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L2 Learning Strategies |
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SLA Topics SLA Bibliography Vivian Cook Vocabulary learning strategies SLL and LT |
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Learning strategies questionnaire |
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When you are learning another language in the classroom, what special things do you do or what tricks do you use for: |
| * |
learning grammar | |
| * | getting meanings from contexts | |
| * | using the language socially outside the classroom | |
| * | using the language for work, obtaining information, etc |
Bialystok
The Good Language Learner (GLL) Strategies (Naiman, Frohlich, & Stern)
| 1. |
find a learning style that suits you |
| 2. |
involve yourself in the language learning process |
| 3. |
develop an awareness of language both as system and as communication |
| 4. |
pay constant attention to expanding your language |
| 5. |
develop the L2 as a separate system |
| 6. |
take into account the demands that L2 learning imposes |
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Research
summary: O'Malley, J.M., Chamot, A.U., Stewner-Manzanares, G.,
Kupper, L., & Russo, R.P. (1985), 'Learning strategies used by
beginning and intermediate ESL students', Language Learning, 35,
21-46 |
Beginners
Intermediate
Metacognitive:
112
80
Cognitive:
297
149
Total:
409
229
O'Malley & Chamot maximal list of strategies, starting from O'Malley, Chamot, Stewner-Manzanares, Kupper, & Rocco, 1985.
| A. | Metacognitive strategies: 'higher order executive skills that may entail planning for, monitoring, or evaluating the success of a learning activity' (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990, 44) | advance organisers: planning the learning activity in advance - "You review before you go into class". |
| directed attention: deciding to concentrate on general aspects of a learning task. | ||
| selective attention: deciding to pay attention to specific parts of the language input or the situation that will help learning. | ||
| self-management: trying to arrange the appropriate conditions for learning - "I sit in the front of the class so I can see the teacher". | ||
| advance preparation: planning the linguistic components for a forthcoming language task | ||
| self-monitoring: checking one's performance as one speaks - "Sometimes I cut short a word because I realize I've said it wrong". | ||
| delayed production: deliberately postponing speaking so that one may learn by listening "I talk when I have to, but I keep it short and hope I'll be understood". | ||
| self-evaluation: checking how well one is doing against one's own standards | ||
| self-reinforcement: giving oneself rewards for success | ||
| B. | Cognitive strategies | repetition: imitating other people's speech overtly or silently. |
| resourcing: making use of language materials such as dictionaries. | ||
| directed physical response; responding physically 'as with directives'. | ||
| translation: 'using the first language as a basis for understanding and/or producing the L2' | ||
| grouping: organising learning on the basis of 'common attributes'. | ||
| note-taking: writing down the gist etc of texts. | ||
| deduction: conscious application of rules to processing the L2. | ||
| recombination: putting together smaller meaningful elements into new wholes. | ||
| imagery: visualising information for memory storage - "Pretend you are doing something indicated in the sentences to make up about the new word". | ||
| auditory representation: keeping a sound or sound sequence in the mind - "When you are trying to learn how to say something, speak it in your mind first". | ||
| key word: using key word memory techniques, such as identifying an L2 word with an L1 word that it sounds like. | ||
| contextualisation: 'placing a word or phrase in a meaningful language sequence'. | ||
| elaboration: 'relating new information to other concepts in memory'. | ||
| transfer: using previous knowledge to help language learning - "If they're talking about something I have already learnt (in Spanish), all I have to do is remember the information and try to put it into English" | ||
| inferencing: guessing meanings by using available information - "I think of the whole meaning of the sentence, and then I can get the meaning of the new word". | ||
| question for clarification: asking a teacher or native for explanation, help, etc. | ||
| C: | Social Mediation strategies: | cooperation: working with fellow-students on language |
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Abbreviated Adapted Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) for L2 students of English (Oxford 1990) |
| Describe each of these statements on a scale going from 1. 'Never true of me', 2. 'Usually not true of me', 3. 'Somewhat true of me', 4. 'Usually true of me', 5. 'Always true of me'. |
| A. Remembering more effectively (9 items) | I think of relationship between what I already know and new things I learn in English. |
| B. Using all your mental processes (14 items) | I say or write new English words several times. |
| C. Compensating for missing knowledge (6 items) | To understand unfamiliar English words, I make guesses. |
| D. Organising and evaluating your knowledge (8 items) | I try to find as many ways as I can to use my English. |
| E. Managing your emotions (6 items) | I try to relax whenever I feel afraid of using English. |
| F. Learning with others (6 items) | If I do not understand something in English, I ask the other person to slow down or say it again. |
Reading
Bialystok, E. (1990), Communication Strategies, Blackwell, Oxford
Dodson, C.J. (1986), 'Language-learning strategies of monolinguals and bilinguals', in Oksaar, E. (ed.), Sociocultural Perspectives of Multilingualism and Language Acqusition. Tubingen: Narr
Ellis, G. & Sinclair, B. (1989), Learning to Learn English, CUP
Green, J. & Oxford, R. (1995), 'A closer look at learning strategies, L2 proficiency and gender', TESOL Quarterly, 29, 2 261-297
McDonough, S. (1995), Strategy and Skill in Learning a Foreign Language, Arnold
Naiman, N., Frohlich, M., Stern, H.H. & Todesco, A. (1978), The Good Language Learner, Toronto, OISE
O'Malley, J.M. & Chamot, A.U. (1990), Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition, CUP
O'Malley, J.M., Chamot, A.U., Stewner-Manzanares, G., Kupper, L. & Russo, R.P. (1985), 'Learning strategies used by beginning and intermediate ESL students', Language Learning, 35, 21-46
Oxford, R.L. (1990), Language Learning Strategies, Newbury House
Vocabulary learning strategies
O'Malley & Chamot (1990) drop delayed production,
self-reinforcement, directed physical response; rename the
advance preparation strategy as 'functional planning'; reclassfify
question for clarification is under social mediation; and add the
following cognitive strategies: summarising: making a summary of new
information received, rehearsal: going over the language of a task in
advance; and the social/affective strategy: self-talk: boosting one's
confidence to do a task more successfully. And another metacognitive strategy:
problem identification: identifying important points of a learning
task.
Important metacognitive strategies averaged across both groups were: selective attention (19.8%), self-management (20.8%), and advance preparation (22.9%). The important cognitive strategies were repetition (14.8%), note-taking (14.1%), question for clarification (12.8%), imagery (9.4%), and translation (8.5%). Comparing the two levels, beginners scored over intermediates in number of strategies reported, 409 compared with 229. Beginners used more translation (9.8% vs. 6.0%), more imagery (10.4% vs 7.4%), and more elaboration (3% vs 1.3%), but less contextualisation (2.4% vs 7.4%).