LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES AND ENGLISH PROFICIENCY: Case study

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an exploratory case study conducted in a public University in Cucuta, Norte de Santander Colombia. The objective of this research is to identify the most common language learning strategies used by EFL students and to describe the relation among the strategies and the English level. 8 students were selected by purposive sampling as participants. The data was collected through an English online test, a survey designed by Oxford (1989) and a semi-structure interview. The results indicate that social strategies are the most used by efficient learners, compensatory by more efficient and metacognitive by high proficiency learners. Besides, the results reveal that, the higher the Language Learning strategies frequency of use is, the higher the proficiency level students have.