Comparing Language Learning Strategies of English and Chinese Employed by Tertiary Thai Students

The scope of multilingualism in language learning strategies is currently quite limited. This study aims to address the gap by investigating the language learning strategies used by Thai university students who enrolled in an international program conducted in English (L2) and were also studying Chinese as their third language (L3). The research focuses on comparing the strategies employed for learning English, a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, and Chinese, a Sino-Tibetan language. The study surveyed 123 university students in International Business: China from southern Thailand who learned through English and studied Chinese as part of their program. Data were collected using two sets of questionnaires based on the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (Oxford, 1990). Descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests were used to analyze the closed-ended questionnaire responses, while descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were applied to the open-ended questionnaire data. The findings from the closed-ended questionnaire indicated that students frequently used social strategies for learning both languages. However, the open-ended questionnaire responses revealed a preference for cognitive strategies when learning both languages. Despite the linguistic differences between English and Chinese, the findings showed similar learning strategies, with no significant differences at the 0.05 level except for memory strategies (p = 0.00). The study discusses these findings and offers recommendations for language educators.