Assessing the Language Learning Strategies of Two Indonesian Young Learners in the USA

This study attempts to discuss the English language used by Indonesian young learners who come to
the US and identify their language learning strategies. Some theoretical issues in second language
acquisition related to this topic are discussed and then followed by the discussion on the subjects’
learning strategies and some factors related to the strategies and the description of the subjects’
language development. It is always amazing to see how children acquire a certain language in a
relatively short time; not only how they produce sounds and combine them into thousands of words,
but also how they construct those words into sentences to express their feelings and thoughts. The
two subjects are good English learners: They had “three variables” of good language learning:
aptitude, motivation, and opportunity. They were bright children and they knew how to use their
knowledge in learning a “new” language; they were good guessers and risk takers. They were also
integratively motivated: they practiced their English; they were expressive and eager to communicate;
and finally they had now a good opportunity to learn English in its natural setting. The main implication
of this study is on the teaching of English to the Indonesian speakers. It is obvious that the differences
between English and Indonesian sentence structures have created difficulties to the learners. A
teaching syllabus based on contrastive analysis will be more realistic and will “touch” the learners’
language-leaning needs. A teaching syllabus based on contrastive analysis will be more realistic
though only in obvious contrasting features. It should reinforce marked differences in L2, where L1
and Universal Grammar are unmarked – so as to raise learner’s awareness of the new features.