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Andrew D. Cohen Prof. Emeritus, U. of Minnesota [email protected] http://z.umn.edu/adcohen Moving from Theory to Practice: A Closer Look at Language Learner Strategies 1 Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, 16-17 October 2015 Situating Strategy Use: The Interplay of LLS & Individual Learner Characteristics

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Page 1: 1 Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, 16-17 October 2015 Situating Strategy Use: The Interplay of LLS & Individual Learner Characteristics

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Andrew D. CohenProf. Emeritus, U. of Minnesota

[email protected]://z.umn.edu/adcohen

Moving from Theory to Practice: A Closer Look at Language

Learner Strategies  

Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, 16-17 October 2015

Situating Strategy Use: The Interplay of LLS & Individual Learner Characteristics

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Theoretical issues regarding language learner strategies (LLS).

How to conduct strategy instruction (SI).

The role of teachers in SI.Research on SI.Strategies for learning language #13.

Focus of Talk

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The construct language learner strategies has been defined – and consequently researched – in numerous ways over the years. My own current 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 (TL) performance (Cohen, 2011, p. 7).

1. Theoretical Issues re Language Learner Strategies

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The element of consciousness is what distinguishes strategies from those processes that are not strategic.

The element of choice is crucial because this Is what gives a strategy its special character.

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Macaro (2006) offered a level of rigor uncommon in describing and discussing LLS, not only linking them to specific tasks, but also raising the issue of whether LLS function in isolation or rather as part of a sequence or cluster.

My opinion about LLS definitions: they should clarify, not obfuscate – it helps move the action along into the realm of practice to use definitions that lay language learners can understand.

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In response to resounding criticism of the LLS field by Dörnyei and others for not having an adequate theoretical basis, Griffiths (2013) made a special effort to provide a theoretical basis for LLS, and then related LLS to individual differences, learning context, goals, and the real world of the classroom.

In his new joint volume with Ryan, Dörnyei now asserts that in the new individual differences landscape, LLS appear to sit much more comfortably than they did a decade ago, and so he feels that their role warrants careful re-examination, which is what he and Ryan did painstakingly in their new book (Dörnyei & Ryan, 2015).

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Since strategies are currently viewed as theoretically multifaceted, LLS enthusiasts are admonished not to indulge in attempts at clarification that oversimplify and thereby reduce the richness and predictive potential of what by its very nature is highly complex (Griffiths & Oxford, 2014).

It is ironic then how simplistically various strategies are actually labeled and referred to in practice.

The LLS literature abounds with vague labels or statements like “I use inference” intended to convey a strategy, but actually referring more generally to a skill.

Skills are the ability to do something. So “inference” as a skill is the ability to derive the meaning of something.

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The strategies, then, are the operationalization of the skill – i.e., selected processes to actualize the skill. Inferencing, for example, takes a lot of conscious strategies to pull off effectively.

As an aside, when a move is no longer consciously selected, it is still a process, but in my view no longer a strategy.

Research on the strategies associated with inferencing (Hu & Nassaji, 2014) – 12 types: analyzing, associating, repeating, using textual clues, using prior knowledge, paraphrasing, making inquiry, confirming/disconfirming, commenting, stating failure or difficulty, suspending judgments, and reattempting.

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As a language learner (my 13th – Mandarin), I'm mindful of what “operationalizing strategies” means.

I write a blog of my life in Chinese, which I share with my Chinese tandem partner each week (in pinyin). It keeps me humble, and it keeps me in touch with the reality of LLS in the trenches. So lots of reading and writing strategies.

Re LLS labels, "use a dictionary" doesn't begin to get at the strategies I use to blog in Mandarin – rather, a complicated back and forth between Google Translate, my online two-way dictionary, and feedback from my tandem partner to arrive at accurate word meanings, which are stored electronically in BYKI (a program by Transparent Language) according to word categories – nouns, verbs, adjectives, function words (adverbs, conjunctions, etc.), and measure words.

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Ways to Classify Learner Strategies By goal: Strategies for learning the TL (e.g., identifying, distinguishing, grouping, memorizing strategies) or strategies for using the TL – i.e., performing your knowledge (e.g., retrieval, rehearsal, communicative, and cover strategies).

By function: cognitive, affective, and social strategies; and strategies for supervising the learning and use of the TL (planning ahead, monitoring your performance, evaluating how it went).

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By skill: Listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, or translation strategies with regard to the TL.

Other: Strategies for: different age levels, different stages in life, learners at different proficiency

levels, learners of a specific target language

(e.g., learning how to mark the verb for gender in Hebrew and Arabic),

learners interested in interaction within specific sub-cultures,

speakers of different varieties of the TL.

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My personal view: Strategies are in principle available to everyone, but super-learners take strategizing to a new level – so as to:  have people think their pronunciation

is native or nearly so in the TL,get the pragmatics right in numerous

situations in the TL,have only negligible grammar errors

in their oral language,have the vocabulary trip off their

tongue relatively effortlessly in the TL,

Are strategies used in special ways by good language learners?

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read effortlessly and then insightfully critique science material of keen interest in the TL,

express themselves in written language at a native-like level in the TL (perhaps with some editing).

take a major role in a presentation and discussion about a science topic entirely in the TL.

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What causes of individual differences in LLS use?language proficiency, learning style preferences, selection of strategies & relative success at their use, the learner’s language aptitude configuration, learners’ motivational configuration – i.e., the

interaction of motivation with numerous internal, social, and contextual factors,

personality (see the narratives of Mark and Wanda; Oxford, 2014),

impact of home life (e.g., richer strategy development in a bilingual home – e.g., inferencing develops while listening in 2+ languages; Grenfell & Harris, 2015),

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subjectivity re use of strategies from the repertoire (given the individual learners’ sense of identity/agency; see Ishihara & Cohen, 2014: 106).

So, given the array of individual differences, is it any wonder that learners differ in their selection and use of LLSs?

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Gu, Hu, Zhang, & Bai (2011) – a guide for reading and writing strategies for pupils in public schools. E.g.’s of teachers modeling actual strategies for inferencing within

the skill of inferencing: identifying the problem, using contextual information to guess, using linguistic knowledge (i.e., "this is because..."), using world knowledge to guess, evaluating the resulting inference.

Chamot’s (2012) suggestions for differentiation in SI. Pupils describe the learning strategies that they used in doing a task. The teacher writes each example on the board and then gives a brief

label for the learning strategy it illustrates. Students individually complete a grid in which they identify the

strategies they use most often and provide examples of how they have used each strategy.

2. How to Conduct Strategy Instruction

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Psaltou-Joycey and Gavrilidou’s (2015) edited volume focusing on SI.

The second portion of the book is devoted to describing SI tasks:Agathopoulou, Alexiu, Joycey, E.,

Kazamia, & Sougari (2015) on activities for mainstream primarily pupils,

Kantaridou & Papadopoulou (2015) on activities for mainstream lower-secondary school,

Mitits & Sarafianou (2015) on activities for minority primary and lower-secondary schools.

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Included in these chapters are strategies for the following:analyzing vocabulary (e.g., parts of words; cognates in L1, L2,

and L3) and classifying words, dictionary use, reading comprehension: reading for the gist, general

understanding, or details; visualization, filling in the gaps, summarizing, making mind maps as graphic organizers, and guessing what comes next,

observing and making inferences (about similarities and differences in schools, cultures, and countries; about signage),

short-term memory and memorizing people’s faces, understanding grammar (simple present vs. present continuous),expressing emotions,evaluating the effectiveness of strategy use (e.g., after making

an error).

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Short Courses and MaterialsThe first CARLA summer institute on LLS

took place in 1998 with Susan Weaver, Rebecca Oxford, and me as co-instructors.

The 18th(!) SI summer institute for teachers Improving Language Learning: Styles- and Strategies-Based Instruction (SSBI) – took place on July 20–24, 2015 at the U. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, with Martha Nyikos (Indiana University).http://www.carla.umn.edu/institutes/2015/ssbi.html

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Outline of current course:Day 1 - Defining and Working with Styles and Strategies Resolving Style/Strategy ConflictsDay 2 - Assessment of Styles and Strategies Intersection of Style, Strategy, and Task Hands-On SSBI ActivitiesDay 3 - Frameworks for SSBI Teaching vs. Learning Strategies Teacher and Student RolesDay 4 - Motivation for Language Learning Creating SSBI Lesson Plans More Hands-On SSBI Activities Review of SSBI Research and ImplicationsDay 5 - Group Presentations of SSBI Lessons and Project Design Style/Strategy Review and Debate Goal-Setting for the Future

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The SSBI Instruction Manual used in these summer institutes is available for purchase from the U of Minnesota Bookstore:

Cohen, A. D. & Weaver, S. J. (2006). Styles and strategies-based instruction: A teachers’ guide. Minneapolis, MN: Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota.

• There is also extensive coverage of SI in:Cohen, A. D. (2011). Strategies in learning and using a second language. Abingdon, England: Routledge/Pearson Education. (Ch. 4, pp. 117-167, is devoted to the practice of strategy instruction.)

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The Role of SI in Learning L2 PragmaticsSupporting learners in being strategic

about pragmatics:speech acts like greetings, thanks,

compliments, requests, apologies, complaints, criticism,

being polite and impolite,recognizing humor, teasing, sarcasm,understanding and use of swearwords,engaging in small talk,dealing with listener responses and turn

taking,knowing how to recognize and use discourse

markers like “well,” “you know,” “so,” “I think,” "on the other hand," "frankly," and "as a matter of fact.”

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A fine-tuned taxonomy of strategies for learners (Cohen, 2005; 2014):Strategies for the INITIAL LEARNING of TL pragmatics

E.g., taking practical steps to gain knowledge of how, say, specific speech acts work –

gathering information (through observation, interview, and written material) on how certain speech acts are performed by members of one or more “communities of practice” within a given speech community (e.g., at the workplace: making requests of age mates, refusing requests made by higher-status people, and thanking people in service – e.g., cafeteria workers, custodians).

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Strategies for PERFORMING pragmaticsE.g., devising and then utilizing a memory aid for retrieving the pragmatics material that has already been learned –

visualizing a listing of the specific strategies for the given pragmatics material – possibly remembered through an acronym – and then scanning down this list in order to select the members of, say, a given speech act set that seem appropriate for the given situation.

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Strategies for PLANNING, MONITORING, & EVALUATING TL pragmatic performanceE.g., in an effort to avoid pragmatic failure, learners may monitor for:

1) the level of directness or indirectness in the delivery of TL pragmatics (e.g., a request of a stranger on an airplane), 2) the appropriateness of the selected term of address (e.g., referring in the L2 to Dr. Stephen Blake as “Doc,” “Steve,” or “you”– either tu or vous), 3) tone, facial expressions, and gestures. (Whereas an actor usually gets coached in such matters, language learners are invariably left to figure it out by themselves.)

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The use of technology in strategy instructionA detailed approach to strategies and strategizing:

The Spanish Grammar Strategies Website http://www.carla.umn.edu/strategies/sp_grammar/index.html

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The strategies were obtained on a bottom-up basis36 hours of videotaping of U of Minnesota

undergraduate students explaining the strategies they used to successfully learn Spanish grammar.

72 strategies identified and validated.These strategies were included in a website that took 2

years to construct.The approach is to let students choose strategies

according to learning style preferences. A study tracked the selection and use of strategies by

15 undergrads at UMN over 6-8 weeks. Some students found the selected strategies very helpful and others didn’t (Cohen, Pinilla-Herrera, Thompson, & Witzig, 2011).

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“I’m looking for a strategy that someone

has used successfully to learn a specific

grammar form.”

“I’m looking for strategies that

match my learning style and that can

apply to various

grammar forms.” 28

How can I use this website?

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Examples from the Website

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I need a strategy

for a particular grammar form.

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Ser and estar(Main page)

As a learner and user of Spanish, you need to deal with two main verbs used to express the English verb 'to be‘ – ser and estar. As you have probably discovered, deciding whether to use one form or the other can be a challenge. The following strategies have proven useful for many beginning learners.

When to use ser and estar

Acronyms for the basic differencesObserving contextual use

When to use ser

Association by the first sound of the word

When to use estar

A rhymeA phrase with an acronym in it 30

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A phrase with an acronym in itA nonnative teacher uses "CLING to a star/estar" to help her students remember that estar is necessary when talking about:

Temporary conditions Lola está embarazada y su esposo está asustado.

Location La sección de maternidad está en el segundo piso del hospital.

-ing forms in English El bebé está llorando.  31

Ser and estar (strategy)

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Test-taking strategies can be crucial for learners, especially when taking high-stakes tests.

Students waste time trying to figure out how to do the test.Test-management strategies can be crucial in navigating

through the test and responding effectively. Students can benefit from good guidance materials.The Education Testing Service (ETS) is to be praised for

their willingness to support research into the strategies actually used on the iBT TOEFL test (e.g., Cohen & Upton, 2007).

Research findings as to the strategies used in responses provides important input for SI sessions.

Strategies for enhancing test performance

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How can teachers can support learners in being better strategizers? It is suggested (Peter Gu, email exchange, August 2015) that teachers be knowledgeable about:the strategies being targeted altogether and those likely to be elicited

by any given TL task, options for how to use a given strategy in a given task, the proficiency level of the students, the students’ cultural and educational background, their motivation level, their cognitive/learning style preferences, when to engage in explicit SI.

• Ideally, consistent with Butler (2002), students arrive at their own strategies, with teacher support without the teacher feeding them strategies – a bottom-up approach; greater credibility for students than if strategies are supplied by teachers.

3. The Role of Teachers in SI

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Rebecca Oxford (email exchange, Aug. ‘15) also sees the role of the teacher in SI as demanding, given the learners’ contextualized, situated, complex, and fluctuating needs.

She would further recommend – as would I – that teachers formally assess learning style preferences, LLS, and language proficiency. Rebecca has her world-famous SILL and task-based versions, and together we have constructed various measures available through CARLA.

In addition, Rebecca recommends that teachers become knowledgeable about the other variables in the lives of each learner by means of very informal observation, dialogue journals, narratives, and other tools.

She would recommend that teachers be cognizant of the contexts in which students live, interact, and learn – that strategies need to be contextualized.

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This is where He (2002) and Gao (2010) have both contributed to the field by documenting how learners use different strategies at different points in their life. Much of our strategy work has not contextualized strategy use. Instead, we have used a more generalized model.

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A study on mnemonic devices to check the uptake from teachers teaching the mnemonic key word strategy for remembering specific words (Cohen & Aphek, 1981):there were learners who used the teacher’s suggested

strategies and it helped, there were those who used the teacher’s strategies

and it didn’t help,And there were those who ignored the teacher’s

suggestions on strategy use.This is why I have favored separate websites for learners

to frequent on their own. Teachers can make suggestions but shouldn’t be offended if learners ignore them.

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Other than sending learners to websites, what can teachers do to help students use learner strategies?

There are lots of ideas in Ch. 4, “The Practice of Strategy Instruction” (Cohen, 2011, pp. 115-167).

If possible, teachers conduct SI as part of their regular instruction.

How to get this to happen? Have teachers attend the CARLA summer institute on Styles and Strategy Instruction at the University of Minnesota – the 19th to be in July of 2016.

Or develop your own local LLS institutes.

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Harris (2007) – difficult to do cross-study comparisons of SI because of differences in setting, duration (i.e., from one 50-min. period to entire year), and the nature of the SI.

Little information provided in studies on the choice of skill area(s), how the strategies were tailored to learners’ age, stage, and proficiency level, and learners’ views on the SI intervention (i.e., what was best for the given learners or what was most convenient for the given researchers?).

Harris provided some of this information in her study with SBI in listening and reading.

4. Research on SI

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How to evaluate the effectiveness of SI? The more triangulation of measures the

better. I would want to see whether and how

strategies are used over time. E.g., the study on the use of strategies from the Spanish Grammar Strategies Website at CARLA (Cohen et al., 2011).

Since there are many factors, our instruments need to be multiple and creative, depending on what our instruction is dealing with.

The more focused the SI, the more likelihood we can see results. In Cohen (2011) one of the early studies is described with French and Norwegian where we provided SI on speaking and then measured the impact (pp. 186-223).

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What about research on the quality of strategy use? Aside from the frequency of strategy use, are there any measures that can tap into the quality of strategy use?Verbal report with learners to see if the strategy is

working.Getting feedback from the learners while engaged in

actual real-world tasks.Checking out whether the learners have a handle on what

they say the strategy is doing (see Cohen et al., 2011). Checking if students are really using a given strategy –

e.g., verification re selection of strategies for the Spanish grammar strategies website – that each “successful” strategy did, in fact, produce the desired outcome.

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Issues in SI research:What are the so-called strategies in the study? Are they

actually more skill-like? Have they been operationalized into sequences or clusters?

To what extent is SI implicit and to what extent explicit – i.e., are pupils expected to internalize various strategies associated with tasks that they do or are they explicitly taught to use the strategies?

Is there follow up to see if pupils have transferred the strategies to other tasks?

Are students actually taught strategies for dealing with, say, grammatical forms (e.g., distinguishing one from another)? How vague/specific is the SI?

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Gu (2014) on coding: Incidences of strategy use are usually coded and tallied according

to a taxonomy of learner strategies that does not reflect the quality of the strategy use.

Then statistical analyses are run to find out whether groups of learners differ in the number of strategies used and/or types of strategy used.

While the results of analyses may reveal differences among various groups of learners, they can also distort the true picture:

what motivated learners to use a particular strategy and the quality,

the quality of the strategy use,the flexibility displayed in the use of the given strategy, the efficiency with which the strategy is used.

Answers to these questions may advance knowledge re LLS.

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Bai, Hu, and Gu (2014) on SI research: They acknowledge problems with survey questionnaires – not being

able to get at the mechanisms behind strategy learning, The items tend to be decontextualized, The self-report used in the questionnaires does not necessarily

reflect actual behavior, The questionnaire approach does not get at the orchestration of

strategies (e.g., sequences and clusters).De Silva and Graham (2015) comment on use of stimulated recall:

gained insights into strategy orchestration of both high- and low-proficiency learners (12 Sri Lankan college EFL learners),

protocols showed that different writers used strategies in different combinations and that these strategy clusters interacted in writing,

the recall data helped reveal how the students‘ use of strategies developed – in a way that quantitative data collection methods alone (e.g. questionnaires) would not have been able to.

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Samples of Some Recent SI Studies

Gunning and Oxford (2014) conducted a study with 6 th-grade ESL students to get them to be more strategic in their speaking.

Gu, Hu, and Zhang (2009) worked with 4th-6th-grade ESL students to improve their listening strategies.

Gu (2007) exhibited both rigor in administering SBI to 5 th-grade ESL students on writing strategies, and also in procedures for conducting research, including a delayed posttest.

Nguyen and Gu (2013) administered SI for academic writing with 3rd-year university English majors in Vietnam.

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What strategies work best for me in learning Mandarin? (see Cohen & Li, 2013). Creating my own curriculum around what I want to talk

about.Making electronic flash cards by word category – nouns,

verbs, adjectives, function words, and measure words.Getting a tandem partner and coaching her on how to

give feedback. I write 10 sentences per week. I review the corrections before our session. She sends me more feedback after the session. I further correct my sentences. I make vocabulary entries based on the feedback.

5. Strategies for learning my 13th language

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Sample topic entry 10Sep15: Shang ge xingqier women qu youtaihuitang canjia guanyu Yiselie zōngjiào jíduānzh yì de yanjiang. ǔTanhua de ren shi yige Meiguoren de labi shi Yiselie yìhuì de yimíng qián chéngyuán.Ta zhèngzài jījí tuīdòng lìf d jī zōngjiào jíduānzh yì. (ǎ ǎ ǔ ‘This past Tuesday we went to our synagogue to hear a talk about religious extremism in Israel. The speaker was an American-born rabbi, who was a former member of parliament. He was actively engaged in promoting the enactment of laws to crack down on religious extremism.’)

Cognitive strategy – making sure I understand semantic distinctions in learning vocabulary: gonzuo – a person working, yunzhuan – a machine working.

Attempting to cluster words by tone – failed. Words like liànxí ‘practice, exercise’ and liánxì ‘connection’ (networking).

Continuing to work on my Chinese, even out of my comfort zone (my 13 th language).

Just learning pinyin – so homonyms like nán (2d tone) for both ‘south’ and ‘male.’

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Learners can be more proactive in their own language learning. They need not be dependent on the teacher. During much of their lives, they won’t have access to a teacher.

Teachers can be more proactive in coaching learners to use language learner strategies

more effectively.Research has an important role to play in LLS work.

Conclusions

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Agathopoulou, E., Alexiu, T., Joycey, E., Kazamia, V., & Sougari, A.-M. Activities for mainstream primarily pupils. In A. Psaltou-Joycey & Z. Gavriilidou (Eds.) (2015). Foreign language learning strategy instruction: A teacher's guide (pp. 52-115). Kavala, Greece: Saita Publications.

Bai, R., Hu, G., & Gu, P. Y. (2014). The relationship between use of writing strategies and English proficiency in Singapore primary schools. Asia-Pacific Educational Researcher , 23(3), 355-365.

Butler, D. L. (2002). Individualizing instruction in self-regulated learning. Theory into Practice, 41(2), 81-92.

Chamot, A. U. (2012). Differentiated instruction for language and learning strategies: Classroom applications. In W. M. Chan, K. N. Chin S. K. Bhatt & I. Walker (Eds.), Perspectives on individual characteristics and foreign language education (pp. 115-129). Boston/Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Cohen, A. D. (2005). Strategies for learning and performing L2 speech acts. Intercultural Pragmatics, 2(3), 275-301.

References

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