Language aptitude and motivation constitute general factors that influence the rate and level of L2 achievement. But how does their influence operate? One possibility is that they affect the nature and the frequency with which individual learners use learning strategies.
Learning strategies are the particular approaches or techniques that learners employ to try to learn an L2. They can be behavioural (for example, repeating new words aloud to help you remember them) or they can be mental (for example, using the linguistic or situational context to infer the meaning of a new word). They are typically problem-oriented. That is, learners employ learning strategies when they are faced with some problem, such as how to remember a new word. Learners are generally aware of the strategies they use and, when asked, can explain what they did to try to learn something.
Different kinds of learning strategies have been identified. Cognitive strategies are those that are involved in the analysis, synthesis, or transformation of learning materials. An example is ‘recombination’, which involves constructing a meaningful sentence by recombining known elements of the L2 in a new way. Metacognitive strategies are those involved in planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning. An example is ‘selective attention’, where the learner makes a conscious decision to attend to particular aspects of the input. Social/affective strategies concern the ways in which learners choose to interact with other speakers. An example is ‘questioning for clarification’ (i.e asking for repetition, pharaphrase, or an example).
There have been various attempts to discover which strategies are important for L2 acquisition. One way is to investigate how ‘good language learners’ try to learn. This involves identifying learners who have been successful in learning an L2 and interviewing them to find out the strategies that worked for them. One of the main finding of such studies is that successful language learners pay attention to both form and meaning. Good language learners are also very active (i.e they use strategies for taking charge of their own learning), show awareness of the learning process and their own personal learning styles and, above all, are flexible and appropriate in their use of learning strategies. They seem to be especially adept at using metacognitive strategies.
Others studies have sought to relate learners’ reported use of different strategies to their L2 proficiency to try to find out which strategies are important for language development. Such studies have shown, not surprisingly, that successful learners use more strategies than unsuccessful learners. They have also shiwn that different strategies are related to different aspects of L2 learning. Thus, strategies that involve formal practice (for example, rehearsing a new word) contribute to the development of linguistic competence whereas strategies involving functional practice (for example, seeking out native speakers to talk to) aid the development of communicative skills. Successful learners may also call on different strategies at different stages of their development. However, there is the problem with how to interpret this research. Does strategy use result in learning or does learning increase learners’s ability, it is not clear.
An obvious question concerns how these learning strategies relate to the general kinds of psycholinguistic proccess discussed in chapter 6. What strategies are involved in noticing or noticing the gap, for example? Unfortunately, however, no attempt has yet been made to incorporate the various learning strategies that have been identified into a model of psycholinguistic processing. The approach to date has been simply to discribe strategies and quantify their use.
The study of learning strategies is of potential value to language teachers. If those strategies that are crucial for learning can be identified, it many prove possible to train sudents to use them. We will examine this idea in the broader context of a discussion of the role of instruction in L2 acquisition.
second language acquisition, 1997, ellis rod.
Learning strategies are the particular approaches or techniques that learners employ to try to learn an L2. They can be behavioural (for example, repeating new words aloud to help you remember them) or they can be mental (for example, using the linguistic or situational context to infer the meaning of a new word). They are typically problem-oriented. That is, learners employ learning strategies when they are faced with some problem, such as how to remember a new word. Learners are generally aware of the strategies they use and, when asked, can explain what they did to try to learn something.
Different kinds of learning strategies have been identified. Cognitive strategies are those that are involved in the analysis, synthesis, or transformation of learning materials. An example is ‘recombination’, which involves constructing a meaningful sentence by recombining known elements of the L2 in a new way. Metacognitive strategies are those involved in planning, monitoring, and evaluating learning. An example is ‘selective attention’, where the learner makes a conscious decision to attend to particular aspects of the input. Social/affective strategies concern the ways in which learners choose to interact with other speakers. An example is ‘questioning for clarification’ (i.e asking for repetition, pharaphrase, or an example).
There have been various attempts to discover which strategies are important for L2 acquisition. One way is to investigate how ‘good language learners’ try to learn. This involves identifying learners who have been successful in learning an L2 and interviewing them to find out the strategies that worked for them. One of the main finding of such studies is that successful language learners pay attention to both form and meaning. Good language learners are also very active (i.e they use strategies for taking charge of their own learning), show awareness of the learning process and their own personal learning styles and, above all, are flexible and appropriate in their use of learning strategies. They seem to be especially adept at using metacognitive strategies.
Others studies have sought to relate learners’ reported use of different strategies to their L2 proficiency to try to find out which strategies are important for language development. Such studies have shown, not surprisingly, that successful learners use more strategies than unsuccessful learners. They have also shiwn that different strategies are related to different aspects of L2 learning. Thus, strategies that involve formal practice (for example, rehearsing a new word) contribute to the development of linguistic competence whereas strategies involving functional practice (for example, seeking out native speakers to talk to) aid the development of communicative skills. Successful learners may also call on different strategies at different stages of their development. However, there is the problem with how to interpret this research. Does strategy use result in learning or does learning increase learners’s ability, it is not clear.
An obvious question concerns how these learning strategies relate to the general kinds of psycholinguistic proccess discussed in chapter 6. What strategies are involved in noticing or noticing the gap, for example? Unfortunately, however, no attempt has yet been made to incorporate the various learning strategies that have been identified into a model of psycholinguistic processing. The approach to date has been simply to discribe strategies and quantify their use.
The study of learning strategies is of potential value to language teachers. If those strategies that are crucial for learning can be identified, it many prove possible to train sudents to use them. We will examine this idea in the broader context of a discussion of the role of instruction in L2 acquisition.
second language acquisition, 1997, ellis rod.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar