Relationships between the Use of ESL Learning Strategies and English Language Proficiency of Asian Students

The objective of the present study was to model the relationships between language learning strategy use and language proficiency among the Asian (Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese) students studying English in the United States. The instruments were a language learning strategy Questionnaire and the Institutional Testing Program Test of English as a Foreign Language (ITP TOEFL). Structural equation modeling was utilized to model the relationships between language learning strategies and language proficiency. The present study found only weak relationships between language learning strategies and language proficiency. Only 13% and 15% of variance of the listening and grammar/reading factor were explained by the language learning strategies. The metacognitive strategies appeared not to have direct relationships to the language skill factors, as was found in other studies (Purpura, 1996, 1997). The effects of the social and affective strategies were very small. They in combination could account about 1% and 4% of the variance of the listening and grammar/reading factors.