Compensation Learning Strategies Employed by Adult ESL Learners of a University in Malaysia

The present research is an investigation into the repertoire of compensation learning strategies employed by adult ESL learners of UiTM Penang. The participants of the study were 30 Malay part-time learners learning English as a second language. The simple random approach was used in determining the respondents. The instruments used were two structured questionnaires, – adapted Oxford's (1990) SILL, version 7.0 and respondents’ background information – and semi-structured interview based on Wenden's (1987) guidelines. The questionnaire data were analyzed using SPSS and the interview data were transcribed and analyzed based on Wenden's guidelines (1987). Results of the study showed that the Malay part-time learners were at the medium level of using compensation learning strategies in learning English. In addition, not all of the compensation strategies under Oxford's (1990) model were fully utilized. Hence, the researcher recommended that there is a need to train the learners in other compensation learning strategies such as from the Oxford's (1990) model so as to extend their existing repertoire of the strategies which would enable them to employ more of the strategies when learning English.