Language Learning Strategy Research Research Articles

Five decades of language learning strategy research: a bibliometric review and research agenda

ABSTRACT As of 2024, almost fifty golden years have passed since the language learning strategy (LLS) concept was first brought to wide attention in 1975. This study analysed 2,580 publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection over the past five decades using bibliometric analysis and science mapping visualisation techniques to delineate the burgeoning scholarly discourse on LLSs regarding the leading researchers, countries, institutions, and sources. Author keywords were also analysed to explore the main research topics and h-classics publications were reviewed to understand the key focuses of the most impactful publications in LLS research. The findings reveal that research on LLSs is extremely vibrant despite facing severe competition from the self-regulation front in recent years. The USA, the PRC, England, and Taiwan dominate the production of knowledge in this field, and Rebecca Oxford, Ernesto Macaro, Suzanne Graham and Lawrence Jun Zhang have the highest average citations in their publications about LLSs. Further, System, Modern Language Journal and TESOL Quarterly have been the leading venues of publication for the most impactful outputs. The review of the 55 h-classics gave insight into future directions for LLS research theoretically, methodologically, and/or pedagogically.

Language learning strategies research in English as foreign language contexts: A systematic literature review

The specific processes, techniques, and actions that learners take to facilitate their language learning have been widely explored under the concept of language learning strategies (LLS); however, more exploration is needed about recent investigations in this area, as calls for new theorization of strategies research have emerged. This systematic literature review aimed at exploring the prevailing research methodologies and educational settings appertaining to LLS in English as foreign language (EFL) contexts. The study analyzed 42 articles published from 2017 to 2023 in journals in the field of social sciences in the Scopus and ERIC databases. The findings show how non-intervention quantitative approaches are predominant in LLS research, occasionally accompanied by qualitative data collection methods. Accordingly, most research has favored descriptive and correlational designs, identifying the relationships between the use of strategies and variables such as language proficiency, demographic aspects, motivation, and self-regulation. Grounded on the revision of existing evidence, this article advises future strategy-based research to focus on primary and secondary levels of education, strategy instruction, cultural aspects, and qualitative research designs.

Introducing Peacebuilding Philosophy to Language Teacher Education

Rebecca L. Oxford’s contributions to academia extend well beyond language learning strategy research, for which she is well known, to embrace peace education in language classrooms. Inspired by her peace education philosophy, this study first describes the influence of Oxford’s scholarly research in peace approach. Then, it presents a case study of five preservice teachers, all native Turkish speakers, who were guided to adopt the peace approach philosophy to develop creative teaching materials to be implemented in the Practicum course. Throughout six hours of weekly lessons at a state middle school, the preservice teachers integrated peacebuilding activities into their English instruction. The analysis of the qualitative data from lesson plans, classroom observations, and reflective writings, revealed compelling findings. Preservice teachers who implemented peacebuilding activities showcased increased competence and awareness of peace education philosophy, and they reported feeling more confident and fulfilled in their teaching. Children exposed to peacebuilding activities experienced a shift in their emotional state. It was also found that peacebuilding activities fostered inner harmony, boosted self-confidence, and enhanced children’s English learning engagement. The study highlights the crucial role of integrating peace education into teacher education programs, particularly for language teachers. Equipping educators with the tools and philosophies of peacebuilding can empower them to become agents of positive change, cultivating global citizens who embrace harmony and understanding.

Language Learning Strategies from the Perspective of Learning Context

Learning context, as an important influence on language learning strategy (LLS), has received more attention in recent years. For the purpose of better strategy choices in different learning contexts and language achievements, this study investigated LLS from the perspective of learning context. Participants were 44 doctoral students recruited in ESL learning context (the US) and EFL learning context (China). Data were gathered through a mixed-methods research design with the use of the Language Strategy Use Inventory (LSUI). The results showed that the participants in both learning contexts reported to use similar LLSs in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, some strategies were used significantly more often in one learning context than the other (e.g., Imitate the way native speakers talk was used more often in ESL context; Switch back to my own language momentarily if I know that the person I’m talking to can understand what is being said is used more often in EFL context). The results also showed that a diversity of additional LLSs were differently used in each learning context. The findings revealed that learning contexts have influence on strategy choice. Furthermore, insights for future LLS research in contexts were offered.

English as a foreign language learners' strategy awareness across proficiency levels from the perspective of self-regulated learning metafactors.

The previous three decades have seen a growing body of research into language learners’ self-regulated learning (SRL), language learning strategy (LLS) use, and their possible effects on proficiency. This study thus provides insights into the relationship between elementary and low intermediate learners’ perceptions of their self-regulated strategy use in English as a foreign language (EFL) and their attitude to English in relation to their proficiency level. Nine hundred and sixty-six higher proficiency students and 399 lower proficiency students in Year 8 participated in the research. A revised Self-Regulated Foreign Language Learning Strategy Questionnaire (SRFLLSQ), a version of Oxford’s Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), was completed by the participants. Our findings shed light on higher proficiency learners’ significantly higher level of strategy use. Learners at higher levels relied more strongly on their metacognitive strategies, such as planning, organizing and monitoring their cognitive processes. Our analysis also showed a high correlation between the different factors of metastrategy use (metacognitive, meta-affective, metasocial, and metamotivational) and cognitive, affective, social, and motivational strategy use in relation to attitude and proficiency. A path analysis also reinforced our assumption that metafactors significantly determine learners’ proficiency across strategy use and attitude in both higher and lower-level students. The positive contribution of the metastrategies on their corresponding regulated strategy fields appeared to be robust, thus underlining recent LLS research that emphasizes the role of metafactors in the language learning process.

Concealing Identity Strategy: An Autonomous Chinese-Speaking Sojourner’s Linguistic and Social Involvements

This article reports on a case study that investigates how a successful Chinese sojourner exhibits learner autonomy through mediating agency, identity, and language learning strategies (LLS) to seek out affordances within a religious social setting in the UK. This study employs an ecological perspective and ethnographic methods through participant observation and interviews to identify a set of LLS employed by this sojourner to deal with language and socio-cultural issues in a complex ecosystem comprised of interacting human and non-human components within this social setting. The results predominantly show this sojourner exercises agency by utilizing the newly observed concealing identity strategy to hide his ‘atheist identity’ which is a self-perceived barrier to the setting. Employing this strategy mitigates this sojourner’s affective barrier to open access to the linguistic and non-linguistic affordances within the dynamic second language (L2) changing circumstance in this specific social place. This case study broadens the LLS research area by taking a socially-oriented perspective to investigate LLS in relation to socio-cultural and interactional abilities in real communicative L2 settings. Therefore, this study gives insights into how learner autonomy is socially mediated in a complex transnational world through the constructs of LLS, agency, and identity based on ecology theory.

Concealing Identity Strategy: An Autonomous Chinese-Speaking Sojourner’s Linguistic and Social Involvements in a Religious Social Setting in the UK

This article reports on a case study that investigates how a successful Chinese sojourner exhibits learner autonomy through mediating agency, identity, and language learning strategies (LLS) to seek out affordances within a religious social setting in the UK. This study employs an ecological perspective and ethnographic methods through participant observation and interviews to identify a set of LLS employed by this sojourner to deal with language and socio-cultural issues in a complex ecosystem comprised of interacting human and non-human components within this social setting. The results predominantly show this sojourner exercises agency by utilizing the newly observed concealing identity strategy to hide his ‘atheist identity’ which is a self-perceived barrier to the setting. Employing this strategy mitigates this sojourner’s affective barrier to open access to the linguistic and non-linguistic affordances within the dynamic second language (L2) changing circumstance in this specific social place. This case study broadens the LLS research area by taking a socially-oriented perspective to investigate LLS in relation to socio-cultural and interactional abilities in real communicative L2 settings. Therefore, this study gives insights into how learner autonomy is socially mediated in a complex transnational world through the constructs of LLS, agency, and identity based on ecology theory.

The third wind of language learning strategies research

The third wind of language learning strategies research

A Systematic Review of the Core Components of Language Learning Strategy Research in Taiwan

As the broader field of individual differences in second/foreign language learning has grown tremendously over the past few decades, its subfields have expanded with a similar intensity. Language learning strategies (LLS) is one such area. Developments have been made regarding the scope and methodology of LLS research, especially. While there have been a number of reviews of the field’s output, few have targeted research in a specific context. With this in mind, the current study offers a situated view of LLS research in Taiwan. It focuses on three core components that are essential to empirical research: (a) contexts and participant characteristics; (b) theoretical-conceptual aspects; and (c) methodological characteristics. Drawing on journal articles systematically collected from major databases and reviews conducted by multiple researchers to ensure reliability and to minimize bias, we provide an overview of the field as it has manifested in Taiwan. Findings from select studies are also discussed. In doing so, this article makes connections between LLS research in Taiwan and the larger, global context, with implications for "the road ahead." We hope it will be a valuable resource for anyone interested in reading about and/or conducting LLS research in this setting and others.

A Systematic Review of Studies on Language Learning Strategies from 1977 to 2018

This study aims to reveal the extent to which language learning strategies (LLS) are studied, including the changing research trends, the most prominen t scholars working on LLS and the countries in which the articles are based on, citation analysis, global academic collaboration and emerging top research topics. The analysis of the related literature was carried out by employing a bibliometric analysis of the research and review papers indexed in the Web of Science databases: Social Science Citation Index (SSCI), Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Social Sciences and Humanities and Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) between 1977 and 2018. In this research, no separation was set from the research of language learning strategy (LLS) use as a native or non-native language. The results showed that there has been a booming interest in language learning strategy research over time. While the first study appeared in 1977, there were 383 LLS publications, most of which were in the field of education (%68.41) in the Web of Science (WoS) till 2018. The publications included articles, proceedings, book reviews, editorial material, review and meeting abstract. It was found that language learning strategy research focused mostly on individual learner variables such as motivation, gender, proficiency in English as a foreign language while most of those studies were carried out through Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (Oxford, 1990) by quantitative methodology. This is the first study reporting the landscape of global research tendencies and trends in LLS. This study contributes to the understanding of the overall LLS academic research and gives an insight into the past, today and future of the language studies.

Social strategy use in online Chinese learning

In this preliminary study, we investigate distance Chinese language learners’ social strategies in three learning contexts: self-directed learning outside synchronous online classes, assessment task completion online, and synchronous online class participation. In doing so, we hope to advance our understanding of what is involved in social strategies use and why language learners use these strategies in online learning. A total of 63 students studying at an Australian university in online Chinese courses participated in this study. We examine how these participants’ use of social strategies was influenced by the learning contexts, technologies, and interactions using data sources of online survey questionnaire responses, online interviews, and observation of online classes. This research contributes to language learning strategy research in many ways. It has provided: (1) detailed information about what social strategies were created and used in online Chinese learning; (2) insights into how individual students adopted these strategies and technological tools to solve learning problems in various learning contexts; (3) an exploration of factors influencing the participants’ social strategy use; and (4) recommendations regarding social strategy adoption, use, and training in online language learning.

Literature Review on Language Learning Strategy Research in China

This paper was intended to sketch the landscape of the LLS researches conducted by Chinese researchers between 2003 and 2018, most of which took Chinese college student as research subjects. These researches covered eight topics, including the investigation of overall/individual features of LLS, comparison of LLS use between different learner groups, LLS instruction and the like.

A Critical Review of Research on Language Learning Strategies used by Arab Learners of English

More than four decades have passed since the language learning strategy (LLS) concept was first brought to wide attention by Joan Rubin (1975). Although LLS research is prolific, it has faced challenges regarding its conceptual and methodological nature. These apparent weaknesses have encouraged some proponents of LLS research (e.g. Oxford, 2011; Rose et al, 2018) to conduct a systematic review of previous LLS research, with the aim of identifying the nature of the vigorous attempts to abandon the construct of LLS in research studies. Surprisingly, perhaps, these reviews did not include any LLS research studies concerning Arab learners. Therefore, this paper examines previous research into the LLSs used by Arab learners of English taken from different databases. The analysis has indicated that the majority (22 out of 27) of studies discovered were exclusively quantitative, using Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). These quantitative studies correlated the Arab participants’ LLS use with other individual learner variables, especially those related to gender and language proficiency. The other five were qualitative studies, and no study had adopted a mixed-method approach. This paper concludes by suggesting some areas that deserve further investigation in future research.

Language learning strategies among Vietnamese EFL High School students

Despite productive research on language learning strategies (LLS), LLS is still a multifaceted topic subject to controversy. Thus, previous researchers have encouraged conducting further LLS research in different educational contexts and student population. The current study was conducted to examine the LLS use among high school students, a relatively neglected population in previous LLS studies. Participants in the study were 83 Vietnamese tenth-graders who were administered the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) by Oxford (1990), including six subscales: memory-related, cognitive, compensatory, metacognitive, affective and social strategies. The results suggested that high school learners utilized a wide range of language learning strategies at a medium level of frequency, indicating a necessity for more explicit LLS instruction. While metacognitive strategies were reported as the most frequently utilized strategies, affective strategies were the least. Cognitive strategies, which were strongly related to other LLS groups, tended to play the central role in the language learners’ LLS employment. Gender was confirmed to be a significant factor that influenced the students’ LLS usage only in the case of social strategies. Pedagogical implications regarding strategy instruction were discussed.

DEVELOPING WRITING STRATEGIES OF POOR LANGUAGE LEARNERS AT THE LEVEL OF JUNIOR-HIGH SCHOOL

Although language learning strategy research has been going on for almost forty years and has provided both theorists and practitioners with an abundant body of knowledge on the subject, there are still areas that need further investigation. One such area is the use of strategies in language skills development, with the skill of writing being singled out as deserving special attention. It is suggested that in order to better understand the processes involved, we need more information concerning the development of the skill by learners, as well as more data revealing the effects of strategy based instruction, especially with reference to children and adolescents in different foreign language learning contexts. Hence, this article makes an attempt to contribute to the ongoing discussion by focusing on a special group of learners – poor language learners, at a risk of educational failure – who are learning a foreign language (English) in the context of junior high school. The article consists of two parts: its theoretical sections focus on some issues related to poor language learners, with emphasis on factors impacting their school problems in general and learning of the writing skill in particular. Then, based on the literature review, some research findings concerning writing strategies and the effects of strategic training are discussed. The second part presents and comments on the data obtained during the course of an informal study carried out in a junior high school within the framework of an educational project which was remedial in character.

A Review of Language Learning Strategy Research

Language learning strategy, a crucial variable of individual differences in second language acquisition (SLA), has been a fiercely discussed topic since 1970s, attracting a large number of researchers and teachers who have already made great achievements. This article aims to conduct a small-scale review of studies concerning language learning strategy, finding that studies in this respect were done mainly from perspectives of definition, identification and classification, usage and assessment and instruction of language learning strategy, and factors which exert influences on it. It is plausible to say that research on this issue is comparatively comprehensive, appreciating wide coverage and great achievements, but certain points are still in controversy. Although there are many related studies, rare studies were devoted to language learning strategy under the context of learners in mainland China. Subsequently, implications for further research and pedagogy in terms of language learning strategy are discussed.

Strategies for Better Learning of English Grammar: Chinese vs. Thais

The success of language learning significantly depends on multiple sets of complex factors; among these are language-learning strategies of which learners in different countries may show different preferences. Needed areas of language learning strategy research include, among others, the strategy of grammar learning and the context-based approach to learning strategies. To fill in these gaps, this study aimed at finding the grammar learning strategies adopted by high school students as well as exploring the national differences between Chinese and Thai students. The results showed that in general the strategies significantly taken up by the high achievers in the grammar test included the metacognitive, the memory, the social and the cognitive. In terms of the national differences, the strategies that characterized the Thai students were the social and the affective. Regarding the Chinese, even though they generally applied all strategy categories at lower frequencies, they were found to prefer different sub-strategies in the following three categories: memory (revision and space reliance), cognitive (note taking) and metacognitive (lesson preview). The findings lead to implications for learners of grammar, interesting future research in grammar strategies and culturally responsive grammar teaching.

A systematic review of language learner strategy research in the face of self-regulation

Language learner strategy research has been dogged by criticisms in recent decades culminating in calls for the field to be replaced with the construct of self-regulation. This paper aims to evaluate how the field has responded to such critique, and to investigate how self-regulation has impacted strategy research in recent years. The study utilizes a systematic review methodology to examine key studies conducted and published from 2010 to 2016 to reveal current trends, and to elucidate best research practices. After initially searching more than 1000 research papers, 46 of the most field-aware studies were selected for data extraction, of which 24 were included in a final systematic map for analysis. Results show strategy research is highly reliant on quantitative measures of data collection, but also reveal a number of context-situated qualitative methods which have produced valuable results. An in-depth review of the 15 most relevant studies revealed a number of innovations that have considerably advanced language learning strategy research in recent years. In a field awash with studies that are anchored to past methodologies, this paper showcases state-of-the-art work in the field, with an aim to inform future research.

Language learning strategies for reading comprehension: assessing the strategy use of young adults at beginners’ level taking Chinese, German, Japanese or Spanish as foreign languages at university

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this paper is to gain insights into the strategies employed by beginning learners of Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese as Foreign Languages at university level in order to comprehend texts in their target languages. It also investigates possible relationships between strategic behaviour and success in reading comprehension tasks. Strategy use is assessed using qualitative analysis of reported strategic behaviour elicited from participants using open-ended questions, combined and compared with data generated using a modified sub-section of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning [Oxford, R. 1990. Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. Boston: Heinle and Heinle; Oxford, R. 2011. Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education]. Implications of the study for the beginners’ language classroom, and for language learning strategy research, particularly strategy measurement, are also considered.

The Development of a Children’s Inventory for Language Learning Strategies (CHILLS)

As a widely researched area language learning strategies mostly focused on older learners (adolescents and adults). Language learning strategy research is not complete unless research direction moves towards and deepens in studying language learning strategies (LLS) of children. Previous and limited research on LLS of children focused on a group of strategies and their effects on learning selected language skills. Most of LLS research with children investigated bilingual children, children in immersion classrooms and/or those in ESL contexts. Thus, there is a need for a comprehensive study that investigates strategy use in general, including all strategy groups and their effects on learning all language skills in an EFL context. Another gap in the literature is related to LLS inventories. Some inventories and/or questionnaires that are developed so far investigated strategy use while learning a single skill (such as reading or listening); however, most of these lack reliability and validity data. Some others covered all strategies and provided psychometric information (such as SILL), but none of these are developed for children, yet for children in EFL contexts. Current study aims to develop a language learning strategy inventory for children, by using data collected from 383 fourth and fifth grade (10-11 years old) primary school children in an EFL context. Thus, the study reports on the reliability and validity processes of the instrument. As a result, a valid and reliable inventory for children’s language learning strategies (CHILLS: Children’s Inventory for Language Learning) is developed. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p263