Korean Student
Compensation Strategies
Douglas Paul Margolis
University of Hawai’i
Department of Second Language Studies
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 1
Ugh!
Warm up
Teacher: “Nick, what is the past participle of the verb to ring?”
Nick:
“What do you think it is, Sir?”
Teacher: “I don’t think. I KNOW!”
Nick:
Margolis
“I don’t think I know either, Sir!”
TBLT 2005
Slide 2
TBLT & CS
Skehan, 1998
• Immersion studies
• Privilege of fluency over accuracy
• Compensation Strategies should be avoided in TBLT
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 3
Korean Student Characteristics
• Rote memorization study
• Grammar Translation / synthetic syllabus
• Study for tests, not communication
• Difficulty moving from accuracy to fluency
• Error avoidance tendencies
• Little experience with TBLT
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 4
Compensation Strategies
Definition
Compensation strategies
(Oxford, 1990)
 active,
 conscious techniques
 students can adopt and teachers can teach,
 to compensate for gaps in linguistic and lexical
knowledge in the target language.
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 5
Research Design
Research Questions
1.
1.
2.
3.
4.
2.
Survey (Based on Oxford’s SILL)
To which compensation strategies do Korean EFL
37 comp. strats / 5 self assess ability items (see handout)
university students most/least resort?
10 Universities (100 Ss each)
Identify most/least used by comparing means
Does student English proficiency level affect
compensation strategy utilization?
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 6
Study Participants
Korean EFL university students
Age range: 17-63 (majority 21-24)
Gender:
Female 60%
Male
40%
School Locations:
Seoul 42%
Urban (not Seoul) 28%
Rural 30%
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 7
Results: Most Utilized Strategies
Strategy
Mean
SD
1st Guess meaning from context
3.77
.83
2nd Find clues to meaning in other parts
3.63
.85
3rd Replace unknown word with synonym or
similar word
3.52
.88
4th Guess meaning from gestures or expressions
3.49
.93
5th Avoid difficult grammar
3.46
1.03
6th Circumlocute
3.44
.93
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 8
Results: Least Utilized Strategies
Strategy
Mean
SD
1st Brainstorm words in a topic before writing
2.10
.87
2nd Use approximations like /p/ for /f/
2.25
1.10
3rd Write heard words to help guess meaning
2.35
1.04
4th Coin words when you can’t remember one
2.55
1.08
5th Ask speaker to repeat w/ diff words or
expression
2.60
.98
6th Use an antonym to ask for an unknown word
2.64
1.00
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 9
Factor Analysis
Eigenvalue
Three types of strategies hypothesized:
1) Rising (Increase use as ability
increases)
2) Falling (Decrease use as ability
increases)
3) Horizontal (Relatively no change
related to ability)
Principal component analysis
Varimax rotation,
3 components
Cumulative 31.90% of the variance.
Saved as regression factor scores
Scree Plot
8
6
4
2
0
1
5
3
9
7
13
11
17
15
21
19
25
23
29
27
33
31
Component Number
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TBLT 2005
Slide 10
37
35
Factor Analysis -2Component 1
Component 2
Component 3
(Rising, negotiation)
(Rising, achievement,
guessing)
(Falling, reduction,
breakdown)
32, 21, 14, 13, 31,
33, 19, 11, 23, 12,
26, 18, 20
8, 9, 6, 16, 28, 15,
34, 10, 24
38, 37, 40, 29, 28,
25, 30, 27
Interaction oriented
Interlocutor assistance
Reception oriented
Speaking oriented
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 11
Results
• Three types of strategies seem distinguished.
• Comparisons of factor scores by ability levels reveals the
rising and falling patterns.
• There is a significant difference in strategy use at differing
ability levels.
• Korean EFL learners in this study most used a guessing
from context strategy and least used brainstorming
strategies in writing.
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 12
Limitations
• Self reports (not clear evidence of behavior)
• Causal connection remains unclear
• The difference in range between most used
and least used strategy mean = 1.67
• Restricted range of the 5 pt. Likert Scale
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 13
Implications for TBLT
1. Teach students rising strategies
2. Encourage students to avoid falling strategies
3. In Korea, TBLT may require compensation strategy
training to help students overcome fears of error.
4. Clarification requests and confirmation checks may be
more appropriate feedback types in Korean TBLT context.
5. As student communication ability increases, the types of
strategies they use appear to change whether or not
strategy training is implemented.
Margolis
TBLT 2005
Slide 14
Douglas Margolis
Margolis
Department of Second Language Studies
University of Hawai’i
margolis@hawaii.edu
1-808-956-2792
TBLT 2005
Slide 15