The present study investigated the use of language learning strategies of 578 Libyan successful and less successful secondary school students of English as a foreign language, based on four variables; students‘ geographical area, English language preference, gender and students‘ English background (living in an English-speaking country and/or having English courses out of the school discipline). The subjects (149 boys and 429 girls) were assessed through an Arabic translation of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford, 1990). The methodology adopted for this study is a mixed-method design (quantitative and qualitative). The instruments employed in data collection were survey questionnaires (SILL), focus group semi-structured interviews and classroom observations. The qualitative data was analyzed using a form of content analysis research techniques. The quantitative data was analyzed using the SPSS statistics software. The major findings were that the reported f.....

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