Practicum teachers’ perceptions and instructional practices of EFL learning strategies

Abstract

In the practice of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL), it is inevitable that EFL teachers do not provide students with learning opportunities. To tackle the aforementioned issue, teachers need to bring EFL learning strategies and teach their students how to use them. Unfortunately, studies about language learning strategies (LLS) involving EFL teachers, very specifically practicum teachers, are still under-researched. To fill this gap, this present study employing a multiple case study examines the practicum teachers’ perceptions of EFL learning strategies and how they taught the strategies in their English classrooms. Three participantstaking their teaching practicum program in two different Junior High Schools were involved in this research.The data were collected through SILL questionnaires, semi-structured interview, and classroom observations. The results demonstrated that teaching practices of EFL learning strategies were influenced by the perceptions of the strategies. Cognitive (practicing and repeating), memory (applying images, reviewing, and employing action), and metacognitive strategies (planning/arranging the learning) were more frequently used by the practicum teachers and shared with their students. Nonetheless, the teaching practices of EFL learning strategies lack explicit strategy intervention, as there were no any explanation about the purpose of language taks and selected strategy evaluation