Connie Abbass
Memorial University of Newfoundland Graduate Student
Rationale
Language educators today are seeking ways to help their students become more successful in their efforts to learn and communicate in a foreign language. These strategies for language learning provide second language teachers the opportunity to promote student success. Research shows that all learners use learning strategies. Thus, it is recommended that second language teachers teach language learning strategies (henceforth LLS) both implicitly and explicitly in the classroom.
What are Language Learning Strategies?
Back in the 1960’s, research into LLS began. Fifty years later it continues and its chief focus is no different: identifying what good language learners’ report they do to learn a second language, focussing on the strategies of successful learners (Hismanoglu, M., 2000).
LLS have been defined by many researchers yet varying points of view all conclude that LLS are defined actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that students use to improve their progress in developing second language skills. Specifically, Luciano Mariani (2002) views learning strategies as any action “you may have to take to solve a problem in learning, to help you make the most of your learning process, to speed up and optimize your cognitive, affective or social behaviour”. According to Cohen, Weaver and Li (1996), LLS are the “conscious thoughts and behaviors used by students to facilitate language learning tasks and to personalize the language learning process”.
Rebecca Oxford’s (1989) initial research indicated that “language learners at all levels use strategies, but that some or most learners are not fully aware of the strategies they use or the strategies that might be most beneficial to employ”. Oxford’s (1994) later research led her to conclude that LLS, specific to second language, are used by students “often consciously to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the L2”. Sharing similar philosophies, according to Hismanoglu (2000),
all language learners use language learning strategies either consciously or unconsciously when processing new information and performing tasks in the language classroom. Since language classroom is like a problem-solving environment in which language learners are likely to face new input and difficult tasks given by their instructors, learners' attempts to find the quickest or easiest way to do what is required, that is, using language learning strategies is inescapable.
Specific LLS differ by expert. According to J. Rubin (1987), there are three types of strategies used by learners that contribute directly or indirectly to language learning:
· learning strategies - steps or operations used in learning or problem-solving: clarifying, guessing, inferring, etc. and planning, prioritising, setting goals, and self-management.
· communication strategies -focus on the process of participation in a conversation and getting meaning across or clarifying what the speaker intended.
· social strategies - activities learners engage in which afford them opportunities to be exposed to and practise their knowledge). (Hiamanoglu, 2000).
Oxford (1990) on the other hand in her book Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know classified LLS into two categories: direct and indirect strategies, which are further sub-divided into 6 groups:
Direct Strategies
· Memory
o Creating mental linkages
o Applying images and sounds
o Reviewing well
o Employing action
· Cognitive
o Practising
o Receiving and sending messages strategies
o Analysing and reasoning
o Creating structure for input and output
· Compensation strategies
o Guessing intelligently
o Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing
Indirect Strategies
· Metacognitive Strategies
o Centering your learning
o Arranging and planning your learning
o Evaluating your learning
· Affective Strategies
o Lowering your anxiety
o Encouraging yourself
o Taking your emotional temperature
· Social Strategies
o Asking questions
o Cooperating with others
o Empathising with others
Why should educators use them?
Research suggests that “training students to use LLS can help them become better language learners” (Lessard-Clouston, 1997, p. 3). In fact, according to Anthony Rausch (2000), an “important part of mastering a foreign language is mastering learning”. Educators should use LLS “with the explicit goal of helping learners improve their knowledge and understanding of a target language” claims Cohen, Weaver and Li (1996).
Today, cognitive psychologists “focus their attention not so much on what and how we teach as on how the traditional view of learning can be outgrown and a new framework constructed” (Murayama, 1995). As educators, we bear witness daily and can confirm that students think and learn in many different ways. This reality demands educators organize and reflect on curriculum assessment and pedagogical practices day after day. In fact, this reflection has led many educators to implement new approaches to better meet the needs and abilities of all learners in their classrooms. Illustrating his belief, Murayama (1995) highlights that “in recent years they have emphasised that we should view human beings in their entirety, and that learning should be seen as a form of enculturation which occurs in the context of each learner's relationship with the surrounding community”.
Learners are individuals with individual needs. We need to focus on a learner-centered approach. “No longer is it sufficient to presume that if teachers teach, learners learn”, we have to teach students to take control of their own learning and as educators actively manage their learning by seeking out learning opportunities and ensure students use appropriate learning strategies (Ciel Language Support Network, 2000).
Oxford (1989) suggests, that “language learning styles and strategies appear to be among the most important variables influencing performance in a second language” (p. 3). Her research suggests that learning styles have a significant influence on students' choice of learning strategies. She deduces that both styles and strategies affect learning outcomes (1989).
First steps to using LLS
Although no single method for teaching LLS is better than the other, Andrew Cohen (2003) identified three different instructional frameworks in his article Strategy Training for Second Language Learners. The key in strategy training however, is the role of the educator. Teachers need to help students develop affective and social strategies based on their individual learning styles, current strategy use, and specific goals.
Due largely in part to the variation of individual learning styles, learners use many different kinds of language learning strategies to help them learn. In fact, Oxford (1994) claims that learning style often determines the choice of L2 learning strategies.
Although our curriculum is set in terms of what students need to learn in any given school year, the way in which students demonstrate their understanding is not. Goal setting is a self-regulatory strategy that according to Sarah Barnhardt (n.d.) gives “students' confidence and a skill that can be transferred to other subject areas”. Barnhardt (n.d.) also states that by giving students the opportunity to establish their own personal goals, educators are directly increasing student motivation and personal involvement in the learning process.
Motivation is a key factor that influences student learning. If educators want to begin teaching and ensuring students use LLS they must first ensure their students are motivated to learn. According to Oxford (1994), motivated students tend to use more strategies than less motivated students, thus motivated students achieve greater success.
Conclusion
This new shift from teachers teaching to learners learning has dramatically changed the second language classroom. There is no doubt that LLS facilitate the learning of the target language by the language learner. All language learners use LLS in the learning process yet it is not reasonable to believe that all language learners use the same LLS or should be trained in using and developing the same strategies to become successful learners. Since factors like age, gender, personality, motivation, life-experience, learning style, and so on affect the way in which language learners learn the target language (Sewell, 2003), educators have to determine and aid students in identifying what types of LLS work best for each learner in specific contexts.
References
Barnhardt, S. (n.d.) Goal Setting: A Strategy for Self-Regulation. Retrieved February 19, 2011 from http://www.nclrc.org/about_teaching/topics/related_docs/goal_setting_lang_strat.html
Ciel Language Support Network. (2000). Integrating independent learning with the curriculum. Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies. Retrieved February 18, 2011 from http://www.llas.ac.uk/resources/gpg/1400
Cohen, A., Weaver, S., and Li, T-Y (1996). The Impact of Strategies-Based Instruction on Speaking a Foreign Language Research Report. Retrieved February 19, 2011 from http://www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/resources/SBIimpact.pdf
Hismanoglu, M. (2000). Language Learning Strategies in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 8. Ankara, Turkey. Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Hismanoglu-Strategies.html
Lessard-Clouston, M. (1997). Language learning strategies: An overview for L2 teachers. The Internet TESL Journal, 3(12). Retrieved February 12,2011from http://online.mun.ca/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=74345&tId=684221
Mariani, L. (2002). Learning Strategies, Teaching Strategies and new Curricular demands: A critical view. Perspectives, a Journal of TESOL-Italy, Vol. XXIX, No. 2. Retrieved February 12, 2011 from http://www.learningpaths.org/papers/paperstrategies.htm
Murayama, I. (1995). The status of strategies in learning: A brief history of changes in researchers’ views. Retrieved February 13, 2011 from http://online.mun.ca/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=74345&tId=684221
Oxford, R. (1989). The role of styles and strategies in second language learning. ERIC. Retrieved February 13, 2011 from http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9214/styles.htm
Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. New York: Newbury House Publishers.
Oxford, R. (1994). Language Learning Strategies: An Update. University of Alabama. Retrieved February 12, 2011 from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/oxford01.html
Rausch, A. (2000). Language Learning Strategies Instruction and Language Use Applied to Foreign Language Reading and Writing: A Simplified "Menu" Approach Literacy Across Cultures Aomori, Japan. Retrieved February 13, 2011 from http://www2.aasa.ac.jp/~dcdycus/LAC2000/rausch.htm
Sewell, H. D. (2003). The Good Language Learner: Second Language Acquisition. Retrieved February 20, 2011 from http://www.cels.bham.ac.uk/resources/essays/Sewell_SLA.pdf
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