LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGY USAGES OF FRENCH TEACHER CANDIDATES

The aim of this study is to identify the language learning strategies (LLS) mostly used by French teacher candidates studying in French Language Teaching Department of Anadolu University. Another goal of the study is to explore if the gender and the grade level affect their LLS preferences. The data is collected by the Turkish translation of Language Learning Strategies Inventory developed by Oxford (1990). The percent frequency analyse is used to determine the LLS usage level, t test and Kruakal-Wallis test were used to analyse the relation between gender, grade level and LLS usages of 106 participants. The results revealed that French teacher candidates employ more compensatory, metacognitive and social strategies, while they prefer memory-related, cognitive and affective strategies at a low level. According to the findings, it seems that gender is not a factor affecting preference of LLS (t(104) = .554, p = .581). The findings also indicate a significant difference between grade levels. Namely, the first year students use LLS more than the students of preparatory class and the sophomores employ these strategies much less than the first year students. According to the results, a strategy training focusing especially on less used strategy types (memory-related, cognitive and affective) seems to be important. In the second phase of this study, after a period of regular instruction of LLS, a study researching the effect of the instruction on success and motivation of teacher candidates is proposed.