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Andrew D. Cohen is a Professor Emeritus in the Second Language Studies Program at the University of Minnesota. He served as the Director of the Language Resource Center at the Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA) from 1993–2004. His most recent project with CARLA centered on the development of the Spanish Grammar Strategies Website for learners, which is intended to serve as a model for how to support the learners of problematic grammar forms in any language.

Language learner strategies have been defined in numerous ways over the years. Here is one working definition:

Thoughts and actions, consciously chosen and operationalized by language learners, to assist them in carrying out a multiplicity of tasks from the very onset of learning to the most advanced levels of target-language performance.

The element of choice is important here because this is what gives a strategy its special character. These are moves which the learner is at least partially aware of, even if not being fully attentive to them.

Strategies have been further classified in various ways – for example, strategies for language learning vs. strategies for language use, strategies by language skill area (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), and strategies according to function (metacognitive, cognitive, social, or affective).

Language learning strategies include strategies for identifying the material that needs to be learned, for distinguishing it from other material if need be, for grouping it for easier learning (e.g., grouping vocabulary by category into nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and so forth), for repeatedly dealing with the material (e.g., through classroom tasks or the completion of homework assignments), and for memorizing whatever material is not acquired naturally through exposure.

Let us look at an example of a strategy from a Spanish Grammar Strategies website <http://www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/sp_grammar/index.html>. It is for remembering when to use the subjunctive in Spanish: Use a mnemonic keyword such as WEIRD (W – wishes, will; E – emotions; I – impersonal expressions; R – recommendations; D – doubt, desire, denial).

Language use strategies at whatever the learners' current level of mastery involve at least four subsets of strategies: retrieval strategies, rehearsal strategies, coping strategies, and communication strategies. Retrieval strategies are used to call up language material from storage by means of whatever memory searching strategies the learner can muster. Rehearsal strategies are for practicing target language structures. Coping strategies are of two kinds – compensatory strategies that learners use to make up for the lack of some specific language knowledge, and cover strategies for creating the impression of control over material when there isn't any. Communication strategies are intended to convey a message that is both meaningful and informative for the listener or reader.

A second way to classify strategies is by skill area. Bearing in mind that a skill constitutes the ability to do something (such as looking up a word in a dictionary or paraphrasing a text), strategies are the means used to operationalize this skill. Strategies play an important role in operationalizing both the receptive skills of listening and reading, and the productive skills of speaking, and writing.

A third way to classify strategies is in terms of their function, namely, metacognitive, cognitive, affective, or social. Metacognitive strategies deal with preassessment and preplanning, online planning and monitoring, and postevaluation of language learning activities and of language use events. Cognitive strategies deal with the crucial nuts and bolts of language use since they involve the awareness, perception, reasoning, and conceptualizing processes that learners undertake in both learning the target language (e.g., identification, grouping, retention, and storage of language material) and in activating their knowledge (e.g., retrieval of language material, rehearsal, and comprehension or production of words, phrases, and other elements of the target language). Social strategies encompass the means employed by learners for interacting with other learners and native speakers, such as through asking questions to clarify social roles and relationships, asking for an explanation or verification, and cooperating with others in order to complete tasks. Finally, affective strategies help students regulate their emotions, motivation, and attitudes. In addition, they are used to reduce anxiety and provide self-encouragement.

References

Cohen, A. D. (2011). Strategies in learning and using a second language. Harlow, England: Longman Applied Linguistics/Pearson Education.

Griffiths, C. (2013). The strategy factor in successful language learning. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters.

Oxford, R. (2011). Teaching and researching language learning strategies. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Longman.