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Chapter 2: Defining and Organizing Language Learning Strategies

In this chapter we will introduce you to 20 learning strategies that
you can teach to your students to improve their learning of the
foreign language.

As we emphasized in the preceding chapter, extensive research into learning
strategies reveals the importance and relevance of this instruction for language students.
However, as experienced teachers we know that incorporating a new approach into our
instruction is not an easy task. This chapter focuses on preparing both teachers and
students for learning strategies instruction. We begin by answering some of the most
commonly asked questions about learning strategies. We also share the techniques and
explain the importance of establishing a learner-centered environment in the classroom
before beginning strategies instruction.


I. Answers to some of the Most Common Questions about Learning
Strategies Instruction

At this point, you may be thinking, Twenty learning strategies? How do I find
the time to teach 20 learning strategies in my already full schedule of teaching language
skills? And even more importantly, you may be thinking about your students: How
receptive will they be to learning strategies? How do I prepare them for learning
strategies instruction? Explicit strategies instruction may entail not only a new
experience for you and your students, but also new roles in the learning process. The
purpose of this section is to respond to these important questions and provide suggestions
for getting started with learning strategies instruction.

What are Learning Strategies?

Learning strategies are the thoughts and/or actions that students use to complete
learning tasks. We all know that good teachers use numerous teaching strategies to help
students learn. We use visuals to introduce new ideas, we direct students attention to
important elements, and we activate students background knowledge before introducing
a new concept.

Learning strategies, however, are the tools that students themselves can employ
independently to complete a language task. For instance, a student who needs to learn a
list of vocabulary words might draw a picture to remember each word.


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It is important to distinguish between teaching strategies and learning strategies.
Think about yourself in two different roles - as a language teacher and as a language
student. Look at Table 1 below for examples of strategies you might use as a teacher and
those you might use as a student.

A comparison of similar teaching strategies and learning strategies

Strategy Teacher Learner
Background Knowledge Activate your students prior
knowledge in order to build
new material on what they
already know.
Think about what you already
know about a topic to help you
learn more about it.
Personalize Through discussion, link new
material to your students
experiences and feelings using
guiding questions or other
activities.
Link new material to your
personal experiences and
feelings.
Summarize Have your students read a text,
then summarize it to aid
comprehension.
After you read a text, stop a
moment and summarize the
meaning to help your
comprehension
Use Imagery Create a meaningful context
for your students by
accompanying new
information with figures,
illustrations, and photographs.
Associate new information
with a mental or printed image
to help you learn it.


Learning strategies take different forms. Strategies like Make Inferences, in which
students derive meaning from context, are mental processes that are difficult to observe.
Other strategies like Use Graphic Organizers/Take Notes can be easily observed and
measured. What is important for the purpose of this guide is that strategies can be
learned.

What is Learning Strategies Instruction?
Students who analyze and reflect on their learning are more effective learners;
that is, they are more able to acquire, retain, and apply new information and skills. Yet
students often use learning strategies in a sporadic manner, applying them inappropriately
or overusing the limited number they know.
Learning strategies instruction is one means of improving students' acquisition of
a foreign language. It gives them an explicit vocabulary to use in talking about their
learning experiences so that they can build a repertoire of strategies. Students do not just
acquire new strategies; they discover how and when to apply them. Their ability to use
strategies effectively and to match them appropriately with tasks has broad implications
for learning both content and language.

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The goal of learning strategies instruction is for students to become independent
learners with the ability to use strategies aptly in a variety of contexts. In the beginning,
however, learning when and in what contexts to use particular strategies or groups of
strategies requires direction and guidance from the teacher.

How Do We Name and Organize Language Learning Strategies for Instruction?

There are a number of different names and classification systems for learning
strategies (for a very good review see Hsiao & Oxford, 2002). There are few rights and
wrongs in learning strategies taxonomies, but specific ways of organizing the strategies
can be useful for different teaching situations. Here, we have provided you a with list of
20 commonly used and effective language learning strategies grouped in a way that we
think will help you seamlessly integrate strategies instruction into your FL classroom
teaching. Students can use these strategies to master the 5 Cs: Communication, Cultures,
Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. They will improve their skills in reading,
writing, speaking, listening, mastering grammatical features, vocabulary, and learning
content. In other words, the strategies are relevant to the foreign language teacher's
emphasis on the 5 Cs and facilitate the integration of content and language objectives.

We have divided the 20 strategies into two categories: Metacognitive and
Task-Based. The Metacognitive Strategies can be used for almost any task and are
based on reflecting on one's own thinking while the Task-Based Learning Strategies are
more determined by the specific nature of the task and the resources of the student.

II. Metacognitive Learning Strategies

Metacognitive learning strategies are general learning strategies. Reflecting upon
your own thinking and learning is metacognitive thinking. Once students begin to think
about their own learning, they can then begin to notice how they learn, how others learn,
and how they might adjust how they learn to learn more efficiently. We list four general
metacognitive strategies:

-Organize/Plan Your Own Learning
-Manage Your Own Learning
-Monitor Your Own Learning
-Evaluate Your Own Learning

These metacognitive strategies follow the sequential order of the process a learner
generally goes through in accomplishing any task. What do I do before I start?
(Organize/Plan) What do I do while I am working on the task? (Manage) How do I make
sure I am doing the task correctly? (Monitor) What do I do after I have finished the task ?
(Evaluate) It is important to remember, however, that learners are not as linear as our
models suggest. In reality, we go back and forth: planning, then monitoring, then
planning again, managing, organizing, etc.

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III. Task-Based Learning Strategies

The Task-Based Learning Strategies focus on how students can use their own
resources to learn most effectively. There are 16 task-based strategies in the list. We have
divided them into four categories that are grouped by the kinds of resources students
already have, or can get, to help them complete specific tasks. By focusing students
attention on their resources, we emphasize their ability to take responsibility for their own
learning.

-Strategies That Use What You Know
-Strategies That Use Your Imagination
-Strategies That Use Your Organizational Skills
-Strategies That Use a Variety of Resources

Within each of these four groups, you will find specific strategies that are
examples of what the students can do with these resources to help them learn. For
example, in the group Use What You Know we include Use Background Knowledge,
Make Inferences, Make Predictions, and Transfer/Use Cognates.

The model in Figure 1, Applying Language Learning Strategies, illustrates the
relationship between the Metacognitive and the Task-Based Learning Strategies. This
image embodies the learner-centered nature of strategy instruction. Oliver, our student, is
at the core, and has a language learning task to complete. He decides to use a strategic,
problem-solving approach. He recognizes that problem-solving involves various stages,
planning, monitoring, managing and evaluating. However, these stages are exhibited as a
circle because Oliver may visit and revisit each of these phases throughout the task.
During each phase, he is equipped with a variety of specific learning strategies that he
can use (either alone or in tandem) to help him complete the task. The strategies have
been categorized according to learner-friendly sections, (What You Know, Your
Imagination, Organizational Skills, Variety of Resources), to help clarify how to use the
learning techniques effectively.

Figure 1: Applying Language Learning Strategies
Background
Inferences
Predictions
Personalize
Transfer/
Cognates
Substitute/
Paraphrase
Access
Information
Sources
Cooperate
Talk Yourself
Through It
Patterns
Group/Classify
Graphic Organizers/
Take Notes
Summarize
Selective Attention
Imagery
Real Objects/
Role Play

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Sailing the 5 Cs with Learning Strategies

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Sailing the 5 Cs with Learning Strategies

Looking through the list of strategies, you might think that people use learning
strategies one at a time and that learning strategies are clearly delimited in function and in
use. Reality, of course, is never that simple. Many learning tasks are accomplished using
a number of different learning strategies, sometimes simultaneously and sometimes in
sequence. However, teaching learning strategies one-by-one, giving each one a name and
a definition, and using examples, gives you a way to talk to your students about thinking
and learning. It gives the students a way to talk to themselves about their own thinking.
You develop a common vocabulary that will then allow you and your students to talk
about how to choose and integrate strategies for different kinds of language learning
tasks.

Below you will find the Learning Strategies List for Students that you can share
with your students. This list outlines the language learning strategies discussed above; it
provides names for the strategies, descriptions of strategies, a picture of a key concept
related to the meaning of each learning strategy, and a keyword that might be used with
students to help them remember the strategy. You will probably want to teach the names
of the strategies in the target language. Learning Strategies Lists in Arabic, Chinese,
French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, J apanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian,
Spanish, and Swedish follow the English language version.

















METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES

Strategy Description


Organize / Plan



Calendar

-Plan the task or content sequence.
-Set goals.
-Plan how to accomplish the task.


Manage Your Own
Learning



Pace Yourself

-Determine how you learn best.
-Arrange conditions that help you learn.
-Seek opportunities for practice.
-Focus your attention on the task.
Monitor

Check
While working on a task:
-Check your progress on the task.
-Check your comprehension as you use
the language. Are you understanding?
-Check your production as you use the
language. Are you making sense?
Evaluate

I did it!
After completing a task:
-Assess how well you have accomplished
the learning task.
-Assess how well you have applied the
strategies.
-Decide how effective the strategies were
in helping you accomplish the task.

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TASK BASED STRATEGIES: USE WHAT YOU KNOW

Strategy Description
Use Background
Knowledge


I know.
-Think about and use what you already
know to help you do the task.
- Make associations.
Make Inferences



Use Clues
-Use context and what you know to
figure out meaning.
-Read and listen between the lines.


Make Predictions



Crystal Ball
-Anticipate information to come.
-Make logical guesses about what will
happen.

Personalize


Me
-Relate new concepts to your own life,
that is, to your experiences, knowledge,
beliefs and feelings.
Transfer / Use
Cognates




telephone/telfono/
Telefon/tlfon
-Apply your linguistic knowledge of
other languages (including your native
language) to the target language.
-Recognize cognates.
Substitute /
Paraphrase



Spare Tire
-Think of a similar word or descriptive
phrase for words you do not know in the
target language.


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TASK-BASED STRATEGIES: USE YOUR IMAGINATION
Strategy Description
Use Imagery


Mirror, Mirror
-Use or create an image to understand
and/or represent information.
Use Real Objects /
Role Play


Lights, Camera,
Action!
-Act out and/or imagine yourself in
different roles in the target language.
-Manipulate real objects as you use the
target language.




















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TASK-BASED STRATEGIES: USE YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS

Strategy Description
Find/Apply Patterns







Pattern
-Apply a rule.
-Make a rule.
-Sound out and apply letter/sound rules.

Group/Classify

Sort Suits
-Relate or categorize words or ideas
according to attributes.
Use Graphic
Organizers/
Take Notes



Notepad
-Use or create visual representations
(such as Venn diagrams, timelines, and
charts) of important relationships
between concepts.
-Write down important words and ideas.
Summarize









Main Idea
-Create a mental, oral, or written
summary of information.
Use Selective Attention



Look for It
-Focus on specific information,
structures, key words, phrases, or ideas.

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TASK-BASED STRATEGIES: USE A VARIETY OF RESOURCES

Strategy Description
Access Information
Sources





Read all about it!
-Use the dictionary, the Internet, and
other reference materials.
-Seek out and use sources of information.
-Follow a model.
-Ask questions.
Cooperate






Together
-Work with others to complete tasks,
build confidence, and give and receive
feedback.
Talk Yourself
Through It
(Self-Talk)







I can do it!
- Use your inner resources. Reduce your
anxiety by reminding yourself of your
progress, the resources you have
available, and your goals.




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Below you will find The Learning Strategies Inventory with more detailed descriptions of each
strategy. Each description includes a definition of the purpose of the strategy, a more in-depth
description of the contexts in which it can be used, and an example of how a student might use it to
complete an academic task. These descriptions will be particularly useful as you prepare to teach your
students how to use a specific learning strategy or when you seek strategies to help them with a
particular task.

Learning Strategies Inventory

METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES

1. ORGANIZE / PLAN
Purpose: Students make a plan of what they need to do and organize their thoughts
and activities in order to tackle a task. This preparation helps them complete more
intricate tasks than would otherwise be possible.
Context: Organize/Plan is helpful before starting any task. It is an especially
important strategy for target language writing tasks.
Example: A student wants to write a thank you letter to his teacher for tutoring him after school. He has
lots of ideas about what to write, but he is not sure how to put them in order. He jots the ideas down on
some index cards and organizes them (trying out different orders, eliminating less important ideas, etc.)
before copying them onto clean paper.


2. MANAGE YOUR OWN LEARNING
Purpose: This strategy is central to problem solving. Students reflect on their own learning styles and
strategies. They regulate their own learning conditions to maximize achieving their goals. Students
determine how they learn best, they arrange conditions to help themselves learn, they focus attention on
the task, and they seek opportunities for practice in the target language. Manage also refers to the self-
regulation of feelings and motivation. Independent learners must have a sense of how to manage their
own learning.
Context: Manage Your Own Learning is an important part of problem solving on any task.
Example: To prepare for an exam, a student decides to make flashcards with main ideas to study with
classmates rather than rereading her notes, as flashcards usually work best for her.












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3. MONITOR
Purpose: Students question whether an idea makes sense in order to check the clarity of their
understanding or expression in the target language. Students are aware of how well a task is progressing
and notice when comprehension breaks down.
Context: Monitor is important for any task.
Example: If a student asks how to conjugate a new verb and the teacher tells her,
Yes, you may get a drink from the water fountain, the student who is monitoring
would realize that her question did not communicate her intended meaning!

4. EVALUATE
Purpose: J udging for themselves how well they learned material or performed on a task helps students
identify their strengths and weaknesses so they can do even better the next time. Assessing how well a
strategy works for them helps students decide which strategies they prefer to use on particular tasks.
Context: Evaluate can help students after completing a task.
Example: A student who finds writing in the target language difficult thinks about what
makes it hard for her. She knows she is good at communication but makes a lot of
mistakes in grammar. She decides to pay more attention to grammar in the future. In
chemistry class, a student uses Use Selective Attention to listen closely to directions
while the teacher explains how to do an experiment. She tries to do it herself but does
not succeed. She decides to look at her lab manual which has illustrations of the
process. She tells her teacher that Access Information Sources worked better for her on this task than
Use Selective Attention.


TASK-BASED STRATEGIES: Use What You Know

5. USE BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
Purpose: Students reflect on what they already know about a task or topic so that it is easier to learn and
understand new information. The strategy helps them see the connection between what they know and
what they are learning.
Context: Students can Use Background Knowledge whenever they know anything
related to a task or topic.
Example: Before reading a novel set in Victorian England, students can brainstorm
to recall what theyve learned in History class about the period. They can use this
information to put the events in the novel in the appropriate context once they start reading.









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