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Date Posted: 18:42:48 10/17/05 Mon
Author: Fernanda Helena Vargas Costa
Subject: Final paper for evaluation: Factors Affecting Second Language Learning

Foreign or second language (L2) learning strategies are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques students use, often consciously, to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the L2 (Oxford, 1990b). A specific student seeks out conversation partners and groups words to be learned and then labels each group. Another student uses gestures to communicate in the classroom when the words do not come to mind. And yet another learns words by breaking them down into their components. Young people consciously use guessing when they read. Strategies are the tools for active, self-directed involvement needed for developing L2 communicative ability (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990). Research has repeatedly shown that the conscious, tailored use of such strategies is related to language achievement and proficiency.

Early researchers tended to make lists of strategies and other features presumed to be essential for all good L2 learners. However, being uninhibited has not been confirmed as an essential characteristic of every good language learner. Good L2 learners are willing and accurate guessers; have a strong drive to communicate; are often uninhibited; are willing to make mistakes; focus on form by looking for patterns and analyzing how they are organized in a sentence; take advantage of all practice opportunities; monitor their speech as well as that of others and pay attention to meaning of how their school friends express their opinion.

Additionally, it is likely that different kinds of learners might benefit from different second language learning strategies. Research supports the effectiveness of using L2 learning strategies and has shown that successful language learners often use strategies in an orchestrated fashion. Use of appropriate language learning strategies often results in improved proficiency or achievement overall or in specific skill areas (Thompson & Rubin, 1993). Successful language learners tend to select strategies that work well together in a highly orchestrated way, tailored to the requirements of the language task (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). According to O'Malley & Chamot (1990), well tailored combinations as cognitive (e.g., translating, analyzing) and metacognitive (e.g., planning, organizing) strategies are often used together, supporting each other. These learners can easily explain the strategies they use and why they employ them (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).

Oxford (1990a) synthesized existing research on how the following factors influence the choice of strategies used among students learning a second language. Firstly, motivation: more motivated students tended to use more strategies than less motivated students, and the particular reason for studying the language (motivational orientation, especially as related to career field) was important in the choice of strategies. Secondly, gender: females reported greater overall strategy use than males in many studies (although sometimes males surpassed females in the use of a particular strategy). Thirdly, cultural background: rote memorization and other forms of memorization were more prevalent among some Asian students than among students from other cultural backgrounds. Certain other cultures also appeared to encourage this strategy among learners. Fourthly, attitudes and beliefs: these were reported to have a profound effect on the strategies learners choose, with negative attitudes and beliefs often causing poor strategy use or lack of orchestration of strategies. Fifthly, type of task: the nature of the task helped determine the strategies naturally employed to carry out the task. Sixthly, age and L2 stage: students of different ages and stages of L2 learning used different strategies, with certain strategies often being employed by older or more advanced students. Seventhly, learning style: learning style (general approach to language learning) often determined the choice of L2 learning strategies. For example, analytic-style students preferred strategies such as contrastive analysis, rule-learning, and dissecting words and phrases, while global students used strategies to find meaning (guessing, scanning, predicting) and to converse without knowing all the words (paraphrasing, gesturing). And finally, tolerance of ambiguity: students who were more tolerant of ambiguity used significantly different learning strategies in some instances than did students who were less tolerant of ambiguity.

Teachers must be trained accordingly to their own instructional situations in three areas: identifying students' current learning strategies through surveys, interviews, or other means; helping individual students discern which strategies are most relevant to their learning styles, tasks, and goals; and aiding students in developing orchestrated strategy use rather than a scattered approach.

So far, considering all those points, it remains difficult to make precise prediction about how particular individual characteristics influence student’s success as a language learner. Nonetheless, in a classroom, a sensitive teacher, who takes learner’s individual personalities and learning styles into account, can create an environment in which virtually all students can be successful in learning a second language.

References

Chamot, A.U., & Kupper. L. (1989). Learning strategies in foreign language instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 22, 13-24.

Cohen, A.D. (1990). Language learning: Insights for learners, teachers, and researchers. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

O'Malley, J.M., & Chamot, A.U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oxford, R.L. (1989). Use of language learning strategies: A synthesis of studies with implications for strategy training. System, 17, 235-247.

Oxford, R.L. (1990a). Language learning strategies and beyond: A look at strategies in the context of styles. In
S.S. Magnan (Ed.), Shifting the instructional focus to the learner (pp. 35-55). Middlebury, VT: Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Oxford, R.L. (1990b). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.

Sutter, W. (1989). Strategies and styles. Aalborg, Denmark: Danish Refugee Council.

Tarone, E. (1983). Some thoughts on the notion of "communication strategy." In C. Faerch & G. Kasper (Eds.), Strategies in interlanguage communication (pp. 61-74). London: Longman.

Thompson, I., & Rubin, J. (1993). Improving listening comprehension in Russian. Washington, DC: Department of Education, International Research and Studies Program.

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