Speaking_Strategies_Used_by_High_and_Low_Oral_Proficiency_Groups

Speaking Strategies Used by High and Low Oral Proficiency Groups Introduction Language learning strategies are used to accomplish speaking, listening, reading, vocabulary, or writing activities when learners engage themselves in language lessons (Oxford, 1990, p.9). If learners know that there is a task to complete or a problem to solve, they will use whatever metacognitive, cognitive, socioaffective strategies to accomplish all these language activities even if they themselves are not quite aware of what kinds of strategies they use. Focusing on speaking strategies, my research analyzes and compares the different speaking strategies that are used by high and low oral proficiency groups of students of EFL. Method A total of 9 students at NTUT participated in the study; 7 of them were female English major students while 2 of them were male non-English major students. None of them had experience studying abroad. The participants’ ages ranged from 20 to 24 years old. They were divided into two groups which are English major and non-English major students to have a short discussion in English lasting for about 15 minutes, and their discussion was audio taped. In this conversation, the students were asked to pick their favorite topic to discuss. English major students discussed the exhibition on Qing dynasty taking place in the museum; non- English major students talked about their favorite Kung fu movies. The test taker played the role of interviewer or conversation partner. Data analysis Step1: To count sentences that were produced by each of the students. To note down errors or mistakes that were made by each of the students on the basis of the grammatical rules of the English language, and I classified them as members of the high or low proficiency group. Step2: To identify speaking strategies through observation on the spot and the analysis of audio data. Step3: To classify speaking strategies into eight types-social- affective strategies, accuracy-oriented strategies, fluency-oriented strategies, negotiated strategies, code-switching strategies, nonverbal strategies, message abandonment strategies, and thinking in the target language strategies. Result The purpose of the first step in the analysis is to distinguish between the high oral proficiency group and the low oral proficiency group. It indicates that the high oral proficiency group seems to be more active in engaging in discussion while the low oral proficiency group tends to be more passive in speaking up in discussion. It also shows that English major students don’t necessarily have better oral performance than non-English major students. In the high oral proficiency group that employs social-affective strategies, we see that the students try to control their nervousness and anxiety during speaking in order to communicate smoothly; they encourage themselves to take the risk of making mistakes in English, and they also try to avoid silence during interaction. The high oral proficiency group also tends to employ accuracy-oriented strategies; they pay attention to the forms of English as they are speaking and pursue the goal of grammatical accuracy by self-correcting when they notice their errors. As for fluency-oriented strategies, the high oral proficiency group tries to make their speech clear to improve the listener’s comprehension, so they focus on the intonation, rhyme, and pronunciation when they engage in speaking activities. In contrast, the low oral proficiency group seems to pay less or no attention to either accuracy-oriented or fluency strategies, and they are not aware of the mistakes they make during speaking. In the high oral proficiency group that employs negotiated strategies, we see that they tend to maintain their interaction and avoid a communication breakdown. Sometimes, in order to make sure that their interlocutors receive the right message, they repeat the sentences again or give examples of terms until the interlocutors figure out the intended meaning. When EFL students encounter difficulties in an attempt to communicate, normally, they employ code-switching and nonverbal strategies to achieve communication goals. Engaging in conversation, both the high and low oral proficiency groups use their first language to fill in missing knowledge, or use eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions to give hints and help interlocutors guess what they are trying to say. Message abandonment strategies are common among the low proficiency group. These learners tend to give up their attempt to communicate, leave the conversation unfinished, or turn to someone for continuing the conversation when they have difficulties in sending their original message. The high oral proficiency group tends to employ thinking in the target language strategies. They think as much as possible in English during the process of interaction, because oral communication normally needs a quick response to listeners. Besides, they have a negative attitude toward thinking in Chinese and then translating it into English. Concerning the speaking part, results of data analysis show that the high oral proficiency group employs the following five categories more than the low oral proficiency group: social- affective strategies, accuracy-oriented strategies, fluency-oriented strategies, negotiated strategies, and thinking in the target language strategies. In conclusion, the learners who have the tendency to use these five categories of strategies are recognized as higher level speakers of English.