Estrategias de aprendizaje en la comprensión lectora y producción escrita del inglés de estudiantes de grado séptimo de la Institución Educativa Pedro Antonio Molina de la ciudad de Cali (Colombia)

Abstract

This study was carried out in a public school in Cali city, with the participation of 35 students at seventh high school level (ages 11-13). The main objective was analyzed language learning strategies use in reading comprehension and written production in foreign language learning. Data collection instruments used were a questionnaire based on SILL Strategy Inventory for Language learning (Oxford, 1990), a semi-structured interview, and two tests: one for reading 6 comprehension and the other for written production. This study was conducted using qualitative and quantitative method. Depend on qualitative and qualitative analysis, findings indicate that metacognitive strategies are the most frequently used by learners, whereas affective and social strategies are the least used according to qualitative analysis, while the cognitive ones are the least used in the quantitative analysis. Although, learners say they use learning strategies, the results show a low performance in reading comprehension and written production, although in reading comprehension, it is a little better. Likewise, the data show that in reading comprehension learners apply more the strategy of making predictions with the help of images and titles, while in written production learners try to use more the generating ideas component. The findings also reveal that students with high performance use more learning strategies than those with low performance. Therefore, the importance of guiding students in the use of strategies so than they can perform a variety of tasks from an early age, helping them to be more autonomous and effective in their learning of English. This study would serve as a basic for future research in which learning strategies for the development of production and comprehension skills are resumed.