Effects of Environmental Management on Students’ Learning Strategies

Abstract

Learning strategies are crucial for language acquisition, skill improvement, and overall mastery. Effective learning is highly dependent on environmental management, a strategy in which learners organize their physical and social surroundings to reduce distractions and increase learning effectiveness. Despite its importance, the specific mechanisms through which the learning environment influences a learner's choice of strategies remain under-explored. Furthermore, the application of these effective learning strategies receives insufficient attention from researchers and remains ambiguous in current literature. Hence, this study aims to examine the influence of environmental management on students' learning strategies, specifically its relationship with cognitive strategies, metacognitive self-regulation, and resource management. This study employed a quantitative survey, collecting data via a 5-point Likert scale instrument, which is divided into 3 main sections, focusing on: cognitive components, metacognitive self-regulation and resource management. The sample involved 286 respondents from University Technology MARA Selangor, comprising elementary and intermediate Japanese language students from science and technology, social sciences, and business academic backgrounds. The findings clearly show that students actively utilize cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management strategies. Statistical analyses also revealed a strong, positive, and significant relationship between environmental management and cognitive components, metacognitive self-regulation, and resource management. Ultimately, these findings offer theoretical implications by expanding existing knowledge on self-regulated learning environments. They also provide practical insights for educators and institutions to design, manage, and organize activities that promote more strategic and effective teaching and learning.