Extracurricular strategies of autonomous work used by students to improve English language learning

Abstract

Abstract: This study titled "Extracurricular Strategies of Autonomous Work Used by Students to Improve English Language Learning," aimed to analyze the autonomous language learning strategies implemented by students to enhance their English language proficiency and describe their impact on the improvement of productive skills, specifically speaking and writing. This research was conducted at a private high school in the city of Loja, Ecuador, and the participants were 39 first-year high school students. For this purpose, a mixed-method approach was utilized, comprising both qualitative and quantitative analysis. For data collection, two instruments were applied. The first istrument was a Likert-scale survey to explore the strategies used by students, and the second instrument was a semi-structured interview about perceptions. Finally, it was concluded that the most popular extracurricular strategies among students were listening to music or podcasts in English and using language learning applications, such as Duolingo. In addition, the results indicated that the strategies used by students were more effective in developing speaking skills compared to developing writing skills due to their emphasis on fluency and pronunciation over grammar and textual composition.