Abstract:
Despite concerted efforts to enhance the English proficiency of students in Rwandan higher institutions, they still fail to communicate in this language. This study was, therefore, carried out to investigate into cognitive and social strategies applied by students at the University of Rwanda, College of Business and Economics while learning English. It aimed at determining the extent to which the students used these strategies, learning materials they used, challenges they faced and how they overcame them. The study involved 128 students from the School of Business and the School of Economics of the College of Business and Economics, 4 language lecturers and 3 library staff. A mixed methods approach was adopted, using a questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews as data collection tools. Data were later analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and a thematic analysis. Findings revealed that, students moderately read course notes, reading texts and passages (the means vary between 3.44 and 2.74) be in class or outside the classroom. They almost never read other materials written in English like books, newspapers and published articles (the means range between 1.50 and 1.22). Findings also indicated that, students students did not generally speak English in class, be discussing in English, asking lecturers explanations or engaging in debates (the means range from 2.40 and 1.44). In addition, most students interacted with their peers in Kinyarwanda during class activities. It was also disclosed that the environment outside class was not conducive to the learning of English. They mixed English and Kinyarwanda during take home assignments and used Kinyarwanda while asking for a service in departments. Furthermore, findings indicated that students faced a number of challenges including not understanding what they read, lacking confidence to speak and studying in overcrowded language classes. It was concluded that creating an environment where students can apply cognitive and social strategies while learning English would improve their proficiency in English as a medium of instruction in Rwandan education. Recommendations include providing varied reading and listening materials, engaging all students in speaking activities, involving them in learning independently and monitoring their activities, establishing language corners, providing language learning instruction to students reduce student-lecturer ratio in language classes.
