Language Learning Strategies.docx

Language Learning Strategies.docx

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LanguageLearningStrategies

LanguageLearningStrategies:

AnOverviewforL2Teachers

MichaelLessard-Clouston

z95014[at]kgupyr.kwansei.ac.jp

KwanseiGakuinUniversity（Nishinomiya,Japan）

FirstpublishedinEssaysinLanguagesandLiteratures,8,atKwanseiGakuinUniversity,December1997.

Thisarticleprovidesanoverviewoflanguagelearningstrategies（LLS）forsecondandforeignlanguage（L2/FL）teachers.TodosoitoutlinesthebackgroundofLLSandLLStraining,discussesathreestepapproachteachersmayfollowinusingLLSintheirclasses,andsummariseskeyreflectionsandquestionsforfutureresearchonthisaspectofL2/FLeducation.Italsolistshelpfulcontactsandinternetsiteswherereadersmayaccessup-to-dateinformationonLLSteachingandresearch.

Introduction

Withinthefieldofeducationoverthelastfewdecadesagradualbutsignificantshifthastakenplace,resultinginlessemphasisonteachersandteachingandgreaterstressonlearnersandlearning.Thischangehasbeenreflectedinvariouswaysinlanguageeducationandappliedlinguistics,rangingfromtheNortheastConference（1990）entitled"ShiftingtheInstructionalFocustotheLearner"andannual"Learners'Conferences"heldinconjuctionwiththeTESLCanadaconventionsince1991,tokeyworkson"thelearner-centredcurriculum"（Nunan,1988,1995）and"learner-centrednessaslanguageeducation"（Tudor,1996）.

Thisarticleprovidesanoverviewofkeyissuesconcerningoneconsequenceoftheaboveshift:

thefocusonanduseoflanguagelearningstrategies（LLS）insecondandforeignlanguage（L2/FL）learningandteaching.Indoingso,thefirstsectionoutlinessomebackgroundonLLSandsummariseskeypointsfromtheLLSliterature.ThesecondsectionconsiderssomepracticalissuesrelatedtousingLLSintheclassroom,outliningathreestepapproachtoimplementingLLStraininginnormalL2/FLcourses.ThethirdsectionthenbrieflydiscussessomeimportantissuesandquestionsforfurtherLLSresearch.Inthefourthsectionthearticleendsbynotinganumberofcontactsreadersmayusetolocateandreceiveup-to-dateinformationonLLSteachingandresearchinthiswidelydevelopingareainL2/FLeducation.

1.BACKGROUND

LearningStrategies

Inahelpfulsurveyarticle,WeinsteinandMayer（1986）definedlearningstrategies（LS）broadlyas"behavioursandthoughtsthatalearnerengagesinduringlearning"whichare"intendedtoinfluencethelearner'sencodingprocess"（p.315）.LaterMayer（1988）morespecificallydefinedLSas"behavioursofalearnerthatareintendedtoinfluencehowthelearnerprocessesinformation"（p.11）.TheseearlydefinitionsfromtheeducationalliteraturereflecttherootsofLSincognitivescience,withitsessentialassumptionsthathumanbeingsprocessinformationandthatlearninginvolvessuchinformationprocessing.Clearly,LSareinvolvedinalllearning,regardlessofthecontentandcontext.LSarethususedinlearningandteachingmath,science,history,languagesandothersubjects,bothinclassroomsettingsandmoreinformallearningenvironments.ForinsightintotheliteratureonLSoutsideoflanguageeducation,theworksofDansereau（1985）andWeinstein,GoetzandAlexander（1988）arekey,andonerecentLSstudyofnoteisthatofFuchs,Fuchs,MathesandSimmons（1997）.Intherestofthispaper,thefocuswillspecificallybeonlanguageLSinL2/FLlearning.

LanguageLearningStrategiesDefined

WithinL2/FLeducation,anumberofdefinitionsofLLShavebeenusedbykeyfiguresinthefield.Earlyon,Tarone（1983）definedaLSas"anattempttodeveloplinguisticandsociolinguisticcompetenceinthetargetlanguage--toincoporatetheseintoone'sinterlanguagecompetence"（p.67）.Rubin（1987）laterwrotethatLS"arestrategieswhichcontributetothedevelopmentofthelanguagesystemwhichthelearnerconstructsandaffectlearningdirectly"（p.22）.Intheirseminalstudy,O'MalleyandChamot（1990）definedLSas"thespecialthoughtsorbehavioursthatindividualsusetohelpthemcomprehend,learn,orretainnewinformation"（p.1）.Finally,buildingonworkinherbookforteachers（Oxford,1990a）,Oxford（1992/1993）providesspecificexamplesofLLS（i.e.,"InlearningESL,TrangwatchesU.S.TVsoapoperas,guessingthemeaningofnewexpressionsandpredictingwhatwillcomenext"）andthishelpfuldefinition:

...languagelearningstrageties--specificactions,behaviours,steps,ortechniquesthatstudents（oftenintentionally）usetoimprovetheirprogressindevelopingL2skills.Thesestragetiescanfacilitatetheinternalization,storage,retrieval,oruseofthenewlanguage.Strategiesaretoolsfortheself-directedinvolvementnecessaryfordevelopingcommunicativeability.（Oxford,1992/1993,p.18）

Fromthesedefinitions,achangeovertimemaybenoted:

fromtheearlyfocusontheproductofLSS（linguisticorsociolinguisticcompetence）,thereisnowagreateremphasisontheprocessesandthecharacteristicsofLLS.Atthesametime,weshouldnotethatLLSaredistinctfromlearningstyles,whichrefermorebroadlytoalearner's"natural,habitual,andpreferredway（s）ofabsorbing,processing,andretainingnewinformationandskills"（Reid,1995,p.viii）,thoughthereappearstobeanobviousrelationshipbetweenone'slanguagelearningstyleandhisorherusualorpreferredlanguagelearningstrategies.

WhataretheCharacteristicsofLLS?

Althoughtheterminologyisnotalwaysuniform,withsomewritersusingtheterms"learnerstrategies"（Wendin&Rubin,1987）,others"learningstrategies"（O'Malley&Chamot,1990;Chamot&O'Malley,1994）,andstillothers"languagelearningstrategies"（Oxford,1990a,1996）,thereareanumberofbasiccharacteristicsinthegenerallyacceptedviewofLLS.First,LLSarelearnergenerated;theyarestepstakenbylanguagelearners.Second,LLSenhancelanguagelearningandhelpdeveloplanguagecompetence,asreflectedinthelearner'sskillsinlistening,speaking,reading,orwritingtheL2orFL.Third,LLSmaybevisible（behaviours,steps,techniques,etc.）orunseen（thoughts,mentalprocesses）.Fourth,LLSinvolveinformationandmemory（vocabularyknowledge,grammarrules,etc.）.

ReadingtheLLSliterature,itisclearthatanumberoffurtheraspectsofLLSarelessuniformlyaccepted.WhendiscussingLLS,Oxford（1990a）andotherssuchasWendenandRubin（1987）noteadesireforcontrolandautonomyoflearningonthepartofthelearnerthroughLLS.Cohen（1990）insiststhatonlyconsciousstrategiesareLLS,andthattheremustbeachoiceinvolvedonthepartofthelearner.TransferofastrategyfromonelanguageorlanguageskilltoanotherisarelatedgoalofLLS,asPearson（1988）andSkehan（1989）havediscussed.Inherteacher-orientedtext,OxfordsummarisesherviewofLLSbylistingtwelvekeyfeatures.Inadditiontothecharacteristicsnotedabove,shestatesthatLLS:

∙allowlearnerstobecomemoreself-directed

∙expandtheroleoflanguageteachers

∙areproblem-oriented

∙involvemanyaspects,notjustthecognitive

∙canbetaught

∙areflexible

∙areinfluencedbyavarietyoffactors.

（Oxford,1990a,p.9）

BeyondthisbriefoutlineofLLScharacterisitics,ahelpfulreviewoftheLLSresearchandsomeoftheimplicationsofLLStrainingforsecondlanguageacquisitionmaybefoundinGu（1996）.

WhyareLLSImportantforL2/FLLearningandTeaching?

Within'communicative'approachestolanguageteachingakeygoalisforthelearnertodevelopcommunicativecompetenceinthetargetL2/FL,andLLScanhelpstudentsindoingso.AfterCanaleandSwain's（1980）influencialarticlerecognisedtheimportanceofcommunicationstrategiesasakeyaspectofstrategic（andthuscommunicative）competence,anumberofworksappearedaboutcommunicationstrategiesinL2/FLteaching2.Animportantdistinctionexists,however,betweencommunicationandlanguagelearningstrategies.CommunicationstrategiesareusedbyspeakersintentionallyandconsciouslyinordertocopewithdifficultiesincommunicatinginaL2/FL（Bialystok,1990）.ThetermLLSisusedmoregenerallyforallstrategiesthatL2/FLlearnersuseinlearningthetargetlanguage,andcommunicationstrategiesarethereforejustonetypeofLLS.ForallL2teacherswhoaimtohelpdeveloptheirstudents'communicativecompetenceandlanguagelearning,then,anunderstandingofLLSiscrucial.AsOxford（1990a）putsit,LLS"...areespeciallyimportantforlanguagelearningbecausetheyaretoolsforactive,self-directedinvolvement,whichisessentialfordevelopingcommunicativecompetence"（p.1）.

Inadditiontodevelopingstudents'communicativecompetence,LLSareimportantbecauseresearchsuggeststhattrainingstudentstouseLLScanhelpthembecomebetterlanguagelearners.Earlyresearchon'goodlanguagelearners'byNaiman,Frohlich,Stern,andTodesco（1978,1996）,Rubin（1975）,andStern（1975）suggestedanumberofpositivestrategiesthatsuchstudentsemploy,rangingfromusinganactivetaskapproachinandmonitoringone'sL2/FLperformancetolisteningtotheradiointheL2/FLandspeakingwithnativespeakers.AstudybyO'MalleyandChamot（1990）alsosuggeststhateffectiveL2/FLlearnersareawareoftheLLStheyuseandwhytheyusethem.Graham's（1997）workinFrenchfurtherindicatesthatL2/FLteacherscanhelpstudentsunderstandgoodLLSandshouldtrainthemtodevelopandusethem.

Acautionmustalsobenotedthough,because,asSkehan（1989）states,"thereisalwaysthepossibilitythatthe'good'languagelearningstrategies...arealsousedbybadlanguagelearners,butotherreasonscausethemtobeunsuccessful"（p.76）.InfactVannandAbraham（1990）foundevidencethatsuggeststhatboth'good'and'unsucc