By Alfan Zuhairi (lecturer of FKIP UNISMA) & Junaidi Mistar (lecturer of FKIP UNISMA).
Abstract
The objectives of the present study are two-fold: (1) to identify the strategies to maintain English proficiency used by Indonesian lecturers of non-English departments, and (2) to explore how the identified strategies are employed. Three subjects, who acquired English in Australia for about seven to eight years and were back to Indonesia three to five years ago, were interviewed and their retrospective data were analyzed qualitatively. The subjects reported that writing and reading are the two skills they maintain very well, while speaking and listening are vulnerable to language skill loss. The finding indicates that active language use, especially in professional contexts, stands as the strategy most beneficial for foreign language maintenance. Thus, reading scientific articles from online journals and writing research papers for international journals are activities to maintain their reading and writing skills. Moreover, presenting papers in international conferences is an activity to maintain their speaking skill.
Key terms: maintaining strategies, English proficiency, language skill loss.
INTRODUCTION
In the discussion of the topic on developing proficiency in a foreign language, two aspects are worth exploring: learning strategies and maintaining strategies. While the first concept refers to actions the learners take during their foreign language learning activities, the latter concept refers to the actions they take after the formal learning activities have ceased in order to maintain the attained foreign language proficiency.
Research in the area of learning strategies was initiated by investigations of the characteristics of good language learners (Stern, 1975; Rubin, 1975; Rubin & Thomson 1983). Rubin and Thomson (1982), for example, found that ‘good’ language learners tend to exhibit some characteristics such as 1) finding their own way, 2) organizing information about language, 3) making their own opportunities, and 4) practicing using the language inside and outside the classroom.
Further research in this area deals with identification of strategies that good language learners use. In Asian contexts, Nunan (1991) investigated 44 good language learners and EFL teachers who experienced EFL in Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. He identified the strategies that good language learners use, including 1) making communication with native speakers outside class, 2) reading various kinds of printed materials in English, 3) listening to native speakers through radio and TV, listening to the songs and singing the songs, 4) watching TV and cinema, 5) visiting English speaking countries for communicating with native speakers, 6) practicing through conversation with proficient speakers in English and using the media, 7) creating a social interaction (exposure and practice the language) at home and with friends, and 8) practicing language outside the classroom.
Research in the area of learning strategies is even more popular when Oxford (1990) developed a Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) based on her classification of learning strategies. In general, she classified learning into two broad categories: direct strategies and indirect strategies. The direct strategies, those that deal with the use of the target language, consist of memory, cognitive, and compensation strategies. Meanwhile, the indirect strategies, those that do not directly involve the use of the target language but support the language learning activities, consist of metacognitive, affective, and social strategies. Fifty items of strategies were developed out of these six types of strategies.
Concerning with the role of learning strategies, despite some findings that indicate no correlation between learning strategies and English proficiency (Politzer & McGroarty, 1985; Oxford and Ehrman, 1995), the majority of research reported that they are significant factors of language learning success (Park, 1997; Mistar, 2001; Mistar, 2006). This fact implies that success in foreign language learning is to a large extend affected by the learners’ learning strategies.
Upon the termination of the formal learning period, learners face new tasks of maintaining their language proficiency. As a matter of fact, maintaining foreign language proficiency in unfavorable circumstances, like English in Indonesia, where most people in the society do not use English and where English native speakers are hardly available for learners to practice, is a hard job. Otherwise, their English proficiency will gradually decrease. This phenomenon is called language attrition. Thus, the discussion of language maintenance is very closely related with that of language attrition.
At least two factors may be predicted to influence language maintenance (1) personal factors, and (2) environment. Within the personal factor category, a number of factors may be listed. First is the basic language ability as it affects how language proficiency is maintained (Bahrick, 1984; Clark and Jorden, 1984; Weltens, Van Els and Schils, 1989), particularly in terms of grammatical complexity, lexical complexity, and lexical productivity (Tomiyama, 2008). The second personal factor is the age at which acquisition takes place. The idea is that foreign language maintenance hardly occurs among very young learners. In other words, younger learners are more vulnerable to attrition than older learners are (Cohen, 1989). Futhermore, Berman and Olstain (1989) found that the greatest loss, in terms of quantity and quality alike, was shown by the youngest children, from age five through age eight. In sum, the younger a child is, the more rapid the pace of language attrition will be. Next is attitude and motivation, with an idea that positive attitudes support motivation, which in turn promotes a long-term retention of learned material. Nagasawa (1999) finds that motivation and attitude are important factors both during the period of learning and during the period of reduced input and use. And the last is the proficiency level that a learner achieves in his learning or acquisition period. Tomiyama (2000) found that the attained proficiency level of English, when a subject returns to Japan, and acquired literacy skill seemed to have contributed to the child’s prolonged retention of English ability in EFL setting. Earlier, Tomiyama (1998) claimed that an attained high proficiency level is an important factor in the maintenance of a second language. Research findings that the initial achievement of advanced high was a strong predictor for retention of speaking skills (Nagasawa, 1998) and that high competence at study onset was the most predictive factor of L2 retention (Kurashige, 1999) support the claim.
Environmental support, the second factor, is also crucial for language maintenance. A linguistic situation in which people can practice using the language for daily communication can be an effective way to maintain language proficiency (Oxford, 1988). Sider (2003) found that besides personal motivation, exposure from the genuine “environment” from which a speaker acquired a certain language is also very crucial for language retention. Furthermore, without regular and frequent practices to use the language for routine communication, the logical consequences in the form of language loss are unavoidable. Thus, the more practice apportunities ones who wish to maintain their skills have, the greater the likelihood they should be successfull in doing so (Raffaldini, 1989).
In spite of the availability of much literature on factors affecting language maintenance, literature on how language maintenance can be maximized remains very little. Oxford (1988) state that when former learners no longer have a teacher to structure and present language material or to provide opportunities for practice, learning strategies can go a long way to providing them with the kind of support that is often necessary for maintaining language skills. She further provides some kinds of learning strategies which can be adopted for alternative ways to maintain English proficiency after learners graduated or when there is no more teacher in the language classroom.
Thus, some strategies should be applied to maintain the acquired language proficiency. If maintaining strategies are not put into action, the so-called attrition process of language will logically occur. Thus, to help them able to use maintaining strategies, the strategies should be identified first. Through a factor analysis Mistar and Zuhairi (2010) identified nine maintaining strategies used by Indonesian teachers of English, including strategies of language focusing, metacognitive and affective developing, reading and writing skill activating, language resource utilizing, cognitive processing, culture learning, social communicating, text analyzing, and radio listening.
Lecturers of non-English departments, however, may employ different maintaining strategies as their daily academic life is totally different from that of teachers of English. It is for this purpose that the present study is carried out. Two research problems are addressed in this study, they are:
- What types of strategies do lecturers of non-English department use to maintain their English proficiency?
- How do they employ those reported strategies?
RESEARCH METHOD
Research Design
The present research employs a qualitative approach with a descriptive design. Moreover, in terms of the types of data, the present study belongs to a retrospective study. Cohen (1987) states that a retrospective study deals with inspection of the specific language behavior revealed after the event takes place. He further maintains that the retrospection can be immediate (around an hour after the event) or delayed (a few hours, days, or weeks after the event).
Subjects of the Study
The subjects were lecturers of non English department who used to study overseas in an English speaking countries. In this case, a number of lecturers who studied for their master and Ph.D degrees in Australia were contacted and asked whether they thought that they still maintain their English proficiency. Their responses were verified by asking their colleagues about their English proficiency. Through these procedures, three subjects were then identified and they were lecturers in the Faculty of Natural Science, University of Brawijaya. Their length of stay in Australia varies from seven to eight years.
Data Collection and Analysis
To collect the required data in-depth interviews were carried out with the selected subjects to reveal the strategies that they employed to maintain their English proficiency. In addition, data of how the strategies were employed were also sought during the interviews. The questions in the interviews dealt with strategies they employed to maintain each skill of English, including speaking, writing, reading, speaking, and listening. In addition, questions on strategies to keep their mastery of vocabulary and grammar of English were also proposed. The collected data were then analyzed descriptively, and finally conclusions or propositions were drawn.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Findings
Voice from Subject 1
The first subject feels that his English proficiency is well maintained as he self-assesses that his writing and reading skills are still excellent, and his speaking and listening skills are still good. He describes his English skills as follows,
I think my speaking is not excellent, my listening may be good, I find it easy to listen with full understanding. I also communicate with some Australian researchers. And my writing skill is excellent.
Thus, in general this subject thinks that he has no problem with English as he can understand mostly well.
He describes his activities to maintain his writing skill as follows,
I communicate with many overseas colleagues via email, I also write articles for international journal, prepare for presentation in international conferences . As I am a reviewer for an international journal, I have to write my comments in English too. So that my writing is still excellent and it becomes my skill icon.
Thus, to maintain his excellent writing skill, he communicates both socially and academically in English. His social communication with his colleagues is carried via email, while academic communication is done through scientific papaers published in international journals.
Meanwhile, the activities that he does to maintain his reading skill is explained as follows,
Everyday I read online textbooks and sometimes newspaper, like Jakarta Post, especially when flying by Garuda. I also read online articles for teaching because I teach research methodology. When reading, I try to find the ideas of the paragraphs.
He also reported that he uses special strategies in reading, such as making notes, highlighting, and direct translating.
He admits that his speaking is not very good because he has no partner to practice speaking English at campus. The only opportunity he has is that he makes his class a bilingual class and he uses English more than Indonesian in his teaching. He does not use English when communicating with his wife and children as they are too shy to use English at home. His other opportunity to use English is when he is presenting papers in international conferences.
Then, to maintain his listening skill, this subject reported that he watches TV programs. In this case, he prefers the ones without subtitles as he thinks that he is disturbed by the subtitles. He likes scientific programs such as national geography and animal planet, but not films. He also likes watching news programs as he says,
To maintain my listening skill, I watch news programs such as Asian News, Singapore, Australian Network, BBC, and Rusia Today, because there is no subtitles in them. I think I understand 75%, not fully and not word by word.
From his listening activities, he reported that sometimes he gets new vocabulary items. Moreover, he does not think that he has problems in understanding because he is already familiar with the British, Australian, and American accent.
Finally, he reported that he tries to keep his vocabulary mastery by reading and writing. He tries to remember the vocabulary items by using them in his writing.
Voice from Subject 2
Subject 2 used to stay in Australia for eight years, three years, 1996-1999, for his master’s degree and five years, 2003-2008, for his Ph.D degree. The same as Subject 1, he thinks that speaking is the skill he maintains the worst and writing is the skill he maintains the best. In general he describes his activities to maintain his English as follows,
I am trying to be active in my subject, I mean always include in scientific community so I try to attend the conferences that related to my subject, I try to read and then reproduce, sometimes doing research, and then write, and sometimes ask my colleagues or my professor to write and then rewrite again.
To be more specific about his activities to maintain his writing skill, he reported that he keeps on communicating with his ex-supervisor in Australia. Then, before submitting papers for conferences, he always asks his ex-supervisor to proofread his papers. In this way, sometimes he argues the corrections, but the proofreader comments, “Sugeng, do you want to learn English or the subject? If you want to learn the language, just follow me”. He also reported that sometimes he prepares his teaching presentations in the form of powerpoints in English, though he explains them in Indonesian. He describes,
Sometimes when I give lecturers for my students mostly I write my powerpoints using English and I speak in Indonesian, so I use bilingual presentation.
Then, he also reported that he maintain and improve his writing skill through reading. He asserts, Sometimes I read because I am trying to know the style before writing. He also writes letters and keeps contact with his overseas friends by email in English.
Then, to maintain his reading skill he reads English textbooks, journals, and magazines. He explains,
I maybe do much work on reading, so far I prefer read English texts rather than Indonesian texts especially for preparing my research and lectures.
The journals that he reads are mostly online journal.
Mostly online journals, although sometimes I print them, but mostly online, if the journals are very important. Otherwise, I just read from computer.
Then, when reading he uses some strategies to keep the important points, such as using markers, underlining, or putting signs, and even writing. He asserts,
When I read, sometimes using markers, or underline, or put the sign, but if the paper is specific I just write down with hand writing.
Though his children are born and grow up in Australia and they use English when they communicate among them, Subject 2 does not speak English with them. He explains,
Although sometimes they ask, “Dad, what’s the meaning of this in English?”, but then when I speak English with them they reject because my English is not appropriate for them.
Therefore, to maintain his speaking skill, he always tries to attend international conferences at least once a year. Upon his return from Australia, he has presented papers in Russia, French, Ducth, and Australia. In addition, he reported that he tries to say ‘hello’ and have a small talk with foreign tourists that he meets. Sometimes, he invites them to visit Brawijaya Smart School, where he is the vice manager, to practice conversing in English. He also tries to speak English with lecturers from English department.
Finally, he reported that watching TV and listening to newsbroacast from radio station are the main activities he does to maintain his listening skill. Sometimes he watches films too. The important point he makes is that when watching films, he never looks at the subtitles. Sometimes, he does not even see the pictures because he wants to concentrate on listening to the conversation.
Usually I just watch TV or listen to news from radio, sometimes jut watch movies. When I watch movies, I try to ignore the subtitles. Sometimes I just listen a movie from computer without watching the pictures, just listen. That’s the way I do so far, at least, I can catch the words.
And, when he encounters difficult words, he has a special trick as follows,
Sometimes I just footnote for the English that I could not understand, I just put in my mobile phone, some important words. Sometimes I just memorize the word or using thesaurus to get the similar word, so I try to understand from similarization rather than write the word itself.
Voice from Subject 3
Subject 3 spent seven years in Australia when he learned for his master’s and Ph.D degrees. He also claims that he can maintain his writing and reading skills well, but not his listening and speaking skills. He is now preparing for a post-doctoral training in the Collage of London.
One of his activities to maintain his writing skill is that he keeps on writing research papers for academic journals. One of his papers was already accepted for publication in an international journal and another one is ready for submission. When he finishes writing a paper draft, he usually sends it to his ex-supervisor for revision. He describes,
I write papers for international journals and contact my friends from overseas by email because we still have collaboration for the papers, so when I finish my paper, I send it to my supervisor for his opinion or his suggestion and then we discuss, and then submit.
He reads online journals as he has access to English academic journals to maintain his reading skill. He also reads printed newspapers like Jakarta Post, especially when fying with Garuda. He also reads English novels. He describes,
When I go somewhere, I buy kinds of novels. I bought novels in Indonesia and overseas. So when I was at home, I read the novels that I bought.
Then, to maintain his English speaking competence, he teaches international students. In that way he has to use English in his class. He also actively participates in international conferences. In 2009, for example, he attended one in Perth, Australia. Sometimes he also speaks English with his daughter because when he went back home in 2005 his daughter could not speak Indonesian at all.
He reported that he watches movies, listens to the news since he has Indovision Channel to maintain his listening skill. He prefers international channel such as CNN because he prefers listening to English by native speakers to English by Indonesian. That is why he very rarely listens to English news from Metro TV or TVOne. He explains,
Sometimes I wacth news broadcasts on TV while eating something without taking notes, because mostly I can understand.
` Finally, to keep his mastery of English vocabulary, he reads English texts from internet, though only limited to scientific materials. When he finds a difficult word, he writes it on a paper and sticks it to the wall. He also finds its synonyms from the word program, not from a dictionary.
Discussion
The findings as presented above indicates that the most benefial strategy to maintain foreign language proficiency is by using the language especially in professional fields. Thus, reading scientific articles from online journals and writing research papers for international journals are activities to maintain their reading and writing skills. Moreover, presenting papers in international conferences is an activity to maintain their speaking skill. This finding supports the notion proposed by Schmid and Dusseldorp (2010) who jointly say that one of the basic predictions of psycholinguistic research with respect to language attrition is that language loss can be attributed to language disuse. Their research of first language attrition also supports this notion when they found that the most powerful predictor appears to be the use of the language for professional purposes. Meanwhile, language use in more informal settings appears to have a very limited protective function with respect to L1 attrition.
This finding is also in line with what Nyikos and Oxford (1993) assert in the context of language learning. They state that learners in communicative competence oriented contexts prefer strategies that involve active use of the target language, while learners in grade oriented contexts exhibit more strategies that deal with formal, rule-related processing strategies. Since the subjects of the present study are concerned with maintaining their communicative competence, both in written and spoken modes, then the active use of English is the strategy they employ. As such, it is understandable that all of the subjects reported that they are active in writing research papers for international journals. Moreover, Subject 2 tries to attend international conferences, in which English is used as the medium of communication, at least once a year.
When the subjects use English, for example in their writing, they are concerned with the correctness of the language including the grammar and the vocabulary choice. This metacognitive awareness is manifested in the strategy to ask their ex-supervisors (Subjects 2 and 3) to proofread their papers before being submitted to the intended journals. This implies that they employ form-focusing strategies in maintaining their English. This finding agrees with that of Mistar and Alfan’s (2010) study about maintaining strategies by teachers of English. Using a factor analytic study, they found nine categories of English maintaining strategies that teachers of English use. Out of the nine strategies, the most important factor is language focusing strategies, which by itself explains 34.47% of the total variance. This suggests that to maintain their English proficiency, the teachers focus on the correctness of the language they use.
The subjects’ willingness to ask their ex-supervisors to check the language of the articles they write also implies that they possesses a metacognitive awareness that writing is a continuing developmental process in the sense that a final product of writing is not achieved once a piece is completed. Rather, they consider it a draft that needs several revisions. This strategy of writing multiple drafts has been found to be a common strategy among second/foreign language learners. In support of this, Cohen (1991) describes three things that good second language writers do in the process of writing, including 1) retrospective structuring, that is, reading over the last few sentences before continuing to write, 2) using key words and phrases sufficiently to hold the ideas together, and 3) writing multiple drafts.
The present study also indicates that they are good readers since they focus on meaning when reading. Subject 1, for example, explicates that when he reads, he tries to find the meaning of the paragraph. The fact that he focusses on meaning when reading is understandable since his English competence must have been at the advanced level. Mistar (2002) found out that the top-down reading process is preferably employed by advanced readers, while the buttom-up reading process by the elementary readers. Smith (1971) distinguish good readers from poor readers by making an illustration of someone crossing a bridge, where one end represents the surface structure of a collection of words into syntactical sentences and the other end is meaning. The poor readers cross the bridge from the surface structure side, attempting to identify all the constituent printed symbols and deduce meaning from them. The good readers, on the other hand, start crossing from the other end of the bridge, that is, the meaning side. They predict meaning prior to actual reading activity and the reading act is to confirm their predictions based on some selected surface structure. Rejection, confirmation, and refinement of their predictions take place along the reading process. That is why Goodman (1976, p. 498) considers reading as a “psycholinguistic guessing game”.
When reading, some kinds of cognitive strategies are employed. Subject 1, for example, reported that he increases his comprehension by making notes, highlighting, and even direct translating. Subject 2, moreover, states that when he reads, sometimes he uses markers, underlines, or some other signs. These cognitive strategies are commonly used in long-text reading.
All of the subjects realize that the English that turns out to be hardest to maintain is speaking. One of the causes of such a detereorizing tendency is that they are lack of English linguistic environment. Oxford (1988) asserts that a linguistic situation in which people can practice using the language for daily communication can be an effective way to maintain language proficiency. Moreover, Sider (2003) found that exposure from the genuine “environment” from which a speaker acquired a certain language is also very crucial for language retention. To overcome the problem, all of the subjects employ social strategies, by which they create a situation in which they can speak English such as designing his classes to be bilingual classes. Moreover, they keep communicating with their overseas colleagues via email. In the context of learning strategies, Ellis (1994:538) defines social strategies as “the ways in which learners elect to interact with other learners or native speakers’ of the target language”.
Concerning the strategies employed to develop listening skills, not very much information is revealed regarding the subjects’ behaviors while listening to a spoken text. What comes out is merely concerned with the ways the subjects try to improve their listening skills and these cover such activities as listening to songs, watching films on TV programs, and listening to news broadcasts. Geltrich-Ludgate (1984) classifies these attempts as active listening activities. Commenting on these activities, Schnell (1995) considers them as being very useful and relatively easy to do.
One thing that is worth commenting on how the subjects listen to English texts such as on films is that they do not make use of the subtitles. This is done because they already think that they can understand well without looking at the subtitles. This fact is quite different from those who are still at the learning stage, not maintaining stage. Goh (1997) claims that one good strategy for developing listening comprehension skill is making use of subtitles in films to check comprehension. It implies that once a good listening competence is achieved, such a strategy to make use of subtitles is no longer needed.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
The study revealed that teachers of non-English departments tend to use English in professional context as the strategy to maintain English acquired overseas. In more practical sense, reading scientific articles from online journals and writing research papers for international journals are activities to maintain their reading and writing skills. Moreover, presenting papers in international conferences is an activity to maintain their speaking skill. In addition, more personal activities are also implemented, such as communicating with overseas colleagues through emails. Finally, strategies to maintain their listening skill include such activities as listening to songs, watching films on TV programs, and listening to news broadcasts. In short, an active use of English is undeniable if someone wants to maintain the language he/she has acquired. Otherwise, language loss will occur.
Recommendation
The phenomenon of language loss or language attrition has been quite common among learners of a foreign language upon the termitation of their learning period. This also occurs among non-English department lecturers who acquire English proficiency in an English speaking country when they learn for their masters and Ph.D degrees. To minimize it, they have employ certain strategies to maintain their foreign language proficiency. The present study has demonstrated the importance of active use of English, especially in professional contexts, to avoid the loss of the English skill. Thus, this strategy should be employed effectively in order that they will be able to maintain their English proficiency. However, since this study is approached qualitatively, the quantitative approach may also be used to reveal more specific strategies. Finally, the effect of proficiency level on maintaining strategy use still also need to be studied further with more theoretically-based classification of proficiency levels.
DAFTAR PUSTAKA
Bahrick, 1984. Semantic Memory Content in Permasture. 50 Years of Memory for Spanish learned at School. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 113, 1-29.
Bialystok, E. & Fröhlich, M. 1978. Variables of classroom achievement in second language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 62, 327-336.
Berman, R. A., & Olstain, E. 1989. Feature of First Language Transfer in Second Language Attrition. Applied Liguistics, 4 (3), 222-234.
Clark, J. L. D., & Jorden, E. H. 1984. A Study of Language Attrition in Former US Students of Japanese and Implication for Design of Curriculum and teaching Material: Final Project Report On line. From ERIC Reproduction Service. Retrieved November 1, 2008.
Cohen, A. 1989. Attrition in the productive lexicon of two Portuguese third language speakers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 11 (2), 135-150.
Huda, N. 1999. Language Learning and Teaching: Issues and Trends. Malang. Penerbit IKIP Malang.
Kurashige. 1999. Japanese Returnees’ Retention of English Speaking Skills: Changes in Verb Usage over Time. In Hansen (Ed). Second Language Attrition in Japanese Context. New York. Oxford University Press.
Mistar, J. 2002. English learning strategies of Indonesian students across individual differences. Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 11, 19-44.
Mistar, J. 2006. The effect of learning strategies on perceived English proficiency. Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pengajaran, 4 (1), 2006.
Mistar, J. & Zuhairi, A. 2010. Strategies to maintain English profieicncy by teachers of English in Indonesia. Lingua, 5(2), 168-177.
Nagasawa. 1999. Learning and Losing Japanese as Second Language: A Multiple Case Study of American University Students. In Hansen (Ed). Second Language Attrition in Japanese Context. New York. Oxford University Press.
Nunan, D. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teachers. Norwich: Prentice Hall International (UK) Ltd.
Nyikos, M. & Oxford, R. 1993. A factor analytic study of language-learning strategy use: interpretations from information-processing theory and social psychology. The Modern Language Journal, 77 (i), 11-22.
Oxford, R. L. 1990. Language learning strategies: what every teacher should know. New York: Newbury House Publishers.
Oxford, R. L. & Burry-Stock, J. A. 1995. Assessing the use of language learning strategies worldwide with the ESL/EFL version of the strategy inventory for language learning (SILL). System, 23, 1-23.
Oxford, R. L. & Ehrman, M. E. 1995. Adults’ language learning strategies in an intensive foreign language program in the United States. System, 23, 359-386.
Oxford, R., & Crookall, D. 1988. Learning Strategies. In Gleason, J. B. (Eds). You can Take It with You: Helping Students Maintain Foreign Language Skills beyond the Classroom. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regent Englewood Cliff.
Pallant, J. F. 2001. SPSS survival manual: a step-step guide to data analysis using SPSS (Version 10). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Park, G. 1997. Language Learning Strategies and English Proficiency in Korean University Students. Foreign Language Annals, 30, 211-221.
Phillips, D. 2001. Longman Complete Course for the TOEFL Test: preparation for the computer and paper tests. New York: Addison-Wesley Longamn, Inc.
Politzer, R. L. & McGroarty, M. 1985. An exploratory study of learning behaviours and their relationship to gains in linguistic and communicative competence. TESOL Quarterly, 19 (1), 103-123.
Raffaldini, T. 1987. Attrition of Communicative Ability among Formers Year abroad Students of French. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation. Indiana University, Bloomington.
Rubin, J. 1975. What the “good language learner” can teach us. TESOL Quarterly, 9, 41-51.
Rubin, J., & Thomson, I. 1982. How to be a More Successful Language Learner. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers, Inc.
Sider, S. R. 2003. Growing up Overseas: Perceptions of Second Language Attrition and Retrieval Amongst Expatriate Children in India.
Stern, H. H. 1975. What can we learn from the good language learner? Canadian Modern Language Review, 31, 304-318.
Tomiyama, M. 1998. The First Stage of Second Language Attrition: A Case Study of a Japanese Returnee. In Hansen L (ed), Second Language Attrition in Japanese Contexts (59-79). New York. Oxford University Press, Inc
Tomiyama, M. 2000. Children second Language Attrtion: A Longitudinal Case Study. Applied Linguistics 21 (3), 304-332.
Tomiyama, M. 2008. Age and Proficiency in L2 Attrition: Data from Two Siblings. Applied Liguistics. 30/2: 253–275
Vann, R. J., & Abraham, R. G. 1990. Strategies of unsuccessful language learners. TESOL Quaterly, 24, 177-198.
Weltens, B., Van Els, T., & Schils, E. 1989. The Long Term Retention of French by Dutch Students. Studies in Second Language Acquisition. 11 (2), 127-134.
