An Examination of the Strategies Used for Learning English as a Second Language by Senior Secondary School Students in Botswana

This study examines the strategies used by speakers of English as a second language in Botswana’s senior secondary schools. The study was undertaken because many students in this country under-perform in their English Language final examinations at senior secondary school; and in order to establish the causes for their under-performance, the views of 150 randomly selected senior secondary school students were solicited through a questionnaire. The data were then analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. The results show that, although some students use facilitative strategies such as speaking and listening in English, using newly learned structures in real life situations, figuring out the meaning of something they do not understand and correcting their own mistakes, there are equally many students with shortcomings in the strategies they use for learning English, such as transferring structures from their first language to the second, giving up trying in the face of difficulties and being lowly motivated. To remedy the situation, it is suggested that teachers should frequently speak to individual students in order to establish the strategies they use for tackling different learning tasks, with a view to advising them on the use of appropriate strategies for various language skills. It is also suggested that the teaching approach and the English language syllabus be reviewed in order to meet the language needs of students in a technologically changing world.