Language Learners’ Skills and Strategies: Assessing Academic Needs in a Multilingual Context

Abstract

This study identified and recorded students’ learning skills and strategies in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) and a Language Other than English (LOTE) in a multilingual learning context, the Department of Balkan Studies at the University of Western Macedonia, in Greece. A self-report questionnaire was employed investigating the students’ language learning needs in the receptive and productive skills along with their language learning strategies. The findings indicated a considerable degree of awareness on multilingual learning along with a certain degree of flexibility in strategy use. Also, bilingual learners showed more strategic knowledge and a greater degree of metacognition in language skills. In result, it is suggested that the students should be provided with multilingual instruction to enhance their awareness and metacognitive strategic use in as many foreign languages (FLs) as possible.