The Relationship Among Language Learning Strategies, Sex, Language Learning Styles, Career Choice, and Spanish Language Achievement

The purpose of this research was to determine whether language learning strategies, sex, language learning styles, and career choice would influence general and oral Spanish achievement. The sample consisted of 53 undergraduate North American students enrolled in Spanish classes in the Romance Language Department at The University of Alabama. Two classes were selected from the elementary Spanish level and one from the intermediate level. Every class received the same treatment over a five-month period. The three instruments administered and examined were the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), the Style Analysis Survey (SAS), and the CLEAR Oral Proficiency Examination (COPE). The results indicated that there was no significant influence of the four variables in terms of general and oral Spanish achievement. However, because most of the subjects leaned more towards one learning style (global) than another, it is believed that better achievement would be found if students were taught more about developing flexibility in their learning styles and strategies while learning a language.