Learning

Strategies
Good Language Learner
1. Is a willing and accurate guesser

2. Has strong drive to communicate or to

learn from a communication, and is
willing to do many things in order to get
the message across

3. Is often not inhibited; is willing to appear

foolish if reasonable communication
result
4. Is constantly looking for patterns in the
language; attends to the form in a
particular way, constantly analyzing,
categorizing, etc

5. Practices practice pronunciation or

making up sentences- will seek
opportunities to use the language by
looking for native speakers, going to the
movies or cultural events.
6. Monitors his or her own speech and the
speech of others (learn from own
mistakes)

7. Attends to meaning knows that just

attending to grammar or surface form is
not enough attends to context
 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
 Language Learning Strategy
(Oxford, 2001:166)

operation employed by the learner to aid

the acquisition storage, retrieval and use
of information, specific actions taken by
the learner to make learning faster, more
enjoyable, more self-directed, more
effective and more transferable to new
situations
Learning strategies will vary according to

The task
The learning stage
The age of the learner
The context
Individual style
Cultural differences in cognitive learning
styles
Typologies of Learning Strategies

OMalley and Chamot (1987) identify

three types:
1. Metacognitive
2. Cogitive
3. Social/affective
 Metacognitive Strategy

a learning strategy that involves thinking

about or knowledge of the learning
process planning for learning, monitoring
learning while it is taking place or self-
evaluation of learning after the task has
been completed

(managing the learning process)

Cognitive Strategy
one that involves mental manipulation f
transformation of materials or tasks and is
intended to enhance comprehension,
acquisition, or retention

E.g. guessing from the context, analyzing,

reasoning inductively and deductively,
taking systematic notes, reorganizing
information (Oxford, 2001:166)
 Social/affective Strategy
one of the general types of learning
strategy. It may consist of using social
interactions to assist in the
comprehension, learning, retention of
information. It may also consist of using
mental control over personal affect that
interferes with learning.
 Which strategy?

I go up to tourists and pretend I am lost so

that I can get into conversation with them
in English.
(social/affective)
 I use my bilingual dictionary a lot to try to
find ways of expressing what I can say in
my own language.
(metacognitive)
 When I dont understand I keep nodding
and pretending t understand so that they
carry on speaking and get a second
chance to figure out what they want to say
(social/affective)
 When Im reading I ignore unfamiliar
words unless they crop up over and over
again and I know Im missing something
important
(cognitive)
 Oxfords Typology
1. Memory Strategies (mnemonic)
for entering new information into memory storage and
for retrieving when needed

2. Cognitive Strategies
for linking new information with existing schemata and
for analyzing and classifying it

3. Compensation Strategies
such as guessing or using gestures to overcome
deficiencies and gaps in ones current knowledge
4. Metacognitive Strategies
for organizing, focusing and evaluating ones
own learning

5. Affective Strategies
for handling emotions or attitudes

6. Social Strategies
for co-operation with others in the learning
process
Any Questions ???