The Internet TESL Journal

Language Learning Strategies in Foreign

Language Learning and Teaching
Murat Hismanoglu
mhismanoglu [at] usa.net
Hacettepe University (Ankara, Turkey)
This paper aims at emphasizing the importance of language learning strategies
in foreign language learning and teaching. It summarizes the background of
language learning strategies, defines the concept of a language learning
strategy, and outlines the taxonomy of language learning strategies proposed by
several researchers. It also takes into account the teacher's role in strategy
training and poses questions for further research on language learning
strategies.
Introduction
There has been a prominent shift within the field of language learning and teaching over the
last twenty years with greater emphasis being put on learners and learning rather than on
teachers and teaching. In parallel to this new shift of interest, how learners process new
information and what kinds of strategies they employ to understand, learn or remember the
information has been the primary concern of the researchers dealing with the area of
foreign language learning. This paper provides the background of language learning
strategies, gives various definitions and taxonomies of language learning strategies
presented by several researchers. It also stresses the importance of language learning
strategies for foreign language learning and the teacher's role in strategy training. In the last
section, the paper exhibits some questions for further research on language learning
strategies.
Background of Language Learning Strategies
Research into language learning strategies began in the 1960s. Particularly, developments
in cognitive psychology influenced much of the research done on language learning
strategies (Wiliams and Burden 1997:149). In most of the research on language learning
strategies, the primary concern has been on "identifying what good language learners
report they do to learn a second or foreign language, or, in some cases, are observed doing
while learning a second or foreign language." (Rubin and Wenden 1987:19). In 1966, Aaron
Carton published his study entitled The Method of Inference in Foreign Language Study,
which was the first attempt on learner strategies.After Carton, in 1971, Rubin started doing
research focussing on the strategies of successful learners and stated that, once identified,
such strategies could be made available to less successful learners. Rubin (1975) classified
strategies in terms of processes contributing directly or indirectly to language learning.
Wong-Fillmore (1976), Tarone (1977), Naiman et al. (1978), Bialystok (1979), Cohen and
Aphek (1981), Wenden (1982), Chamot and O'Malley (1987), Politzer and McGroarty
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(1985), Conti and Kolsody (1997), and many others studied strategies used by language
learners during the process of foreign language learning.
Denition of a Language 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.
Language learning strategies language learners use during the act of processing the new
information and performing tasks have been identified and described by researchers. In the
following section, how various researchers have categorized language learning strategies
will be shortly summarized:
Taxonomy of Language Learning Strategies
Language Learning Strategies have been classified by many scholars (Wenden and Rubin
1987; O'Malley et al. 1985; Oxford 1990; Stern 1992; Ellis 1994, etc. ). However, most of
these attempts to classify language learning strategies reflect more or less the same
categorizations of language learning strategies without any radical changes. In what
follows, Rubin's (1987), Oxford's (1990), O'Malley's (1985), and Stern's (1992) taxonomies
of language learning strategies will be handled:
Rubin's (1987) Classication of Language Learning Strategies
Rubin, who pionered much of the work in the field of strategies, makes the distinction
between strategies contributing directly to learning and those contributing indirectly to
learning. According to Rubin, there are three types of strategies used by learners that
contribute directly or indirectly to language learning. These are:
Learning Strategies
Communication Strategies
Social Strategies
Learning Strategies
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They are of two main types, being the strategies contributing directly to the development of
the language system constructed by the learner:
Cognitive Learning Strategies
Metacognitive Learning Strategies
Cognitive Learning Strategies
They refer to the steps or operations used in learning or problem-solving that require direct
analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials. Rubin identified 6 main
cognitive learning strategies contributing directly to language learning:
Clarification / Verification
Guessing / Inductive Inferencing
Deductive Reasoning
Practice
Memorization
Monitoring
Metacognitive Learning Strategies
These strategies are used to oversee, regulate or self-direct language learning. They
involve various processes as planning, prioritising, setting goals, and self-management.
Communication Strategies
They are less directly related to language learning since their focus is on the process of
participating in a conversation and getting meaning across or clarifying what the speaker
intended. Communication strategies are used by speakers when faced with some difficulty
due to the fact that their communication ends outrun their communication means or when
confronted with misunderstanding by a co-speaker.
Social Strategies
Social strategies are those activities learners engage in which afford them opportunities to
be exposed to and practise their knowledge. Although these strategies provide exposure to
the target language, they contribute indirectly to learning since they do not lead directly to
the obtaining, storing, retrieving, and using of language (Rubin and Wenden 1987:23-27).
Oxford's (1990) Classication of Language Learning Strategies
Oxford (1990:9) sees the aim of language learning strategies as being oriented towards the
development of communicative competence. Oxford divides language learning strategies
into two main classes, direct and indirect, which are further subdivided into 6 groups. In
Oxford's system, metacognitive strategies help learners to regulate their learning. Affective
strategies are concerned with the learner's emotional requirements such as confidence,
while social strategies lead to increased interaction with the target language. Cognitive
strategies are the mental strategies learners use to make sense of their learning, memory
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strategies are those used for storage of information, and compensation strategies help
learners to overcome knowledge gaps to continue the communication. Oxford's (1990:17)
taxonomy of language learning strategies is shown in the following :
DIRECT STRATEGIES
I. Memory
A. Creating mental linkages
B. Applying images and sounds
C. Reviewing well
D. Employing action
II.Cognitive
A. Practising
B. Receiving and sending messages strategies
C. Analysing and reasoning
D. Creating structure for input and output
III. Compensation strategies
A. Guessing intelligently
B. Overcoming limitations in speaking and writing
INDIRECT STRATEGIES
I. Metacognitive Strategies
A. Centering your learning
B. Arranging and planning your learning
C. Evaluating your learning
II. Affective Strategies
A. Lowering your anxiety
B. Encouraging yourself
C. Taking your emotional temperature
III. Social Strategies
A. Asking questions
B. Cooperating with others
C. Emphathising with others
It can be seen that much of the recent work in this area has been underpinned by a broad
concept of language learning strategies that goes beyond cognitive processes to include
social and communicative strategies.
O'Malley's (1985) Classication of Language Learning Strategies
O'Malley et al. (1985:582-584) divide language learning strategies into three main
subcategories:
Metacognitive Strategies
Cognitive Strategies
Socioaffective Strategies
Metacognitive Strategies
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It can be stated that metacognitive is a term to express executive function, strategies which
require planning for learning, thinking about the learning process as it is taking place,
monitoring of one's production or comprehension, and evaluating learning after an activity is
completed. Among the main metacognitive strategies, it is possible to include advance
organizers, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, functional planning,
self-monitoring, delayed production, self-evaluation.
Cognitive Strategies
Cognitive strategies are more limited to specific learning tasks and they involve more direct
manipulation of the learning material itself. Repetition, resourcing, translation, grouping,
note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word,
contextualization, elaboration, transfer, inferencing are among the most important cognitive
strategies.
Socioaffective Strategies
As to the socioaffective 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 socioaffective strategies (Brown 1987:93-94).
Stern's (1992) Classication of Language Learning Strategies
According to Stern (1992:262-266), there are five main language learning strategies. These
are as follows:
Management and Planning Strategies
Cognitive Strategies
Communicative - Experiential Strategies
Interpersonal Strategies
Affective Strategies
Management and Planning Strategies
These strategies are related with the learner's intention to direct his own learning. A learner
can take charge of the development of his own programme when he is helped by a teacher
whose role is that of an adviser and resource person. That is to say that the learner must:
decide what commitment to make to language learning
set himself reasonable goals
decide on an appropriate methodology, select appropriate resources, and monitor
progress,
evaluate his achievement in the light of previously determined goals and expectations
( Stern 1992:263).
Cognitive Strategies
They are steps or operations used in learning or problem solving that require direct
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analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials. In the following, some of the
cognitive strategies are exhibited:
Clarification / Verification
Guessing / Inductive Inferencing
Deductive Reasoning
Practice
Memorization
Monitoring
Communicative - Experiential Strategies
Communication strategies, such as circumlocution, gesturing, paraphrase, or asking for
repetition and explanation are techniques used by learners so as to keep a conversation
going. The purpose of using these techniques is to avoid interrupting the flow of
communication (Stern 1992:265).
Interpersonal Strategies
They should monitor their own development and evaluate their own performance. Learners
should contact with native speakers and cooperate with them. Learners must become
acquainted with the target culture (Stern 1992: 265-266).
Affective Strategies
It is evident that good language learners employ distinct affective strategies. Language
learning can be frustrating in some cases. In some cases, the feeling of strangeness can be
evoked by the foreign language. In some other cases, L2 learners may have negative
feelings about native speakers of L2. Good language learners are more or less conscious
of these emotional problems. Good language learners try to create associations of positive
affect towards the foreign language and its speakers as well as towards the learning
activities involved. Learning training can help students to face up to the emotional
difficulties and to overcome them by drawing attention to the potential frustrations or
pointing them out as they arise (Stern 1992:266).
Importance of Language Learning Strategies in
Language Learning and Teaching
Since the amount of information to be processed by language learners is high in language
classroom, learners use different language learning strategies in performing the tasks and
processing the new input they face. Language learning strategies are good indicators of
how learners approach tasks or problems encountered during the process of language
learning. In other words, language learning strategies, while nonobservable or
unconsciously used in some cases, give language teachers valuable clues about how their
students assess the situation, plan, select appropriate skills so as to understand, learn, or
remember new input presented in the language classroom. According to Fedderholdt
(1997:1), the language learner capable of using a wide variety of language learning
strategies appropriately can improve his language skills in a better way. Metacognitive
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strategies improve organization of learning time, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation.
Cognitive strategies include using previous knowledge to help solve new problems.
Socioaffective strategies include asking native speakers to correct their pronunciation, or
asking a classmate to work together on a particular language problem. Developing skills in
three areas, such as metacognitive, cognitive, and socioaffective can help the language
learner build up learner independence and autonomy whereby he can take control of his
own learning. Lessard-Clouston (1997:3) states that language learning strategies contribute
to the development of the communicative competence of the students. Being a broad
concept, language learning strategies are used to refer to all strategies foreign language
learners use in learning the target language and communication strategies are one type of
language learning strategies. It follows from this that language teachers aiming at
developing the communicative competence of the students and language learning should
be familiar with language learning strategies. As Oxford (1990:1) states, language learning
strategies "... are especially important for language learning because they are tools for
active, self-directed movement, which is essential for developing communicative
competence." Besides developing the communicative competence of the students,
teachers who train students to use language learning strategies can help them become
better language learners. Helping students understand good language learning strategies
and training them to develop and use such good language learning strategies can be
considered to be the appreciated characteristics of a good language teacher (Lessard-
Clouston 1997:3). Research into the good language learning strategies revealed a number
of positive strategies so that such strategies could also be used by bad language learners
trying to become more successful in language learning. However, there is always the
possibility that bad language learners can also use the same good language learning
strategies while becoming unsuccessful owing to some other reasons. At this point, it
should be strongly stressed that using the same good language learning strategies does
not guarantee that bad learners will also become successful in language learning since
other factors may also play role in success.
The Teacher's Role in Strategy Training
The language teacher aiming at training his students in using language learning strategies
should learn about the students, their interests, motivations, and learning styles. The
teacher can learn what language learning strategies students already appear to be using,
observing their behavior in class. Do they ask for clarification, verification or correction? Do
they cooperate with their peers or seem to have much contact outside of class with
proficient foreign language users? Besides observing their behavior in class, the teacher
can prepare a short questionnaire so that students can fill in at the beginning of a course to
describe themselves and their language learning. Thus, the teacher can learn the purpose
of their learning a language, their favorite / least favorite kinds of class activities, and the
reason why they learn a language. The teacher can have adequate knowledge about the
students, their goals, motivations, language learning strategies, and their understanding of
the course to be taught (Lessard-Clouston 1997:5). It is a fact that each learner within the
same classroom may have different learning styles and varied awareness of the use of
strategies. The teacher cannot attribute importance to only one group and support the
analytical approach or only give input by using the auditory mode. The language teacher
should, therefore, provide a wide range of learning strategies in order to meet the needs
and expectations of his students possessing different learning styles, motivations, strategy
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preferences, etc. Therefore, it can be stated that the most important teacher role in foreign
language teaching is the provision of a range of tasks to match varied learning styles (Hall
1997:4).
In addition to the students, the language teacher should also analyze his textbook to see
whether the textbook already includes language learning strategies or language learning
strategies training. The language teacher should look for new texts or other teaching
materials if language learning strategies are not already included within his materials.
The language teacher should also study his own teaching method and overall classroom
style. Analyzing his lesson plans, the language teacher can determine whether his lesson
plans give learners chance to use a variety of learning styles and strategies or not. The
teacher can see whether his teaching allows learners to approach the task at hand in
different ways or not. The language teacher can also be aware of whether his strategy
training is implicit, explicit, or both. It should be emphasized that questioning himself about
what he plans to do before each lesson and evaluating his lesson plan after the lesson in
terms of strategy training, the teacher can become better prepared to focus on language
learning strategies and strategy training during the process of his teaching (Lessard-
Clouston 1997:5).
Conclusion
Language learning strategies, being specific actions, behaviors, tactics, or techniques,
facilitate the learning of the target language by the language learner. All language learners,
needless to say, use language learning strategies in the learning process. Since the factors
like age, gender, personality, motivation, self-concept, life-experience, learning style,
excitement, anxiety, etc. affect the way in which language learners learn the target
language, it is not reasonable to support the idea that all language learners use the same
good language learning strategies or should be trained in using and developing the same
strategies to become successful learners. As Lessard-Clouston (1997:8) mentions, studies
to be done on language learning strategies and strategy training should move beyond
descriptive taxonomies of language learning strategies and attempt to seek for answers to
a wide range of questions, such as: What types of language learning strategies appear to
work best with what learners in which contexts? Does language learning strategies or
language learning strategies training transfer easily between L2 and FL contexts? What is
the role of language proficiency in language learning strategies use and training? How long
does it take to train specific learners in certain language learning strategies? How can one
best assess and measure success in language learning strategies use or training? Are
certain language learning strategies learned more easily in classroom and non-classroom
contexts? What language learning strategies should be taught at different proficiency
levels? It can be expected that answers to the above mentioned and many other questions
from research in a variety of settings will pave the way for building the theory that seems
necessary for more language learning strategies work to be relevant to current L2 / FL
teaching practice.
References
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Prentice Hall.
LESSARD-CLOUSTON, Michael. 1997. "Language Learning Strategies: An Overview
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The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. VI, No. 8, August 2000
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