SUCCESSFUL ENGLISH LEARNERS STRATEGIES IN IMPROVING SPEAKING ABILITY

English is an international language which is very useful in this globalization era. Therefore, many people want to master English. Some of them have been able to learn it successfully and used it in daily communication, while some others may think that English is a difficult subject to master. In other words, we can say that some people will successfully learn and use English, while some others will not.

 In English, there are four language skills, namely listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Listening and reading, belong to receptive skills, while speaking and writing belong to productive skills. Language learners are considered successful if they can communication effectively in the language. It means that the parameter of learning success is judged by the fluency of the language they produce. As a result, the learners success is often evaluated from their speaking ability, as language learners, we must be able to speak the language fluently. There must be some factors that are responsible for the learners success.

A common observation is that not only are some language learners more successful than others, but also those good language learners do different things than poorer language learners. In second language acquisition literature, this refers to the so called language learning strategy ( LLS ). Simply put, Language learning strategy is specific action, behavior, step, or technique used by the learners in the process of learning a language to improve their language skills. All language learners, needles to say, use language learning strategy in the learning process, whether in a conscious or unconscious way. The use of language learning strategy will somehow help the learners to improve their ability in learning a second language if the strategy selected by the learners appropriate with them. In contrast, if the learners use the strategy which is not appropriate for them, it will be useless.

The Strategies used to improve speaking ability

Based on Oxford’s taxonomy , there were 2 strategies used by successful English learners  to improve speaking ability are : Directly and Indirectly strategies. 

1. Directly Strategies

In directly strategies consist of 3 sets : memory strategies, cognitive strategies, and compensation strategies. It was important to be considered that to improve their speaking ability, the subjects needed to use memory strategies which assisted them in storing and retrieving the information ; cognitive strategies which helped them in understanding and producing the language ; and compensation strategies which aided them to overcome their limitation in speaking. These sets, therefore, assisted the learners to be good ‘performer’ of language ( Oxford 1990:14).  

a) Memory strategies 

Memory strategies consist of creating mental linkages, applying sounds and reviewing well.

b) Cognitive Strategies

In cognitive strategies , there were 3 strategies to be considered : practicing, receiving and sending message, and analyzing and reasoning. 

c) Compensation Strategies 

This strategy was important as it assisted the learners to solve their difficulties in learning, especially in Speaking .  The learners needed to use this strategy to avoid communication breakdown.

2. Indirectly Strategies

In Speaking,  learners not only have  good performers but the learners also have to be able to manage their emotion ,motivation , and attitudes.  This is called indirect strategies. Indirectly strategies consist of 3 sets, are metacognitive strategies , affective strategies and social strategies.

a) Metacognitive Strategies

There were 3 strategies in this set : centering the learning, arranging and planning the learning and evaluating the learning. Centering the learning as a part of  metacognitive strategies covered over viewing and linking the materials , paying attention , and delaying speech production. 

b ) Affective Strategies

There were 3 strategies used by the subjects; they were lowering the anxiety, encouraging themselves, and taking the emotional temperature. Lowering the anxiety was used by the subjects especially when they were in competition, although only 3 subjects used this strategy. Besides, they also  made positive statements to motivate them internally and gave themselves rewards to motivate them internally and gave themselves rewards to motivate them externally.

c ) Social Strategies

Speaking  will not be successfully  done if one of these three components is missing. Social strategies can be considered as abridge that assists the learners to interact with others. There were 3 strategies to be considered : asking question, cooperating with others, emphatizing with others.

Learning strategies , in fact are the issues of language learning which nowadays seems to be important to know and to do by language learners. Some strategies will be useful to some learners more than others, so it is hard to indicate at which strategy the kinds of learners to be the greatest one (Cahyani,2010 ).