Language Learner Strategy Use and Test Performance of Chinese Learners of English

Abstract

This article examines language learner strategy use reported by 121 Chinese learners of English through a questionnaire and the relationships between their strategy use and language performance on a national English proficiency test: College English Test–Band 4. Results showed that this group of learners reported using more metacognitive strategies than cognitive strategies in general. One subscale of cognitive strategies—inferencing—was reportedly used most frequently. Memory and retrieval strategies as a scale of cognitive strategies were the only significant predictor of the College English Test–Band 4, accounting for 8.6% of the variance in the test. A further examination of the relationship between the subscales of strategy use and the CET showed inferency and practicing naturalistically were the best predictors of the CET. The complex relationships between learner strategy use and their test performance are discussed with suggestions for further research.