A Study of the effects of social strategies instruction on social strategies use and english language communication abilities of primary students in schools using international baccalaureate curriculum

Abstract

To investigate the effects of social strategies instruction on social strategies use and English language communication abilities. The subjects were 60 students of grade 1 and grade 2 at KIS International School. They were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control. The children's social strategies questionnaire (adapted from Oxford's SILL) was used to identify social strategies use while Cambridge Young Learners English (YLE) Test Starters was used to identify English language communication abilities of the participants before and after the experiment. Their pretest scores were analyzed via the t-test to confirm the equivalence between the two groups. The treatments were delivered to both groups during the 14-week experiment. Weekly teachers' observation and students' self-reflection on strategies use were conducted. The posttest of Cambridge YLE and children's social strategies questionnaire were administered, followed by an interview with the focused-group once the instruction completed. The t-test and chi-square were calculated to gain statistical results. The research findings showed that most social strategies ue resulted from social strategies questionnaire of the experimental group is not significantly higher than the control group at .05 level. However, the results from teachers' observation and students' self-reflection showed that the social strategies use of the experimental group is significantly higher than those of the control group at .05 level. Regarding the English language communication abilities, paticipants from the experimental group gained higher scores than the control group in the posttest. However, they were not statistically different at .05 level. The descriptive data gained from the focused-group interview with participants from both groups also confirmed the benefits of social strategies instruction in terms of raising students' awareness and use of the learning strategies.