Abstract

Learners’ individual differences in learning English as a foreign language with large-mixed ability classes needs
a great attention in increasing their communicative language skills. One of Learners’ differences is learning
strategies. Learning strategy has a great role to promote students’ autonomy. It is one of front liners in
developing communicative skills of English. Understanding students’ learning strategies becomes a strategic and
important issue to gain brilliant ideas to design classroom activities and then, to promote students’ autonomy.
The study conducted with students in two senior high schools, SMA Negeri 15 and SMA Negeri 16 Makassar
South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia found that students only used meta-cognitive strategies at a high frequency
and memory, cognitive, compensation, affective, and social strategies at a medium frequency. In meta-cognitive
strategies, students have several degrees of autonomy promotion by independently organizing and evaluating
their learning progress, although other five learning strategies need intensively great efforts to support their
autonomy. Further implications of the study in English foreign language teaching and learning in the context of
implementing school based curriculum in Indonesia are also discussed.

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