Language Learning Strategies and Beliefs about Language Learning in High-School Students and Students Attending English Institutes: Are They Different?

This paper reports a comparative study exploring language learning strategy use and beliefs about language learning of high-school students and students attending English institutes. Oxford’s (1990) strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) and Horwitz’s (1987) beliefs about language learning inventory (BALLI), were used to collect data. One-way multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. The results revealed significant differences between the two groups regarding their strategy use and beliefs about language learning. Institute students used significantly more memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive and social strategies. Also they held stronger beliefs about the difficulty of language learning and motivation and expectation than their peers in high school. The conclusions of the study along with related pedagogical implications are also discussed.