The Use of SILL Oxford on Understanding the Speaking Learning Strategies

| ABSTRACT Language learning strategies are activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulating their own language learning, and it has a strong relationship with learning success. On the other hand, employing effective language learning will improve students' achievements. Effective learning strategies are not the preserve of highly capable individuals but could be learned by others who had not discovered them on their own. Speaking skills as one of the majors in learning a language is expected to be mastered by Indonesian students in the globalization era. SILL questionnaire has been used in many countries around the world to investigate strategy use among groups of students of English as a Second or Foreign language. Therefore, this paper showed the relation between the use of SILL Oxford and the speaking learning strategies. The mixed-method approach was employed, and 183 Indonesian students participated in this research. The SILL Oxford questionnaire was adapted in this research in order to find the speaking learning strategies employed by the students. The interviews were conducted to get the students’ reasons as well as confirm the students' strategies and SILL Oxford. The finding showed that most successful Indonesian students employed metacognitive strategies with percentage responses of 72.7% and the affective as the least with a percentage of 56.8%. It was also found that most of them used paying attention, using resources for receiving strategy sending messages, and self-monitoring strategy strategies. The interviews resulted showed that the SILL Oxford result was the same as the students learning strategies. And their reason for choosing the strategies was their awareness of learning asn the importance of English. Therefore, it can be the basis for the students improving their speaking proficiency by applying successful student learning strategies.


Introduction
Learning strategies is one of the majors in language studies and research recently, and its belief has a big contribution to language learning. O Malley & Chamot (1990) in Alfarisy (2018) mentioned that Language learning strategies, as one of the important criteria in language learning, have received an increasing amount of attention not only in terms of their definition but also in terms of the factors affecting language learning strategies (Razmojo & Gazemi, 2011). Razmojo & Gazemi (2011) also said that the applied research on language learning strategies mostly investigates the pattern of effective language learning strategies r to pave the way for the students to learn as well as for the teachers to teach them how to apply those strategies by scrutinizing good language student's behaviors. Alfarisy (2018) said that the investigations on learning strategies got more popular after Oxford provided the detailed classification converted into a readily-used questionnaire called Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). Some researcher uses Oxford's SILL to explore the use of strategies like Lunt (2000) in Australia, to predict the learning success like Dreyer & Oxford (1994), and to find the factors that may affect like Mistar, etc. (2014). On the other hand, Wahyuni (2013) has investigated the L2 speaking strategies employed by Indonesian EFL tertiary students across proficiency and showed that the students preferred metacognitive strategy as their best strategy in learning speaking. Based on the reviews, it is expected to have more detailed information about the use of learning strategies according to SILL and the students employed. By confirming both views, it is expected that successful strategies can be employed by all students to improve their speaking skills. This research took place in Indonesia, one of the countries that applied English as a Foreign Language.
In the globalization era, the use of English, especially in speaking, improved rapidly. They are expected to be able to communicate with international partners around the world. And Indonesia, as one of the biggest country in the world, need more people able to speak English, so it is significant to understand the effective learning strategies for English speaking. Alfarisy (2021) said that more people are aware of the importance of English just like their breakfast or lunch, just like we do not need to ask them why they have to learn English. And speaking is one of the important productive majors in learning a language. Speaking itself is an activity where people roll as hearers, and speakers have to react to what they hear and make their contribution at high speed (Scott, 2005). O' Malley & Chamot (1990) in Alfarisy (2018) mentioned that the "good language learner" might be doing something special or different that we could all learn, and it is believed that the effective learning strategies are not the preserve of highly capable individuals, but could be learned by others who had not discovered them on their own. The less successful students can improve their speaking competence by applying the learning strategies of the successful ones. This research will deal with 183 students at the university level every year as the university graduates are expected to be able to speak English more fluently than other levels. The students also asked about their grade in speaking as well as their GPA to differentiate the successful and less successful ones. They filled out the SILL Oxford questionnaire, and after that, they get interviewed to understand the reason behind it. It is expected the speaking learning strategies can be understood clearly. Louma (2004) identifies that speaking is a meaningful interaction between people. While Cameron (2001) states that speaking is the active use of language to express meanings so that other people can make sense of them. On the other hand, Scott (2005) said that speaking or oral communication is an activity where two or more people roll as hearers, and speakers have to react to what they hear and make their contribution at high speed. Each participant has a purpose or an intention that she/he wants to achieve in the interaction. Added to this, speech is produced utterance-by-utterance in response to the word-by-word and utterance-by-utterance productions of the person they are talking to the interlocutor. Richards (2015) mentions the genre of speaking refers to knowledge of different types of the spoken interaction, including the discourse conventions of each kind of interaction. The genres include small talk, conversation, transaction, discussion, and presentation. In terms of classroom speaking, Brown (2001) groups the types of classroom speaking performances into five, namely imitative, intensive, responsive, interactive, and extensive (monologue). The stimulus is always a spoken prompt, with perhaps only one or two follow-up questions or retorts. In interactive speaking (dialogue), multiple exchanges and/or multiple participants are sometimes included. The interaction can take the two forms of transactional language (exchanging specific information) or interpersonal language (maintaining social relationships). In extensive (monologue) speaking, the speaking performances can be in the form of speeches, oral presentations, and story-telling, during which the opportunity for oral interaction from listeners is either highly limited (perhaps to nonverbal responses) or ruled out altogether. In language features of spoken production, things such as connected speech, expressive devices (stress and intonation), lexis and grammar, and negotiation language altogether should be taken into account. On the other side, mental/social processing consists of language processing, interaction with others, and (on-the-spot) information processing. From those perspectives, it could be drawn that some challenges should be faced by the speakers during their performances. Factors such as vocabulary and expression, fluency, grammar, pronunciation and intonation, and interactive skills should be coped with by the students. Oxford (1990) argues that the definition of learning strategies commonly used in the 1980s was indeed helpful, but it did not fully convey the richness of language learning strategies. Therefore, she expanded this definition into "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations" (Oxford, 1990: 8). Slightly different from Cohen (1990). Alfarisy (2018) defined learning strategies as learning processes that are consciously selected by the learner. A recent definition claims that language learning strategies are "the learner's goal-directed actions for improving language proficiency or achievement, completing a task, or making learning more efficient, more effective, and easier" (Oxford, 2011). In line with definitions from other researchers, this one includes components of 'actions' and 'movement towards the achievement of an objective'.

Definition of Language Learning Strategies
On the basis of the above account of constituents of language learning strategies, the researcher adopts the definition proposed by Griffiths (2008) for its concise representation of those constituents. According to her, language learning strategies are "activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulating their own language learning." Firstly, this definition reflects the meaning of the general term 'strategy', namely a conscious action toward the achievement of a goal. Secondly, it reflects the general semantic components of 'language learning strategies', namely 'actions' and 'purpose of doing the actions', and it also involves the details of the implied meaning of the two components, namely in the choice of the term 'activities', which implies physical or mental behavior. Further, 'consciously chosen' suggests 'intentionality' and a desire to improve one's language learning. Thirdly, the definition has the merit of breadth and precision. Griffiths (2008) claimed that it is broad enough to allow the freedom to research areas within it but precise enough to exclude learner characteristics and activities that are not language learning strategies.

SILL Oxford model of Language Learning Strategies
Another issue that has become the focus of much research on language learning strategies is the classification of the strategies. Oxford (1990) further claims that 46 out of 62 strategies from her whole strategy taxonomy are useful for the learning of speaking. Oxford (1990), whose strategy classification was chosen for the study, places learning strategies in two major classes: direct and indirect. Direct strategies are those that directly involve the target language. These strategies require the mental processing of the language. Indirect strategies are those that support and manage language learning without directly involving the target language. A detailed model of language learning strategies presented by Oxford can be seen in Figure Oxford (1990) The first major class, direct strategies, is divided into memory, cognitive, and compensation strategies. Memory strategies are strategies that help language learners store and retrieve new information. This sub-class constitutes creating mental linkages (grouping, associating/elaborating, and placing new words into a context), applying images and sounds (using imagery, semantic mapping, using keywords, and representing sounds in memory), reviewing well (structured reviewing), and employing action (using physical response or sensation, and using mechanical techniques). Second, cognitive strategies are those that enable language learners to understand and produce new language by many different means. This sub-class constitutes practicing (repeating, formally practicing with sounds and writing system, recognizing and using formulas and patterns, recombining, and practicing naturalistically), receiving and sending messages (getting the idea quickly, using resources for receiving and sending messages), analyzing and reasoning (reasoning deductively, analyzing expressions, analyzing contrastively across languages, translating, and transferring), and creating a structure for input and output (taking notes, summarizing, and highlighting). Third, compensation strategies are those that allow language learners to use the language despite their large gaps in knowledge. This sub-class constitutes guessing intelligently (using linguistic clues, using other clues) and overcoming limitations in speaking and writing (switching to the mother tongue, getting help, using mime or gesture, avoiding communication partially or totally, selecting the topic, adjusting or approximating the message, coining words, and using a circumlocution or synonym). The second major class, indirect strategies, is also divided into three sub-classes called metacognitive, affective, and social strategies.
The metacognitive strategies are those that allow language learners to control their own cognition. As displayed in this sub-class comprises centering one's learning (overviewing and linking with already known material, paying attention, and delaying speech production to focus on listening), arranging and planning one's learning (finding out about language learning, organizing, setting goals and objectives, identifying the purpose of a language task, planning for a language task, and seeking practice opportunities), and evaluating one's learning (self-monitoring, self-evaluating). Effective strategies are the ones that help language learners regulate emotions, motivations, and attitudes. This sub-class includes lowering one's anxiety (using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation; using music; and using laughter), encouraging oneself (making positive statements, taking risks wisely, and rewarding oneself), and taking one's emotional temperature (listening to one's body, using a checklist, writing a language learning diary, and discussing one's feelings with someone else). Thirdly, social strategies are those that help language learners learn through interactions with others. This sub-class constitutes asking questions (asking for clarification or verification and asking for correction), cooperating with others (cooperating with peers, cooperating with proficient users of the new language), and empathizing with others (developing cultural understanding, becoming aware of others' thoughts and feelings).

Methodology
This study aimed to understand the speaking learning strategies by using SILL Oxford. To achieve the goals, this paper applied a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, usually mixed-method. Cresswell (2003) defined the mixed method as a method that focuses on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data in a single study or series of studies. Its central premise is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches, in combination, provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone. Therefore, the data in the paper is collected sequentially to answer the research problems. And the procedure was to use the quantitative data to assist in interpreting the findings of the primary quantitative data (Cresswell, 2003). The quantitative method of the survey was conducted to learning strategies generally and individually, and it was followed by a semi-structured interview to get the confirmation and more detailed information behind their learning strategies. The implementation of the method by gathering both numeric information as well as text information so that the original database represents both quantitative and qualitative information.
The natures of quantitative data are taken from students' speaking achievement taken from GPA and their speaking scores, while the speaking learning strategies by using SILL Oxford were all expressed in numbers in this research because it was analyzed using SPSS 17.0 software. The data results of GPA and speaking scores will determine the successful and less successful Indonesian students. Furthermore, the result of the interview was part of quantitative data.
The population is all individuals with specific characteristics that the researcher would generalize (Frankel & Wallen, 2009). The population of the paper is all English students at the university level. On the other hand, the sample was about 183 taken from Yogyakarta State University every year. The interviews were done with several random students as representative of the successful and the less. In the paper to understand more about the SILL Oxford (1990), the questionnaire was used and distributed to all of the samples. 33 statements were adopted from SILL Oxford, combined with the 6 questionnaires adopted from Wahyuni (2013), who did the research by using SILL. The statements consist of three memory strategies, eight cognitive and compensation strategies; ten metacognitive strategies; six affective strategies; and four social strategies. The distribution of the statements along with their source, the represented strategy, and the strategies group were presented as follows. The questionnaires applied the Likert scale as a technique in a scoring system consisting of five-point scales ranging from always, often, sometimes, rarely, and never. According to Neuman (2006), the Likert scale is widely used in survey research to indicate whether the participants agree or disagree with the statement. It is called summative-rating since the participants' score on the scale was computed by summing and averaging the number of responses the participant gave. And in analyzing the data, the mean score and standard deviation for each learning strategy were analyzed. And to find the learning strategies used, the percentage of each category was shown. The successful students and not successful were categorized by analyzing the relation between the GPA and the speaking scores. And based on the multiple correlation analysis and descriptive statistics, it was found to have positive significance meaning that the higher GPA, the higher the speaking score. Therefore, the combination between the questionnaire and the interview will broaden the readers' minds on understanding the speaking learning strategies.

Results and Discussion
The quantitative analysis is applied in this study to find out the speaking learning strategies employed by the students. The data showed that the students used six speaking learning strategies group to Oxford (1990). There are 46 speaking strategies which consist of three memory strategies, nine cognitive strategies, eight compensations strategies, 11 metacognitive strategies, 10 affective strategies, and five social strategies. The mean score for this questionnaire is 3.31, with the SD being 1.11, which suggests that the average of the students' responses represents 'somewhat true of me'. On the other hand, it can be concluded that the data of the questionnaire represented the students' speaking learning strategies. The data was used to see the speaking learning strategies employed by the successful students with GPA of more than 3.50, so 70 students of the successful students and the rest were less successful. The finding of the successful students learning strategies can be seen in figure 4.1 and followed by    figure 4.1, the successful students used metacognitive and cognitive strategies followed by compensation, social, memory, and affective. Table 4.1 explains the findings in more detail; the top five highest speaking learning strategies employed by the successful students were item 21, 'paying attention', item 9, 'using resources for receiving and sending messages', and item 28, 'self-monitoring'. Item 21, 'paying attention', has the highest mean with a mean score is 4.27. The second highest mean with the mean score is 4.09 belongs to item 9, 'using resources for receiving and sending messages'. Item 28 'self-monitoring' has the third highest, with a mean score is 4.01. These three mean scores indicate that the use of these strategies is very high, and since 'paying attention' has the highest mean score, this is the strategy that students favored the most. On the other hand, the three lowest scores were item 34, 'writing a language learning diary', item 36, 'asking for correction', and item 35, 'discussing your feelings with someone else'. Item 34, 'writing a language learning diary', has the lowest mean with a mean score is 1.97. The second-lowest mean with the mean score is 2.26 belong to item 36, 'asking for correction'. Item 35, 'discussing your feelings with someone else', has the third lowest mean with a mean score is 2.31. Those three means are categorized low frequently in using those strategies.
The successful students employed 'paying attention', 'using resources for receiving and sending messages', and 'self-monitoring' as their speaking learning strategies, while the less successful employed the 'paying attention', 'finding about language learning', and 'using circumlocution or synonym' as their speaking learning strategies. It means that the successful students pay attention to someone speaking in English, watch English TV shows or movies spoken in English, and notice their mistakes in English as well as use the information to do a better in English. While the less successful students pay attention when someone is speaking English, find out how to be a better learner of English, and use alternative word or phrase that means the same thing when they cannot think of English word.
The interviews were conducted in order to know the reasons behind the students' choices as well as to confirm the strategies according to SILL. The successful students were Mg, Tr, and In. Some of the interview transcripts were presented in this part to answer the third research question. Griffiths (2008) mentioned that language learning strategies are activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulating their own language learning. It means that the language learning strategies are consciously chosen; this implies that students' awareness of the usefulness of the strategies was one of the 'reasons' or 'necessary requisites' for them to use strategies consciously and confidently.
Oxford (2011) mentioned that more frequent use of learning strategies was related to three learner factors: strategy awareness, perceptions of the importance of English, and self-perception of high English proficiency." Therefore, the interviews were conducted to understand why students use strategies in specific ways and understand their speaking learning strategies. One of the students' reasons for choosing the learning strategies was strategy awareness, the students aware that they are learning English speaking, so the best one is paying attention. When the students learn something, they have to pay attention. And on their speaking strategies, they have to pay attention to the English speaker that confirmed the transcripts below, Mg30 : For the example, I learn their culture and learned how to use some vocabulary like slang language. When I watch a video spoken in English and learn how to pronounce the new words, usually I pause the video, then practice the pronunciation and repeat it several times. (Mg30/STR.AW/2017)

In22
… like she said before, the basics of speaking is listening. We can speak well if we listen well, like watching a movie. By watching a movie, we can learn the use of some English expressions and words and use the new words in our life. I think it is easier to see the use of the words after listening to the pronunciation of the words first. (Laugh) (Mg22/STR.AW/2017) Mg mentioned that she paused the video and then practiced it several times. The pausing video means she paid attention when she watched the movie. In addition, In also confirmed that she employed the strategy since she mentioned how important listening is as part of paying attention. As we know, it is quite hard to communicate with foreign people or native speakers in Indonesia, so they learn English speaking from the movie or songs. They pay more attention when they listen to English movies or songs. She mentioned that the basic of speaking is listening; if we have good listening, so does our speaking. It means if we pay attention to someone who is speaking in English, we can have a good speaking since we pay more attention to how they spell and pronoun the words. From the statements, we can conclude that the reason for students' choice is strategy awareness. The students were aware that by paying attention, they could get more knowledge. They are aware that the learning strategy they use is the ultimate reason behind the students' choice. It can be concluded that the learning strategies employed by the students are the same as the ones mentioned in the SILL Oxford. They also used 'using resources for receiving and sending messages' as one of the most speaking learning strategies meaning that they watch English language TV shows spoken in English or go to movies spoken in English. Based on the interviews conducted, all of them confirmed that they employed this strategy in learning English speaking, and it was also confirmed from the questionnaire result.
Mg18 : What else? Hmm…I used to watch the movie. I like watching a movie and listening to a song in English, but it doesn't mean that Indonesian movies or songs are not good. When I watched the movie, which is spoken in English, I was amazed at their way of speaking in English. I also find a new vocabulary and know good pronunciation. (Mg18/STR.AW/2017)

Tr
: Basically, I like to watch a movie. By watching a movie, I can entertain myself and learn about English unconsciously. So, learning English is just through following the story of the movie. We learn how to pronounce new words too. (An34/STR.AW/2017)

In
: Sometimes, if I find the new words in the movie, it makes me curious. So, I repeat the movie several times. I can learn the use of slang language also from Australian movies, in which usually many slang languages will have presented. Sometimes the knowledge of the slang language helps us in the study since we have Australian Culture Class too. So, learning English through the movie is very effective, in my opinion. (In22/STR.AW/2017) Those transcripts confirmed that the successful students watch English language TV shows spoken in English or go to movies spoken in English. They mentioned that they like to watch a movie in English since through watching a movie, they can learn many things such as slang language. Tria mentioned that by watching a movie, she could entertain herself and learn about English easily. Either Mg or Tria mentioned that they like watching the movie because they can learn English through the movie. In addition, I mentioned that she could learn an authentic language in the movie. Those statements confirm that the reasons for their choices are that they are aware of how beneficial the strategy is. They are aware that through film or TV shows that are spoken in English, they can learn authentic and varied language unconsciously and for fun. The third strategy was self-monitoring, meaning that they noticed their English mistakes and used the information to help them do better means. The results of the interviews confirmed that the questionnaire resulted in matching with their learning strategies.
Mg22 : Talking with our friends in English is one of the strategies. Our environment forced us to communicate in English, like discussing the grammar class in English when the class ended. We know sometimes we make mistakes in speaking and realize that what is a mistake is more important. (Mg22/IMP.EN/2017)

Tr93
: Yes. Automatically, they will correct us. We feel that our friends will automatically remind us of the right words or pronunciation. It became the pattern in our life, whether on the campus or in boarding houses. (Tr93/IMP.EN/2017)

In92
: I prefer to study with my friends if I study alone no one corrects me mas. We will confuse about the use or meaning of the words. However, if we learn together with our friends, they will correct us automatically. Moreover, I feel more comfortable. Automatically our friends will correct us like this is not true and this is true. The most successful students employed metacognitive strategies as their speaking learning strategies comprise centering one's learning (overviewing and linking with already known material, paying attention, and delaying speech production to focus on listening), arranging and planning one's learning (finding out about language learning, organizing, setting goals and objectives, identifying the purpose of a language task, planning for a language task, and seeking practice opportunities), and evaluating one's learning (self-monitoring, self-evaluating) as stated in the by Oxford (1990) in his research. Moreover, the top three highest speaking learning strategies were paying attention, using resources for receiving and sending messages, and self-monitoring. It was found that the reasons for the student's choices of strategies are their awareness of how important the strategy is. This is in line with Oxford on his previous study. Oxford (2011) mentioned that more frequent use of learning strategies was related to three learner factors: strategy awareness, perceptions of the importance of English, and self-perception of high English proficiency, meaning that the students' awareness put an important role in learning speaking. Furthermore, the results of the interview have a strong relation to the questionnaire result. Therefore, in understanding the speaking learning strategies, we can use the SILL Oxford directly to predict as well as interpret the use of learning strategies.

Conclusion
This research attempted to understand the speaking learning strategies by using SILL Oxford. From 183 samples of university students level, it can be concluded that most of the successful students employed metacognitive strategies with the most strategies were paying attention, using resources for receiving strategy sending messages, and self-monitoring strategy with the mean scores. It was found that the reasons for the student's choices of strategies are their awareness of how important the strategy is. It concludes that the students' awareness put an important role in differentiating between the successful and the less successful. We can also understand that the SILL Oxford predicts as well as interpret the students' speaking strategies correctly as the result of the SILL questionnaire significantly related to the students' learning strategies according to the interviews. Finally, it is believed that these findings have several significant implications for encouraging educators and teachers who want to teach speaking since this research provide some speaking learning strategies. The students can improve their speaking skills by applying some speaking learning strategies employed by the successful students since it is already approved that the strategies work well. And other researchers can use the SILL Oxford to analyze the learning strategies.