RATE Associations RATE Issues Olympiad Events Resources Staff Current Issue Log in

RATE Issues
A biannual open-source peer-
reviewed TEFL journal - ISSN 1844-
6159

Find
HOME STAFF CURRENT ISSUE ARTICLE ARCHIVE Go

RATE (Romania)
Types of learning strategies. How to 06/01/16
cope with a foreign language, by
Catalina Ecaterina Baltateanu
CREATIVE COMMONS
Keywords: learning
strategies, All parts of this academic
compensation journal are open-access and
strategies, social may be redistributed non-
strategies, affective commercially and remixed at
strategies, will provided that RATE Issues
metacognitive is mentioned as a source and
strategies identical Creative Commons
Abstract: Being an terms are used.
EFL teacher means
providing our students
with knowledge, but
also teaching them
how to learn, monitor
their performance and
assess the outcome of PAST ISSUES
their learning. We have
the role to facilitate, RATE Issues Winter 2022
support and improve
RATE Issues Summer 2022
students` learning by
making them RATE Issues Summer 2021
autonomousand RATE Issues Winter 2020
responsible for their
RATE Issues Summer 2020
learning, by giving
them the freedom to RATE Issues Winter 2019
take initiative and RATE Issues Winter 2018
create their own learning opportunities. In fact, our ultimate goal beyond the
RATE Issues Summer 2018
classroom experience is to give to our society autonomous individuals, capable of
taking responsibilities and risks, knowing how to work more efficiently, finding RATE Issues Winter 2017
solutions and applying learning and working strategies in everyday situations.This RATE Issues, Summer 2017
article is on how to build learners` autonomy and their capacity of makingchoices
RATE Issues Winter 2016
about what and how they learn,through training and strategy instruction.
RATE Issues Summer 2016

RATE Issues Winter 2015

Language learning strategies have been defined as specific mental procedures used RATE Issues Summer 2015
to cope with problems or tasks, mental processes used in order to understand,
RATE Issues Winter 2014
remember or use a foreign language, ways of acting in order to achieve a goal, or
conscious plans for managing information or emotions (like developing self- RATE Issues Summer 2014

confidence and lowering anxiety). For Rubin, they are ”any sets of operations, steps, RATE Issues Winter 2013
plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval, and
RATE Issues Summer 2013
use of information” . Another definition was provided by Richards and Platt which
state that learning strategies are ”intentional behaviour and thoughts used by RATE Issues Winter 2012

learners during learning so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember RATE Issues Summer 2012
new information” . .
RATE Issues Winter 2011
Other terms used for describing learning strategies refer only to the rational,
cognitive aspects of learning, without taking into account the emotional and social RATE Issues Summer 2011

factors. They include : RATE Issues Winter 2010

• tactics;
RATE Issues Summer 2010
• techniques;
• potentially conscious plans; RATE Issues Winter 2009

• consciously employed operations; RATE Issues Summer 2009

• learning skills;
RATE Issues Winter 2008
• functional skills;
• cognitive abilities; RATE Issues Summer 2008

• processing strategies;
• problem-solving procedures;
• basic skills;
• thinking skills, thinking frames;
• reasoning skills;
• basic reasoning skills;
• learning-to-learn skills;
• moves.
The above definitions refer to the conscious dimension of strategies use; however,
all language learners tend to use strategies, be it consciously or unconsciously, in
order to process new information and to deal with tasks in the language classroom
environment. This functions as a problem-solving context in which it is almost
inevitable to use strategies when having to deal with new input and difficult learning
tasks proposed by the teacher. Confronted with a lot of new information and having
to achieve certain learning goals, learners usually try to find the easiest and the
quickest way to perform what they are required to.
Rebecca Oxford provides a more comprehensive definition of learning strategies,
saying that they represent “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning
easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more
transferable to new situations” .
As far as learning and acquisition are concerned, learning strategies apply to both of
them. For example, analytic strategies are related to learning, leading to conscious
knowledge of language rules, whereas naturalistic strategies contribute to the
acquisition of a foreign language, being focused on conversational fluency and
naturalistic language use.
The study of language learning strategies has led to the identification of the
following features, mentioned also by Rebecca Oxford :
• contribute to the development of communicative competence;
• are learner-generated, being steps taken by language learners;
• promote self-direction for learners, which is highly important for language use
outside the classroom;
• expand the role of teachers to facilitators, helpers, guides, consultants, advisers,
or coordinators;
• are problem-oriented and action-based, involving behaviours accomplished by the
students to solve a problem, a task or to meet an objective;
• involve more than learners` cognition, such as their metacognitive, emotional and
social functions;
• influence learning both directly and indirectly;
• are not always observable, either because they happen in the learners` mind
(making mental associations) or because they are used outside the classroom;
• are conscious, even though after a lot of practice, they might become automatic
and unconscious, being applied instinctively, unthinkingly and uncritically;
• can be taught, improved and modified through strategy training;
• are flexible, not depending on precise sequences or patterns; it is up to the learner
to decide how they are combined and sequenced;
• are influenced by different factors, such as the learners` awareness, stage of
learning, task requirements, teacher expectations, age, sex, learning style,
nationality, personality features, or motivation, or the purpose for learning the
foreign language.
Different researchers, without too much disagreement between their
categorizations, have classified learning strategies. One of these classifications
pertains to Rubin, who identifies three classes of strategies influencing directly or
indirectly language learning, namely:
• learning strategies;
• communication strategies;
• social strategies.
Learning strategies refer to two types of strategies contributing directly to learning:
cognitive and metacognitive strategies. The former category includes strategies that
involve analysis, transformation or synthesis of information, such as:
• clarification/verification;
• guessing/inductive inferencing;
• deductive reasoning;
• practice;
• memorization;
• monitoring.
On the other side, the metacognitive strategies help learners regulate, or supervise
learning by self-management, planning, setting priorities, or establishing goals.
Communicative strategies seem to indirectly influence language learning since they
focus on communication, transmission and clarification of the message. Social
strategies also contribute indirectly to learning since they only offer exposure to
language, without directly leading to the obtaining and storing of it.
Another classification was provided by O`Malley who divided language strategies
into three categories:
• metacognitive strategies used for planning and organizing the learning process,
thinking of it, monitoring language production and comprehension, as well as for
evaluating the learning outcomes;
• cognitive strategies, such asrepetition, resourcing, translation, grouping, note
taking, deduction, recombination, auditory representation, contextualization,
inferencing, are related to particular learning tasks and to the manipulation of the
learning material;
• socioaffective strategies are used when interacting with other and they include
cooperation and asking questions for clarification.

One of the best-known and comprehensive taxonomy of strategies was devised in

1990 by Rebecca Oxford, the designer of the Strategy Inventory for Language
Learning (SILL). According to Oxford, all language strategies are used in order to
develop learners` communicative competence. As Rubin, she also supports the
existence of direct and indirect strategies, the former involving the use of the target
language for remembering more effectively, using cognitive processes and
compensating for lack of knowledge, whereas the latter organize, manage and
evaluate learning without directly involving the target language.
In Oxford’s system, direct strategies include memory, cognitive and compensation
strategies. Memory strategies are used for storing and retrieving new information,
cognitive strategies are applied for understanding and producing the language, while
compensation strategies are designed for dealing with limited proficiency in the
target language. The second category, that of indirect strategies, includes
metacognitive (for coordinating the learning processes), affective (for regulating
emotions and attitudes), and social strategies (for learning and working with
others).
Diagram of the Strategy System

Source: Oxford, Rebecca L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies – What Every

Teacher Should Know, Heinle&Heinle, Boston, USA, p. 17

Compensation Strategies

Compensation strategies, also called cover or coping strategies , are used by

learners to overcome knowledge gaps and continue to communicate in the target
language, thus developing their strategic competence. In real-life communication,
everybody makes use of this kind of strategies if an expression is not known, or if
something is not heard very clearly. Compensation strategies include guessing
intelligently and overcoming limitations in speaking and writing.

Source:Oxford, Rebecca L (1990). Language Learning Strategies – What Every

Teacher Should Know, Heinle&Heinle, Boston, USA, p. 19

A. Guessing intelligently is highly important for reading and listening since it helps
learners understand a lot of language without retaining all the details. Guessing may
be applied either by using linguistic clues or using clues of another nature. Linguistic
clues may be derived from the learner’s knowledge of the target language, his
mother tongue, or other foreign languages he may be familiar with. An example of
guessing based on partial knowledge of the target language would be a learner who
understands that a conversation is about going shopping after hearing the words
trolley, money, market. In the case of written materials, the same linguistic clues
may lead to correct guesses.For instance, a learner knows that soup, salad and pie
relateto food; thus, when he encounters pudding and steak on the same menu,he
understands that these are constituents of a meal.
Using other clues besides those of linguistic nature is also very useful when listening
and reading in the target language. They may refer to forms of address and social
relationships, but also to nonverbal behaviour, including tone of voice, facial
expression, emphasis, body language. All these elements help learners understand
or guess the meaning of what is being said or heard. In listening, a good source of
nonlinguistic clues is represented by what has already been said. Thus, relying on
this information, the learner may get the meaning of what is currently being said or
he may anticipate what will be said. Also in listening, perceptual clues related to the
situation, such as the background noise or the number of characters involved, help
the listener better understand the material. In oral or written stories, the
descriptions of people, the identification of the situation presented in the passage or
the recognition of the manner in which people treat each other can help listeners
and readers guess the events and the message of the story. Equally important are
the pictures, the graphs, the tables or the text structure, including its title,
introduction, transitions, and conclusion.
Another important source of clues to meaning is the learners` general background
knowledge, referring to what he knows about the culture, the topic, literature, art,
or geography. All these elements help learners make guesses and associations
between what they hear/read and their prior knowledge.
B. Being able to overcome limitations in speaking and writing is an essential feature
of a good language learner, since it allows learners to keep interacting or writing,
despite their limited knowledge of language. Overcoming limitations may be reached
by applying the following compensation strategies:
• Switching to the mother tongue means that the learner uses a word or an
expression without translating it.
• Getting help,or asking for help in a conversation by hesitating or directly asking for
the right word. In the case of this strategy, the learner wants the other person to
come with the word or expression he does not know, without explaining or clarifying
it. For example, learners might signal that they need help by saying only the
beginning of the sentence, or by asking how do you say…?, or which is the word
for…?.
• Using mime or gesture during a conversation in order to illustrate the meaning of
an unknown expression. For example, in order to express approval, one may simply
nod and say “yes”, while for saying “he is over there” one may point to that place.
• Avoiding communication partially or totally if problems are expected or
encountered. For example, learners may avoid a certain topic, or even a situation,
because they are not certain of or they do not know the words, the constructions,
the concepts or the grammatical structures associated with it.
• Selecting the topic in speaking and writing when the learners are sure they master
the vocabulary and structures that might prove necessary. If they enjoy the topic
and are good at it, they will definitely direct the conversation towards it.
• Adjusting or approximating the written or spoken message refers to the situation
in which the message is altered by omitting some details, making the ideas simpler
or less precise, or by saying something different, but with similar meaning. For
instance, a learner might use the word tree for speaking about an oak, or he might
say I did not buy that car because I did not have money” instead of the more
complex sentence “I would have liked to have bought that car, but I could not do it
because I lacked the necessary money”.
• Coining words or creating new words to communicate something for which the
learner does not have the right knowledge. For example, a learner might create the
word eye-doctor if he does not know the word ophthalmologist.
• Using a circumlocution or a synonym to convey the intended message. An example
of circumlocution would be the description of a suitcase when the speaker does not
know the right word. In many cases, learners tend to use close synonyms for words
they do not know, such as fruit for plum, table for bedside table, or drink for juice.

Metacognitive Strategies

The second category of strategies identified by Rebecca Oxford is that of indirect

strategies that support language learning indirectly by focusing, planning,
evaluating, creating opportunities, lowering anxiety, or increasing cooperation. This
set includes metacognitive, affective, and social strategies.
Metacognitive strategies are those used for managing and regulating learning and
they include centering learning, arranging and planning, as well evaluating progress
in the target language.

Source:Oxford, Rebecca L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies – What Every

Teacher Should Know, Heinle&Heinle, Boston, USA, p. 20

A. Centering your learning means identifying a focus, and this can be done by:
• Overviewing and linking with already known material involves previewing the
principles, the new vocabulary or the material for an upcoming language task and
linkingthem to learners` prior knowledge. For example, knowing that his task will be
to check off the phrases related to disapproval while listening to a tape, a learner
might preview the vocabulary about disapproval, put it in context, add other
expressions, and compare the English expressions with those in his mother tongue.
• Paying attention is essential for the development of all language skillsand
itinvolves either directed or selective attention. Directed attention means being
generally or globally attentive to the task and avoiding distractors. On the other
hand, selective attention involves noticing particular details or elements, such as
pronunciation, register, style, grammar, vocabulary in spoken communication, or to
structure, content, punctuation or sentence construction in writing.
• Delaying speech production to focus on listening applies to listening and reading
and consists of postponing speaking in the target language for hours, days, weeks,
or even months. It is seen as a way of concentrating on listening comprehension
before feeling comfortable to speak. The delay may be either total or partial, if only
some stock phrases are uttered, but not creative sentences.

B. Arranging and planning your learning

The strategies falling into this category aim at organizing learning, setting personal
aims and task purposes, planning tasks, as well as creating opportunities for
practicing the language.More precisely, they refer to the following steps:
• Finding out about language learning or discovering what language learning
involves, what problems learners may face and what effective strategies they could
use;
• Organizing or creating the most appropriate physical environment, as well as
scheduling your learning so as to include enough time for outside-the-classroom
practice;
• Setting goals (long-term aims) and objectives (short-term aims)in each of the skill
areas, as well asdeadlines for accomplishing them;
• Identifying the purpose of a language task enables learners to focus their attention
on the right aspects;
• Planning for a language task,including identifying the nature of the task, its
requirements, the learner’s available resources and the need for supplementary aids
or resources;
• Seeking practice opportunities forall the four skills,both inside and outside the
classroom.For example, a student may decide topractice his listening comprehension
skills by listening to songs in the target language, by watching movies with no
subtitles, or by listening to radio programmes.

C. Evaluating your learning

This set includes two strategies that are equally important for all language skills,
namely:
• Self-monitoring, or noticing and correcting personal errors in any of the language
skills. In speaking, this strategy is important but it should be used with care;
becoming obsessed with correcting every mistake will destroy communication, which
is the major objective of learning a foreign language. Instead of willing to be perfect
speakers, learners should focus on those errors that might offend or cause
confusion.
• Self-evaluating,or measuring the overall language progress or achievements in one
of the four language skills by using checklists, diaries or journals. Here is one
example of a progress questionnaire included in the textbook I work on with my
sixth graders:

Source: Harris, Michael, Mower, David (1997). World Class, Longman, UK, p. 88

Affective Strategies

As the other strategies previously mentioned, affective strategies are equally

important for preparing learners both “emotionally and attitudinally for the learning
process” and for attaining communicative competence. Their role is to develop
learners` self-confidence and perseverance and to deal with negative feelings, such
as anxiety or fear of speaking, which might impede them to engage actively in
language learning.
Source:Oxford, Rebecca L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies – What Every
Teacher Should Know,Heinle&Heinle, Boston, USA, p. 21

A. Lowering your anxiety involves:

• Using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation are very effective
techniques for reducing anxiety; they can be used both inside and outside the
classroom before entering a testing room, or giving a talk in the target language.
• Using music before any stressful language task can give learners a more positive
attitude towards learning and the task itself. One of the teaching methods promoting
the use of baroque music in the language classroom is Suggestopedia.
• Using laughter is also an anxiety-reducer for language learners.It may be brought
in the classroom through jokes, role-plays, games, and other active exercises.

B. Encouraging yourself
• Making positive statements, such as I did well today,I can understand without
knowing all the words, I am a good listener,or I made some progress.
• Taking risks wisely despite the possibility of making mistakes or facing difficulties,
or very often regardless of the fear of failure.
• Rewarding yourself for doing well in language learning either through visible or
intangible rewards, such as listening to your favourite music, eating something
sweet, going out shopping, or through positive statements.

C. Taking emotional temperature is highly important for the affective self-

assessment and itenables learners to get in touch with their feelings, attitudes and
motivations, give up negative ones and take advantage of the positive ones. This set
of strategies includes the following:
• Listening to your body or assessing your physical state that might be affected by
negative feelings, such as anxiety, tension, or fear. For example, before speaking in
a foreign language, one might feel his stomach knotting up or his legs going weak;
in such a case, being aware of these symptoms, he will try to do something about it,
to control and to relax.
• Using a checklist for identifying your emotional state in general or related to
particular language tasks and skills.
• Writing a language learning diary including learners` emotions, feelings, and
attitudes towards language learning.
• Discussing your feelings with someone else, such aspeers, parents, friends,
teachers,or native speakers, both inside and outside the classroom.

Social Strategies

Social strategies aim at developing sociolinguistic competence by increasing the

interaction with other learners or language speakers, as well as their empathetic
understanding . The following strategies are included in this category:

Source:Oxford, Rebecca L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies – What Every

Teacher Should Know, Heinle&Heinle, Boston, USA, p. 21

A. Asking questions
This set of strategies includes asking for clarification or verification, especially in
listening and reading, and asking for correction in speaking and writing.
• Asking for clarification or verification. When learners want to clarify something,
they ask more proficient speakers to slow down, to repeat what has been said, to
paraphrase, or to explain. The other component of this strategy, asking for
 verification, means checking to make sure that the message has been understood
correctly. Questions like Would you repeat that, please?, I’m sorry, I haven’t
understood, What does….mean, are just a few examples of acceptable ways to ask
for clarification or verification in a conversation. In reading, this strategy involves
asking someone who is more proficient in the target language.
• Asking for correction isused especially in speaking and writing, thatis in language
production. In spoken interactions, learners might ask the interlocutor to correct the
major problems which can offence or create misunderstandings. In writing, asking
for correction, especially with advanced students, may take the form of noting the
most serious problems, for which they try to find the correct form on their own.

B. Cooperating with others

The strategies that fall into this category are similar to the cognitive strategy of
practicing naturalistically, since they involve cooperation with other people, real-life
contexts, interaction with peers and other proficient users of the target language.
• Cooperating with peersmeans working together with other learners in order to
accomplish a task and reach a common goal. It can be applied through simulations,
role-plays, jigsaw listening and reading activities, games, telephone conversations,
brainstorming activities, and other active exercises which involve communication,
cooperation, negotiation of meaning, and questioning among peers.
• Cooperating with proficient users of the new language involves all language skills
and it aims at enhancing communication with more proficient users of the new
language.

C. Empathizing with others

• Developing cultural understanding by providing learners with knowledge of the
new culture is highly important for understanding what is being read or heard in the
target language, as well as for knowing what is appropriate to say or write from a
cultural point of view. In the classroom, cultural awareness may be developed by
discussions on various topics, as well as by comparing behaviour in the students`
own background with the foreign culture. Outside the institutional context, it may be
enhanced through reading, watching movies, listening to radio programmes in the
target language, or visiting a particular country.

• Becoming aware of others` thoughts and feelings helps learners come closer to
the people they communicate with, understand better what is said, as well as
understand what to say and do. Such awareness of the thoughts and feelings of
other speakers may be achieved by observing their behaviour in face-to-face
communication, analyzing tone, expression and physical signals,listening carefully to
what is being transmitted, or trying to depict both literal and implied meanings,
especially in writing.

Sources:
• Brown, H. Douglas (1994). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy, Longman, London
• Cohen, Andrew D. (1996).Second Language Learning and Use Strategies:
Clarifying the Issues, p. 4. Retrieved from
http://www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/resources/SBIclarify.pdf
• Hismanoglu, Murat, Language Learning Strategies in Foreign Language Learning
and Teaching in the Internet TESL Journal. Vol. VI, No. 8, August 2000. Retrieved
from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Hismanoglu-Strategies.html
• Oxford, Rebecca L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies – What Every Teacher
Should Know, Heinle&Heinle, Boston, USA
• Pachler, Norbert, and Field, Kit (2001). Learning to Teach Modern Foreign
Languages in the Secondary School – A Companion to School Experience,
Routledge, London, p. 67

Biodata: graduate of Al. I. Cuza University Iasi (2008, French-English); MA degree

in Applied Linguistics -teaching EFL (2010); teacher of English and French at
ScoalaGimnazialaTutora, Iasi, since 2011;

Contact • Help • All articles in this journal are licensed as BY-NC-SA (Licensees may copy, distribute, display and perform the
work and make derivative works and remixes based on it only if they give the author or licensor the credits (attribution) in the
manner specified by these. Licensees may copy, distribute, display, and perform the work and make derivative works and
remixes based on it only for non-commercial purposes. Licensees may distribute derivative works only under a license identical
("not more restrictive") to the license that governs the original work.)
Design: Node33 | Sadish Bala | Evo Factory | Website engine

All content is the copyright of Romanian Association of Teachers of English, except RATE Issues articles, where authors retain unrestricted copyright.