STUDENTS’ LEARNING STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME UNFAMILIAR WORD IN LISTENING

Abstract

Listening skill is an essential component in learning English as a foreign language. One of the main challenges faced by students is the occurrence of unfamiliar words, which can hinder message comprehension. This study aims to identify the types of strategies used by students in dealing with unfamiliar words during listening and to determine the most frequently used strategy. A descriptive quantitative method was employed with 30 on fourth-semester students of the Islamic Education Study Program at Universitas Islam As-Syafi’iyah as participants. The research instruments consisted of a listening test containing unfamiliar words and a strategy questionnaire (Guessing Meaning, Context Clues, Schemata, and Ignore). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with frequency distribution. The results revealed that Guessing Meaning was the most frequently used strategy (394 times), followed by Context Clues (269 times), Schemata (152 times), and Ignore (85 times). However, in terms of effectiveness, the Schemata strategy provided a higher percentage of correct answers compared to other strategies. These findings indicate that although students tend to rely on guessing meaning and using context clues, the application of prior knowledge (Schemata) is more effective in understanding unfamiliar vocabulary. The study suggests that listening instruction should strengthen context-based and Schemata strategies to enhance comprehension