Language Learning Strategies
LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES
Deepak K. SAMIDA
This article gives a general view of language learning strategies. Each group of strategies is briefly explained. Their application is also added as an example to show how a learner can use them.
The language learning strategies are not newly created strategies, but have been in use by ancient storytellers thousands of years ago. It is said that in the Celtic period it took twelve years for storytellers to fully train. In the first two years they memorized 250 stories. They used mnemonic tools to help remember the narrative. These days the language students use these and other strategies to develop communicative competence.
According to the research of O' Malley, Chamot, and Kupper effective listeners used three specific strategies: self-monitoring, elaboration, and inferences while ineffective listeners were concerned with the meaning of individual words. This study demonstrated that the use of certain learning strategies improved learning among students. Learning strategies are defined by Oxford as "operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition , storage, retrieval, and use of information". This definition is further expanded to include "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations" (Oxford, 1990, p. 8). These definitions show that the weight in foreign language teaching and learning is changing from teacher centered to learner centered instruction. This change has brought language learning strategies to the center of attention for some educators.
There are 62 strategies mentioned by Oxford and they are divided into direct and indirect strategies. The strategies used directly in dealing with a new language are called direct strategies. The
three groups that belong to the direct strategies are memory, cognitive, and compensation. The indirect strategies are used for
Deepak K. SAMIDA
This article gives a general view of language learning strategies. Each group of strategies is briefly explained. Their application is also added as an example to show how a learner can use them.
The language learning strategies are not newly created strategies, but have been in use by ancient storytellers thousands of years ago. It is said that in the Celtic period it took twelve years for storytellers to fully train. In the first two years they memorized 250 stories. They used mnemonic tools to help remember the narrative. These days the language students use these and other strategies to develop communicative competence.
According to the research of O' Malley, Chamot, and Kupper effective listeners used three specific strategies: self-monitoring, elaboration, and inferences while ineffective listeners were concerned with the meaning of individual words. This study demonstrated that the use of certain learning strategies improved learning among students. Learning strategies are defined by Oxford as "operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition , storage, retrieval, and use of information". This definition is further expanded to include "specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations" (Oxford, 1990, p. 8). These definitions show that the weight in foreign language teaching and learning is changing from teacher centered to learner centered instruction. This change has brought language learning strategies to the center of attention for some educators.
There are 62 strategies mentioned by Oxford and they are divided into direct and indirect strategies. The strategies used directly in dealing with a new language are called direct strategies. The
three groups that belong to the direct strategies are memory, cognitive, and compensation. The indirect strategies are used for