Revisiting Rebecca Oxford’s Theory in a High-Stakes Professional Context: The Strategic Divergence of Air Traffic Controllers

Abstract

This study revisits Rebecca Oxford’s framework of Language Learning Strategies (LLS) and Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R) through a qualitative narrative inquiry of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) at the Makassar Air Traffic Service Center (MATSC). In the high-stakes environment of aviation, where English proficiency is a safety-critical mandate rather than an academic pursuit, the application of LLS diverges significantly from traditional classroom settings. Through in-depth interviews with 20 controllers stratified by proficiency achievement, this research identifies a “Great Divergence” between mastery-oriented learners who employ proactive, continuous strategies, and compliance-oriented learners who rely on reactive, event-driven tactics. The findings reveal two critical paradoxes, the “Social Strategy Paradox” and the “Remedial Reward Paradox”, which suggest that institutional environments can function as “anti-strategies,” actively constraining the self-regulation of even highly autonomous learners. This article argues for an expansion of the S2R model to explicitly account for institutional alignment as a prerequisite for the successful deployment of social and metacognitive strategies in professional contexts.