The Effectiveness of the Wilen and Phillips Strategy in Enhancing English Achievement and Future-Oriented Thinking among Second-Year Undergraduate Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70036/cltls.v3i2.72Keywords:
Wilen and Phillips strategy, English achievement, future-oriented thinking, active learning, EFLAbstract
Background: Proficiency in English remains a central objective of higher education, yet many non-specialized university students struggle to attain it. Traditional teacher-centered instruction is often criticized for failing to engage learners cognitively or cultivate higher-order thinking, and although the Wilen and Phillips strategy has been proposed as an active-learning remedy, its effects on linguistic achievement and future-oriented thinking remain underexplored. Objective: This study investigates the effect of the Wilen and Phillips strategy on English achievement and future-oriented thinking among second-year undergraduate students in the Department of Arabic Language at the University of Kirkuk. Methods: An experimental design with two equivalent groups was adopted. The 63 participants were assigned to an experimental group taught through the Wilen and Phillips strategy and a control group taught by the traditional method, using Headway Pre-Intermediate Plus. An English achievement test and a future-oriented thinking scale, both validated and reliability-tested, were administered after the treatment. Results: The experimental group outperformed the control group in English achievement (M = 32.30 vs. M = 23.71; t = 7.78, α = 0.05), indicating marked improvement in vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, and functional language. Comparable gains emerged in future-oriented thinking (M = 98.38 vs. M = 75.87; t = 4.73, α = 0.05), while significant within-group growth (M = 93.70 to M = 98.38; t = 4.677, α = 0.05) confirmed genuine development in students' capacity to anticipate outcomes and link present learning to future goals. Implication: The strategy offers a practical means of strengthening both cognitive and linguistic outcomes, supporting recommendations to integrate active learning into English instruction for non-specialized university students.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Nawal Ahmed Mahmood
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