Language learning strategies

Mohamed Khider University. Biskra

Faculty of Letters and Foreign Languages

Department of Foreign Languages

Branch of English

Lecture : Language Learning Strategies

Module : Study Skills

Level : 1^st  YEAR LMD

Teacher : Miss. Warda KHOUNI

Lecture objectives : by the end of the lecture,  students will be able to :

·         Define a learning strategy

·         Classify learning strategies

·         Distinguish three main different types of strategies (metacognitive, cognitive and social affective)

Relate these types to different purposes of learning.

Lecture content : the lectures covers the following points :

1.       Defining a strategy

2.       Defining a learning strategy

3.       The importance of learning strategies in language learning

4.       Taxonomies of language learning strategies

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

References :

·         Oxford, R.L (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know….

·         Oxford, R.L (1990). Language learning strategies around the world.

·         Oxford, R (2001)“Language-learning strategies: theory and perception”. ELT Journal.
http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/55/3/247

·         Rubin J (1975). “What the ‘Good Language Learner’ Can Teach Us”. TESOL Quarterly. vol 9 N° 1.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/3586011

·         Oxford, R (1989) “The Role of Styles and Strategies in Second Language Learning,”Eric Digest.
http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9214/styles.htm

·         Defining and Organizing Language Learning Strategies. National Capital Language Resource Centre.
http://www.nclrc.org/guides/HED/chapter2.html

·         Mhismanoglu, M. H. (2000)Language Learning Strategies in Foreign Language Learning and Teaching. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 8, August. http://iteslj.org/Articles/Hismanoglu-Strategies.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.     Defining  « A Strategy »

                 A Strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often "winning." Strategy is differentiated from tactics, or immediate actions, with resources at hand by its nature of being extensively premeditated, and often practically rehearsed. Strategies are used to make the problem easier to understand and solve. Strategy should always provide competitive advantage. Because of its ability to provide competitive advantage strategy is differentiated form planning. Strategy can also be termed as direction enables companies to achieve its goal and objective

2.     Defining a Learning Strategy

                  

The term language learning strategy has been defined by many researchers. Wenden and Rubin (1987:19) define learning strategies as "... any sets of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval, and use of information." Richards and Platt (1992:209) state that learning strategies are "intentional behavior and thoughts used by learners during learning so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember new information." Faerch Claus and Casper (1983:67) stress that a learning strategy is "an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language." According to Stern (1992:261), "the concept of learning strategy is dependent on the assumption that learners consciously engage in activities to achieve certain goals and learning strategies can be regarded as broadly conceived intentional directions and learning techniques." 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.

3.     The importance of learning strategies in language learning

Research supports the effectiveness of using L2 learning strategies and has shown that successful language learners often use strategies in an orchestrated fashion. Some findings are listed below:

• Use of appropriate language learning strategies often results in improved proficiency or achievement overall or in specific skill areas (Oxford et al., 1993; Thompson & Rubin, 1993).
• Successful language learners tend to select strategies that work well together in a highly orchestrated way, tailored to the requirements of the language task (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). These learners can easily explain the strategies they use and why they employ them (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).
• Cognitive (e.g., translating, analyzing) and metacognitive (e.g., planning, organizing) strategies are often used together, supporting each other (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990). Well tailored combinations of strategies often have more impact than single strategies.
• Certain strategies or clusters of strategies are linked to particular language skills or tasks. For example, L2 writing, like L1 writing, benefits from the learning strategies of planning, self-monitoring, deduction, and substitution. L2 speaking demands strategies such as risk-taking, paraphrasing, circumlocution, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation. L2 listening comprehension gains from strategies of elaboration, inferencing, selective attention, and self-monitoring, while reading comprehension uses strategies like reading aloud, guessing, deduction, and summarizing (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). See Oxford (1990b) for a detailed chart that maps relevant strategies with listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
• The powerful social and affective strategies are found less often in L2 research. This is, perhaps, because these behaviors are not studied frequently by L2 researchers, and because learners are not familiar with paying attention to their own feelings and social relationships as part of the L2 learning process (Oxford, 1990).

4.      Types of language learning strategies

 O’ Malley proposed three-part strategy taxonomy:

1)              Meta-cognitive strategies are strategies which involve “knowing about learning, and controlling learning through planning, monitoring and evaluating the learning activity”(O’Malley 1988:422). Among the main meta-cognitive strategies, it is possible to include advance organizers, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, functional planning, self-monitoring, delayed production, self-evaluation.

2)            Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning tasks and involve the manipulation or transformation of the material to be learned. Repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word, contextualization, elaboration, transfer, inferencing are among the most important cognitive strategies.

3)   Socio/affective strategies, it can be stated that they are related with social-mediating activity and transacting with others. Cooperation and question for clarification are the main socio-affective strategies (Brown 1987:93-94).

5.      Learning Strategies Summary with Definitions

Learning Strategies	Definitions
1. Metacognitive Strategies
Planning
Advance Orginizers	previewing the main ideas and concepts of the material to be learned for  organizing (skimming)
Directed Attention	deciding in advance to attend in general a learning task and to ignore irrelevant distracters
Functional Planning	Planning for linguistic components necessary to carry out an upcoming task
Selective Attention	deciding in advance to attend to specific aspects of input, often by scanning for key words and concepts
Self Management	understanding the conditions that help one learn and arranging for the presence of those conditions
Self Monitoring	Checking one's comprehension during listening or reading and checking the accuracy and appropriateness of one's oral or written production while it is taking place
Self Evaluation	Checking the outcomes of one's own language against a standard after it has been completed
2. Cognitive Strategies
Resourcing	Using references such as dictionaries and books
repetition	Imitating a language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal
Grouping	classifying words, terminology or concepts according to the attributes or meaning
Deduction	applying rules to understand or produce the foreign language making up rules based on language analysis
Imagery	Using visual images either mental or actual to understand or remember new information
Auditory representation	Planning back in one's mind the sound of a word, phrase or longer language sequence
Key word method	remember a new word in the foreign language by (1) identifying a familiar word in the first language that sounds like or otherwise resembles the new one and (2) generating easily recalled images of some relationship with first language homonym and the new word in the foreign language
Elaboration	Relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts of information to each other, or making meaningful personal associations with the new information
Transfer	using previous linguistic knowledge or prior skills to assist comprehension or production
inferencing	using available information to guess meaning of new items, predict outcomes or fill in missing information
Note taking	writing down key words or concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic or numerical form while listening or reading
Summarizing	Making a mental, oral or writte summary of new information gained through listening or reading
Recombination	constructing a meaningful sentence or larger language sequence by combining known elements in a new way
Translation	using the first language as a base for understand and producing the foreign language
3. Social/Affective Strategies
Question for clarification	eliciting from a teacher or peer additional explanations, rephrasing, examples or verification
Cooperation	working together with one or more peers to solve a problem, pool information, check a learning task, model a language activity or get feedback on oral or written performance
Self talk	reducing anxiety by using mental techniques that make one feel competent to do the learning task
Loud reading	read loudly showing enthusiasm and emotions