A comparison between bilingual and plurilingual EFL learners’ language learning strategies

Resumen

The present study compares the language learning strategies usedby bilingual and plurilingual English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners, and ascertains whether there are any statistically significant differences between them. Scholars have made comparisons on secondary (Vossoughi and Ebrahimi, 2003; Mitits, 2016),and university bilingual and plurilingual learners (Hong-Nam and Leavell, 2007; Sholah, 2019). However, to our knowledge, there is a lack of research with regard to second year of non-compulsory Secondary Education (equivalent to 12thgrade) EFL students in Spain. The sample consisted of 51 English language learners at 12thgrade. The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) questionnaire (Oxford, 1990) was employed to measure informants’ use of language learning strategies while learning English. Afterwards, students’ answers were processed electronically and analyzed quantitatively. Results showed that bilinguals and plurilinguals differ in their least used learning strategies. Moreover, no statistically significant differences were found between both groups.