EFL students’ perceptions and practices on learning strategies towards ESP for Political Education: A case at School of Political Sciences, Can Tho University

Abstract

This study investigated the perceptions and practices of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students regarding learning strategies for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the context of Political Education. The study focused on six (6) learning strategies of Oxford's (1990) classification, including (1) memorization strategies, (2) cognitive strategies, (3) compensation strategies, (4) metacognitive strategies, (5) affective strategies, and (6) social strategies. A mixed-methods approach was employed, including questionnaire and interviews. First, 101 items for questionnaire were administered to investigate the perceptions and practices of students on learning strategies. Then interviews for 15 Students and 3 Teachers were employed to capture more details about the students’ perceptions and practices on learning strategies towards ESP for Political Education. The study sample consisted of 187 EFL students from School of Political Sciences, who are currently participating in ESP for Political Education course named "Specialized English for Political Education Course 2". The findings revealed that the majority of students had positive perceptions towards ESP and recognized the importance of learning strategies in mastering this area. Besides, the finding also flashed that students practiced on learning strategies quite actively. Moreover, the significant relationship between perceptions and practices was found for a wide range of different types of learning strategies via the crosstabulation and chi-square, suggesting that this relationship might be a general feature of how students approach learning. Future research could explore how these findings might be incorporated into interventions to help students develop more effective learning strategies in ESP courses, especially in the context of Political Education.