Learning Strategies Of Successful Students In Toefl Test: A Case Study In University

Abstract

The TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is one of the most widely used assessments of English competence. Now a number of Indonesian colleges demand TOEFL scores in order to graduate and the students' comprehension of English in academic work can be predicted by their TOEFL results. However, it is not easy to get this score, many students have difficulty and fail to achieve the graduation requirements by getting a minimum score of 500. However, it is not easy to get this score, because many students have difficulty to achieve the graduation requirements by getting a minimum score of 500. Therefore, students used a learning strategies during the TOEFL test in the form of; Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Compensation Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies, Affective Strategies and Social Strategies. Thus, this reseacrh aimed to find out the strategies used by students to achieve high scores in conducting the TOEFL exam and to know the students' process in choosing strategies for each TOEFL section. The qualitative reseacrh was used in this navigataion and took an interview of 15 questions from 3 students in the semester 8 who had taken the TOEFL exam with a score above 500. The data analysis in this research used from Sugiyono (2010) by employing a number of methods, including the data reduction, data display, and data conclusion. In the terms of first question, it showed that students used a variety of methods in each session, such as: 1) students watch films during the listening session; 2) students practice writing questions related to structure and written expression; and 3) during the reading comprehension session, when all students use a method that involves reading the question first and then looking for the main idea of the reading. Vocabulary knowledge can also be used as a starting point. And In the listening comprehension portion, students select the scanning approach. Students used their knowledge of subject-verb agreement and word class identification to tackle the second section of the TOEFL exam, which focuses on structure and written expression. And for the part on reading comprehension. Students can use a variety of methods to obtain the answers, such as reading the question first, looking for keywords, skimming the text, and selecting the simple ones.

Key words: Learning strategies and TOEFL Test