Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language (Second edition)

Abstract

It has been well over a decade since Andrew Cohen’s (1998)Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language was first published by Longman. Compared to the 1990s when language learning strategies was one of the hottest topics of applied linguistics and L2 acquisition, the first decade of the twenty-first century has seen the field going through a quiet period of self-reflection. This updated second edition represents the latest the field has to offer in trying to inject a new round of energy for the revitalization of research interest on learning strategies in L2 acquisition. The book is divided into eight chapters. With the exception of a short introduction chapter and a short discussion and conclusions chapter, each of the other six chapters ends with a number of ‘Discussion questions and activities’ suitable for postgraduate students working on these topics. Chapter 2 clears the ground by focusing on the definition, classification, differentiation, and interpretation of terminologies that have been used by researchers in the past decades. Chapter 3 looks at research methods used in learner strategies research. The next two chapters focus on strategy instruction. Chapter 4 shows a number of existing frameworks for strategy instruction, introduces in detail the planning and implementation of strategy instruction programmes, and discusses the teacher’s role in this process. Chapter 5 mainly shows the rationale and effects of strategy instruction. It first reviews the literature on strategy instruction in the skill areas and then zooms in on a strategy instruction study on the speaking task. Chapter 6 looks at the strategies used for choosing the language of thought. The first angle is adult L2 learners’ mental translation while reading; the second angle illustrates language use by elementary school pupils in a Spanish immersion programme. Chapter 7 first discusses test-taking strategies in general and then presents a study on strategies for producing speech acts.