Article
Strategy-User Profiles of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers: A Cluster-Analytic Study of Language Learning Strategies among D.El.Ed. Trainees in Tripura
Variable-centred analyses of language learning strategies describe the average learner and can conceal meaningful subgroups. Adopting a person-centred approach, this study identified strategy-user profiles among 248 Diploma in Elementary Education (D.El.Ed.) trainees at District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs) in Tripura, India, who completed Oxford’s 50-item Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL, Version 7.0; α = .96). K-means cluster analysis of the six standardised SILL subscale scores yielded three profiles: high strategy users (n = 69, 27.8%; overall M = 4.37), moderate strategy users (n = 108, 43.5%; M = 3.56), and low strategy users (n = 71, 28.6%; M = 2.85). The profiles differed in elevation rather than shape: one-way ANOVAs were significant for every subscale (η2 = .55 to .69), yet within each profile metacognitive strategies ranked highest and compensation strategies lowest, indicating a level-invariant internal asymmetry. Profile membership was significantly associated with year of study, χ2(2) = 14.42, p < .001, Cramér’s V = .24: 41.2% of second-year trainees were high strategy users compared with 19.0% of first-year trainees. The association with gender was not significant (p = .120). The findings suggest that trainees differ chiefly in how much strategic behaviour they deploy, that this general propensity is greater in the senior cohort, and that nearly three in ten future elementary teachers are low strategy users. Implications are drawn for entry-point diagnosis and differentiated strategy-based instruction in teacher education under India’s National Education Policy 2020.