After collecting the responses of the participants of the questionnaire and the interview, the researcher utilized the quantitative data of the questionnaire and presented them in Appendix. The interview and the questionnaire are also analyzed qualitatively.
As an attempt to answer the first research question “What are high school EFL teachers’ perceptions about the necessity of teaching students how to learn English?”, this section presents the data from three items designed to elicit EFL teachers’ perceptions about the necessity of teaching strategies for learning English. The questionnaire was in the form of a four- point Likert scales, ranging from one “totally disagree” to four “totally agree”. Hence, the higher the mean score obtained the more agreement with the item the participants had.
The table below shows the teachers’ views about the necessity of teaching students how to learn English.
Table 4.2. EFL teachers’ perceptions about the necessity of teaching learning strategies
The necessity N Min. Max. Mean SD
1. Teachers should teach English learning
strategies to their students 40 1 4 3.22 .698
As seen in table 4.2, descriptive statistics showed that there were 40 teachers (N= 40) taking part in the study. The minimum value of item 1 is 1, which means that some teachers showed strong disagreement with this item.
The largest value of this item is 4, which shows that there is strong agreement with this item. The item number 1 “Teachers should teach English learning strategies to their students with four scales as totally disagree, disagree, agree, and totally agree.” had a high mean (3.22). This mean value indicates that most of the participants agreed with the given item. This finding suggests that the level of agreement of the respondents is very high. The tables below show the statistics.
Table 4.3. EFL teachers’ perceptions about the necessity of teaching learning strategies
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Totally disagree 2 5.0 5.0 5.0
Disagree 0 0 0 0
Agree 25 62.5 62.5 67.5
Totally agree 13 32.5 32.5 100.0
Total 40 100.0 100.0
The table gives information about participants’ perceptions about the necessity of teaching students how to learn English. Nearly all of the teachers (95%) agreed that teachers should teach English learning strategies to their students, only 5% disagreed. This illustrated that most of the teachers believed that teaching learning strategies in English language teaching is very necessary.
To approve the above viewpoint, in the teachers’ answer to question 1
“In your opinion, should teachers teach English learning strategies to their students?”, all of the three teacher participants confirmed that they taught learning strategies in English classes because they saw “the benefits that
learning strategies brings to teaching and learning. It facilitates teaching and motivates our student to learn English” (T1) and it is also very “efficient, as a source of enrichment material” (T2).
Utilizing learning strategies in my classes as EFL teacher is valuable for me and my students as well. It gives them an opportunity to learn the language in a very different and effective way. For me, it is a supplementary useful teaching way and it makes teaching more effective, interesting and active. However, teachers should be vigilant when choosing suitable learning strategies they want to teach to their students.
(T3)
Table 4.4. EFL teachers’ perceptions about the importance of teaching learning strategies
The necessity N Min. Max. Mean SD
2. The teaching of English learning strategies to
the students 40 1 2 1.50 .506
As shown in table 4.4, there were 40 teachers (N= 40) taking part in the study. The minimum value of item 2 is 1, which means that half of the teachers strongly agreed with this item. The largest value of this item is 2, which shows that there is strong agreement with these statements. It can be seen that the average value (Mean) of item number 2 “The teaching of English learning strategies to the students with four scales as very important, important, not so important, and not important.” is 1.50. This mean value shows that all of teachers had the same view that teaching learning strategies is important. This finding also suggests that the level of agreement of the respondents is very high though the EFL teachers had different levels of agreement about this idea. Therefore, the following table shows key data on the importance of teaching learning strategies to the students.
Table 4.5. EFL teachers’ perceptions about the importance of teaching learning strategies
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Very Important 20 50.0 50.0 50.0
Important 20 50.0 50.0 100.0
Not so important 0 0 0 0
Not important 0 0 0 0
Total 40 100.0 100.0
Table 4.5 shows that the importance of teaching learning strategies is appreciated on different levels. While half of the studied teachers stated that it is very important to teach learning strategies to EFL students, another half of the teachers agreed that it was important.
Moreover, in reply to the importance of teaching learning strategies, data from the interviews generally aligned with quantitative findings. That is to say, all of three respondents held a positive attitude toward the importance of teaching learning strategies. For instance, when being asked whether teaching English learning strategies to students is important in learning and teaching. teaching learning strategies was believed to help “brings better benefits and outcomes to students’ English learning” by T1. Sharing the same opinion about the importance of teaching learning strategies, T3 commented that “it is important and useful for students to be taught learning strategies because they help learning activities easier to do”. Another teacher, T2, added that teaching learning strategies is crucial as the more teachers teach learning strategies, the better students learn. T2 also asserted “teaching learning strategies is effective in general, but is more effective for students’ way of learning than others.”
From the above analysis, it indicated high agreement between the participants with the item 2. The researcher comes to the conclusion that the results achieved are positive, which indicates that the EFL teachers are fully
aware of the importance of teaching learning strategies to their EFL students.
Another interesting point is that the reasons for teaching learning strategies of high school EFL teachers varied. This can be clarified in table 4.6 below.
Table 4.6. Reasons for teaching learning strategies to EFL students Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent a. Teaching English learning
strategies brings better benefits and outcomes to students’
English learning
36 35.0 35.0 35.0
b. I have enough skills and knowledge to teach students how to learn English.
23 22.3 22.3 57.3
c. My students like to know and use English learning strategies.
17 16.5 16.5 73.8
d. My colleagues teach learning strategies to their students, so I have to teach learning
strategies to my students
6 5.8 5.8 79.6
e. Schools require teachers to teach learning strategies to their students
4 3.9 3.9 83.5
f. When I was at school, I was taught learning strategies and leaning strategies helped me to learn better.
16 15.5 15.5 99.0
g. Other reasons 1 1.0 1.0 100.0
Total 103 100.0 100.0
It can be seen in Table 4.6 that 36 of the respondents (35%) said that they used learning strategies in their teaching because it brings better benefits and outcomes to students’ English learning. Following this, 22.3% of the teachers thought that they have enough skills and knowledge to teach students how to learn English. Additionally, 17 teachers, accounting for 16.5%, agreed that students like to know and use English learning strategies. Therefore, the teachers were motivated to teach learning strategies to their EFL students.
Teachers’ personal preference in item f “When I was at school, I was taught learning strategies and leaning strategies helped me to learn better.” was also another reason for teaching learning strategies, making up 15.5 %. Another finding is that 5.8% of teachers stated that the reasons for teaching learning strategies came from their colleagues because they had to teach learning strategies to their students as other colleagues did. Interestingly, the reason
“Schools require teachers to teach learning strategies to their students” ranked as the lowest. This illustrated that the influence of school administrators does not have a strong influence on teaching learning strategies. Only 1 teacher (T1) gave other reasons for teaching learning strategies. She stated, “I teach English learning strategies to my students because it supports my teaching and helps my students to be more confident and active in learning.”
The findings from the survey data were fully supported by those high schools EFL teachers’ answers in the interview. To clarify this point more specific, when being asked about the reasons for teaching learning strategies, all of the three teachers confirmed that they teach learning strategies because they found that “teaching learning strategies improves student learning efficiency and supports students' self-study skills” (T1). Another reason for teaching learning strategies is because it “facilitates my teaching as it adds something to them like new strategies” (T2). T3 supplemented that it is
“beneficial” and it “adds something valuable or assists my teaching process”.
In summary, based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected from the first three questions in the questionnaire and the answers of question 1, 2, 3 in the interview as for the necessity of teaching students how to learn English, most of the teachers agreed that teachers should teach learning strategies to their students and that learning strategies play an important part in teaching. Additionally, the majority of the participants provided the reasons
for the necessity of teaching students how to learn English.