Looking at Language Learning Strategies

Why Leaning Strategies are Important

Learning strategies are steps taken by students to enhance their own learning. Strategies are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative competence. Appropriate language learning strategies result in improved proficiency and greater self-confidence.

Although researchers have formally discovered and named language learning strategies only recently, such strategies have actually been used for thousands of years. One well-known example is the mnemonic of memory devices used in ancient times to help story tellers remember their lines. Throughout history, the best language students have used strategies, ranging from naturalistic language practice technique to analytic, rule-based strategies.

Now for the first time, learning strategies are becoming widely recognized throughout education in general. Under various names, such as learning skills, learning-to-learn skills, thinking skills, and problem-solving skills, learning strategies are the way students learn wide range of subjects, from native language reading through electronics troubleshooting to new language. Within the language instruction field, teachers are starting to discuss learning strategies among themselves. Learning strategy workshops are drawing big crowds at language teachers convention. Researchers are identifying, classifying, and evaluating language learning strategies, and these efforts are resulting in a steady stream of articles on the topic. Most encouraging of all, increasing numbers of language learners are beginning to recognize the power of their own strategies.