The Influence of School on the Choice of Language Learning Strategies in Botswana

This research seeks to examine the role that context or learning situation plays in strategy choice by comparing the strategy patterns of a private English medium secondary and a government secondary school in Botswana. More specifically, the main objectives of this study are to, firstly, investigate whether the ‘type of school' influences the choice of language learning strategies of its students: secondly, to find out whether private English medium secondary school students use more strategies than government secondary school students in Botswana; and, thirdly, to explore the role played by gender on the choice of language learning strategies. Form four students from one private English medium senior secondary school and one government senior secondary completed the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SIILL). The data was analysed using descriptive statistics to calculate means and standard deviations of strategies and inferential statistics such as ANOVA to establish the relationships between group and individual strategies. The findings of this study showed that the choice of strategies was not greatly influenced by the type of school from which the student came. However, this study found that government school students relied more on the use of dictionaries. On the other hand, private English medium students volunteered to look for conversation partners in order to get practice in speaking English. In relation to gender, the findings of this study confirmed other previous findings that female students use more language learning strategies than do male students. Keywords: language, learning, context, strategies, gender, influence MARANG Vol. 18 2008 pp. 15-2

The relationship between proficiency and self-efficacy beliefs of the University of Botswana students learning ELS

No Abstract. MARANG: Journal of Language and Literature Vol. 16 2006: pp. 121-13

Heutagogy in Postgraduate Education: Cognitive Advantages for Higher Degree Online Students

As the nature of postgraduate education changes with the inclusion of diverse groups of students who may live at a distance (sometimes in remote areas) and new and emerging technological affordances, shifts are signaled in relationships with peers, teaching staff, and higher education organizations. Heutagogy, as a self-directed approach to learning, supports higher-level cognitive function, double-loop learning, and a shift from educator centered to learner initiated and driven learning. Provided is an account of heutagogy in the form of three case studies that illustrate heutagogy in the teaching, learning, and supervision of online postgraduate education students through a variety of traditional, immersive, and engaging emerging online tools. By discussing the use of both traditional and emerging innovative ICT tools, provided is an overview of how postgraduate students can demonstrate heutagogical approaches to learning, offering readers ideas and alternatives to use in their profession as online educators