowledge of the students for adjusting future instruction on listening, by refining and developing students' textbook-using strategies.

Another instructional implication drawn from this study was that a noticeable number of students relied upon both the auditory and visual components of the textbook, that is, the CD as well as the pictures or illustrations, to acquire EFL listening comprehension. For instance, some students made the best use of the CD, before, during and after the class; however, how they used the CD for listening acquisition was only generally depicted. It is therefore imperative that in the future the teacher-researcher further examine such issues as the strategies the students used, the auditory and visual components, and how effective these strategies are for listening acquisition.

It is assumed by researchers that some language learners are more successful than others (e.g., Rubin, 1987). Under such a premise, in this study the students who had higher semester average scores were considered as more successful learners than those who had a lower semester average scores. A third implication of this study is that the most conspicuous difference in textbook-using strategies between those two groups of students lies in the number of strategies used. That is, more successful learners use more textbook-using strategies than their lower-achieving counterparts. Additionally, the former are generally more independent and autonomous as EFL learners than the latter.

From the student-written self-reports in this study we obtain a fourth implication. Specifically, the effectiveness of textbook-using strategies is associated less with the students' linguistic achievement or improvement in listening comprehension than in their mental reinforcement, interest and confidence-boosting, and habit formulation. These positive psychological signs gained by using the effective strategies are conducive to learning English as a foreign language and are expected to result in enhanced linguistic acquisition.

The final instructional implication is that in implementing this study, the writer has kept in mind such issues as what role textbook-using strategies play in language acquisition, whether they can be clearly defined, and how they can be distinguished from other learning strategies. This study has found that textbooks play an indispensable role in language acquisition, and the strategies for using them play an even more important role, as the strategies can facilitate the learning process and help make the best use of the texts for achieving the linguistic proficiency expected.

This study also discovers that the definition of textbook-using strategies is often blended with other dimensions of language learning such as goals, contents, the learner factor, and even learning strategies in general. In other words, it seems difficult to make a clear-cut definition of a textbook-using strategy, but it is recognizable that the definition must be concerned, in one way or another, with the textbook.

Conclusion

One of the limitations of this study is the applicability of the results to other student populations because of the under-representation of subjects. Another shortcoming is the single method adopted for collecting data of subjects' textbook-using strategies, which can be reinforced with future research by other approaches such as observation, interviewing, and even some experimental design. In addition, for future research, textbooks focusing on other linguistic skills can be compared for the strategies used.

Despite these weaknesses, this study provides the opportunity for examining the strategic knowledge and practices that my students have had for best using their textbook for listening acquisition. Based on the findings of this study, they may need to change or expand their concepts of textbook-using strategies, which will assist them in becoming autonomous and successful language learners.

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Please click to download the questionnaire in PDF format.

Authored by David Nunan (2003), Listen In 1, one of the three serial textbooks, has 20 units with different real-life topics. The major features of this textbook are depicted in the back cover, quoted verbatim as follows:

Listen In is a three-level listening program for young adult and adult learners of English from false beginner to high intermediate level. Offering 20 four-page topic-based units per level, the series uses a task-based approach to develop listening skills and strategies essential to effective communication while integrating speaking and pronunciation skills. With its personalized and learner-centered approach, Listen In gives learners the opportunity to practice listening and speaking in a variety of real-life situations.

Each level of Listen In, Second Edition, offers:

More Listening Opportunities: Real-life listening practice, using listening passages carefully developed to reflect language usage in the real world;

Starter Unit: Giving learners an introduction to essential listening skills;

Student Audio CD: Provides related listening tasks, allowing learners the opportunity to practice listening skills outside the classroom;

More Language Support: Relies upon a clear unit structure to ensure that learners have the language and opportunities to communicate effectively-and with confidence;

Guided End-of-Unit Tasks for Pairs and Small Groups: Allows for meaningful practice of language and skills;

In Focus: Provides opportunities for cultural comparison and personalization;

Four Review Units: Designed to recycle and consolidate listening skills and vocabulary; and

Language Summaries and Listening Skills Index: Located at the back of each Student Book, these enable easy reference.

First, the manuscripts turned in by the students were read and then catch-all or comprehensive terms or phrases were used to classify the ideas and thoughts expressed by the students.

Second, new terms or phrases were added to include all the opinions conveyed by the students.

Third, while classifying, the frequency counts of each strategic item were recorded.

Fourth, the foregoing process was repeated for classifying textbook-using strategies adopted by students according to gender, age, major and proficiency level.

It was found that although students were asked to state only three strategies in using the listening textbook, some expressed fewer than three, and some more than three. Additionally, some conveyed points not directly related to textbook-using strategies, while some expressed their answers in a vague or indecipherable way. Some expressed three strategies in a chain or closely tied manner, including some logical steps.

http://www.hkjtefl.org/2004-Tsai-Strategies.html

Yu-Hsin Tsai received his doctorate degree in Education from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1988, and since then has been teaching at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei. In 1993 he was named director of the university's Language Center, and publisher of The Hwa Kang Journal of TEFL. He has published numerous articles on various aspects of language education among university students in Taiwan.