Strategic learning in SLA: Reopening the research agenda

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Strategic learning in SLA Reopening the research
agenda

• Peter Yongqi GU ???
• Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• Beijing Foreign Studies University, China
• 4th National Symposium on SLA in China
• 23-25 April, 2010
• Suzhou

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In this talk

• What is strategic learning?
• Why strategic learning in SLA?
• Brief recap of 30 years of research on language
  learning strategies
• Major achievements
• Problems and proposed solutions
• Strategic crossroads Where from here?

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Part 1 Strategic learning

• Strategic learning refers to the learners
  active, intentional engagement in the learning
  process by selectively attending to a learning
  problem, mobilising available resources, deciding
  on the best available plan for action, carrying
  out the plan, monitoring the performance, and
  evaluating the results for future action.
• Strategic learning is triggered and defined by
  task demands, and is thus not a task-independent
  learner trait/capacity.
• Strategic learning is tied to a purpose. The
  purpose of strategic learning is to solve a
  learning problem, perform a novel task,
  accelerate the learning rate, or to achieve
  overall learning success.

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Part 2Why study strategic learning in SLA?

• So long as we
• reject a fundamentalist Stimulus-Response view
  and accept the role of agency in human learning,
• agree that cognitive mechanisms play a role in
  SLA,
• agree that, besides individual differences such
  as aptitude and motivation, learners own
  learning decisions aimed at maximizing results
  make a difference in the learning process,
• Strategic learning will need to be examined.

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Why study strategic learning in SLA?

• SLA constructs in vogue over the last 30 years
• comprehensible input
• opportunities for output
• corrective feedback
• task-based presentation
• Socio-contextual mediation and scaffolding
• Assumption Learners will notice the patterns or
  automatically activate their implicit learning
  mechanisms
• Strategic learning Learners, and teachers, can
  play a much more active role in managing and
  controlling the learning process, and thereby
  maximising the outcomes of learning

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Part 3

• A brief recap of research on Language learning
  strategies

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Research on Language learning strategies (LLS)

• Exploratory approach
• Correlational Is strategy use correlated with
  learning results?
• Case studies Do high achievers use different
  strategies from low achievers?
• Intervention approach
• Is strategy training effective?

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Are learner strategies useful?LLS research
Summary of findings

• There is a quantitative, correlational pattern in
  general the more strategies you use, the better
  and the more often you use strategies, the better
  the language performance. However,
• The quantitative pattern is only at the surface
  level. The minute you look at specific cases in
  detail, you immediately realise that it is how a
  strategy is used, rather than whether it is used
  that makes a difference.
• More often than not, it is not how many
  strategies one uses, it is how a number of
  strategies are used together and how the learner
  orchestrates the use of these strategies that
  makes the real difference, and
• The choice, use, and effectiveness of strategy
  use very much depend on who the learner is, what
  the task at hand demands, and what context the
  learner is in.

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LLS research Examples
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Study 1 Exploring listening strategiesExample
Good listener

• I You said you liked the story. Why did you like
  it?
• P (pause 3 sec looks at wall deep in thought)
  It (pause 2 sec) tells me about the scenery in
  the morning.
• I OK.
• P How it looks like.
• I Mm hm. What else?
• P (pause 3 sec) Mm (pause 1 sec) the (pause 2
  sec) writer gave a very good description of the
  scenery and (pause 2 sec) other things around
  him.
• I OK.
• P (pause 5 sec) And I find it very interesting.
• I In what way is it interesting?
• P Mm (pause 5 sec) I cannot (pause 1 sec)
  predict what would happen next.
• I Mm. So because you cannot predict, its
  interesting.
• P (pause 2 sec) And (pause 3 sec) if I were the
  writer, I wont have (pause 3 sec) wrote about
  the scenery or the stray dogs.
• I Mm. And then what would you have written
  about?
• P (pause 5 sec) Id have written he just jog
  (pause 2 sec) and went home.
• --Johnny, Primary 5, High-proficiency Learner

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Bottom-up decoding Example Poor listener

• Mabula left his village early. As usual, he
  carried his spear and water bag with him.
• P (pause 6 sec thinks and then pouts) Cant
  hear it carefully.
• I So?
• P Again. Rewind.
• (Replaying the relevant part)
• P The Mabula, I think, is a girl name.
• I Hmm.
• P (pause 2 sec) He carry a (pause 2 sec), uh she
  leave her village very early
• I Mm.
• P then he carried both bag (gestures carrying
  bags in both hands) uh the (pause 1 sec) how to
  say ah, (pause 2 sec) the beer ah?
• I Beer?
• P Ya, I think so. (laughter)
• I OK.
• P I didnt hear it, that part.
• I You didnt hear that part. So what do you want
  to do?
• P Rewind little bit.
• I OK.
• (Replaying the relevant part)

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Patterns of strategy useMean Frequency of
Strategy Use by Proficiency Level
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Study 1 summary Listening strategies

• Good listeners had a larger repertoire of
  strategies than poor listeners
• Good listeners used listening strategies more
  frequently than poor listeners
• Good listeners used both top-down and bottom-up
  strategies
• Good listeners orchestrated their strategy choice
  and use
• Poor listeners had fundamental decoding problems
• Some poor listeners used mainly bottom-up
  decoding strategies
• Some poor listeners used wild guessing to
  compensate for lack of understanding
• Poor listeners rarely monitored their own
  strategy use, not to mention any meaningful
  strategy orchestration.

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Study 2 Confirmatory surveyListening Strategies
Questionnaire
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Patterns of listening strategy use5-point Likert
scale, N3618, Six schools
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Correlations between listening strategies and
English language scores
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Correlations between listening strategies and
English language scores
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Correlations between listening strategies and
English language scores
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Study 2 summaryListening strategies

• Strategy pattern
• Most used listening strategies Monitoring and
  Evaluating (3.42) Self-Initiation (3.35)
  Perceptual processing (3.33)
• Least used strategies Predicting (3.01)
• Listening strategies and EL results
• All strategies significantly correlated with EL
  results
• The highest Inferencing (r.190)
  Self-Initiation (r.130)
• The lowest Planning (r.041)

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Study 3 Strategy-Based InstructionThe Singapore
Strategy Intervention Project

• Coverage
• reading strategies
• writing strategies
• Length one semester
• Materials
• Reading strategies Lesson plans package
• Writing strategies Lesson plans package

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Subjects (Primary 5)
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Strategy Instruction Framework
Teacher Responsibility
Preparation Activate Background Knowledge
Presentation Explain Model
Attend Participate
Practice Prompt Strategies Give Feedback
Apply Strategies with Guidance
Evaluation Assess Strategies
Assess Strategies
Expansion Support Transfer
Use Strategies Independently
Transfer Strategies to New Tasks
Student Responsibility
Chamot, Barnhardt, El-Dinary, Robbins (1999,
p.46)
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SBI Lessons WritingWeekly 1 hour sessions
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Structure of an SBI lesson
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Writing scores of experimental vs. control groups
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Plot of mean score differences
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Were the three tests different from each other?
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Was the experimental group different from the
control group?
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Study 3 summary

• SBI was found to have made a significant
  contribution to the writing performance of the
  experimental group

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Part 4Major contributions of LLS research

• A large repertoire of language learning
  strategies has been identified and classified
• These LLS have been found to be related to
  language learning outcomes (mainly to general
  proficiency, the 4 skills and vocabulary)
• LLS patterns of both adult and young learners
  have been documented from around the world
• Effects of LLS on learning have been found to be
  mediated by a host of person/task/context
  variables
• Strategy intervention has been found useful in
  boosting learning results

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Part 5

• Problems and proposed solutions
• Constructive criticism
• Destructive criticism

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Constructive criticism

• Conceptual and theoretical issues
• LLS construct too vague and elusive
• Static, simplistic either/or lists
• The size-abstractness dilemma
• The outside-inside problem
• Difference between strategic and ordinary
  learning activity
• Research then theory (atheoretical)
• The same research questions being asked
  repeatedly
• Methodological issues
• Think-aloud intrusive
• Survey measures are self-reports only
• Practical issues
• Not practical enough for immediate use in the
  classroom
• Strategy training results inclusive

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Destructive criticism

• Destructive criticism
• Dörnyei, Z., Skehan, P. (2003). Individual
  differences in second language learning. In The
  Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 589
  - 630). Oxford Blackwell Publishing.  
• Dörnyei, Z. (2005). Language learning strategies
  and student self-regulation. In The psychology of
  the language learner Individual differences in
  second language acquisition (pp. 162-196).
  Mahwah, New Jersey Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
  Publishers.  
• Destructive action
• Tseng, W., Dörnyei, Z., Schmitt, N. (2006). A
  new approach to assessing strategic learning The
  case of self-regulation in vocabulary
  acquisition. Applied Linguistics, 27(1), 78-102.
   
• Tseng, W., Schmitt, N. (2008). Toward a model
  of motivated vocabulary learning A structural
  equation modeling approach. Language Learning,
  58(2), 357-400.

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LLS research Fate sealed?

• We cannot offer a watertight definition of
  learning strategies (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 166)
  learning strategies have contestable validity as
  a concept (p. 173).
• Hard to pin down the difference between ordinary
  learning activity and a strategic learning
  activity
• Existing definitions inconsistent and elusive
• Simply focusing on the surface
  manifestationsi.e., the tactics and techniques
  that strategic learners actually employdoes not
  do the topic justice. (p. 196)
• The most often used strategy measure, Rebecca
  Oxfords Strategy Inventory for Language Learning
  (SILL) is psychometrically problematic

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Dörnyeis (2005) suggested solution

• In educational psychology, the term learning
  strategy was first marginalized and then
  virtually abandoned by the research community in
  favor of the more versatile concept of
  self-regulation. (p. 170)
• Self-regulation is a broader, trait-like
  strategic potential (p.190) , a relatively
  enduring attribute of a person (p. 194).
• a new construct, self-regulation or
  self-regulated learning, was introduced in the
  educational psychological literature, and most of
  the research attention has turned toward
  examining variables that were more dynamic and
  process-oriented My emphasis How can a trait be
  dynamic and process-oriented? than
  learning/cognitive strategies

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The last straw Tseng, Dörnyei Schmitts
(2006) Self-Regulating Capacity in Vocabulary
Learning Scale

• Actual and explicit attempt in REPLACING the LLS
  concept in SLA
• Dörnyeis arguments operationalised into a
  self-regulating trait/capacity with 5 components
  commitment control, metacognitive control,
  satiation control, emotion control, and
  environment control.
• My questions
• Is strategic learning a trait/capacity issue?
• Assuming it is, which I hotly debate, can the
  task of vocabulary learning be reduced to
  statements like when learning vocabularyI?

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Is self-regulation a clear concept?

• Alexander, P. (2008). Why this and why now?
  Introduction to the special issue on
  metacognition, self-regulation, and
  self-regulated learning. Educational Psychology
  Review, 20(4), 369-372
• It is perhaps a truism to say that there is an
  inverse relation between the popularity of any
  educational construct and its conceptual clarity
  within the literature. (Alexander, 2008, p. 369)
• In fact, it may well be an unavoidable
  consequence of working within the educational
  realm that has not precise or agreed-upon meaning
  for any of its most central constructs. (pp.
  369-370)

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Dörnyeis argument for a fuzzy self-regulation
concept

• Although there are many fuzzy boundaries and
  distinctions, as well as numerous unresolved
  issues ranging from the conceptual to the
  methodological, scholars appear to be keen to
  invest energy in researching the topic because
  the stakes have been raised considerably since
  the time when the target of research was learning
  strategies only (Dörnyei, 2005, p. 192).
• My reading
• Oh, yeah! We should be keeping up with the
  fashion in educational psychology, no matter
  what.
• Fuzziness is a sin in SLA, but a virtue in other
  fields (which must be more scientific than ours)

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Wisdom from an elder

• In a strange way, language testers ... are not
  unlike the person who murdered his parents and
  then made a plea for clemency as an orphan. Our
  field has been remarkably ahistorical we have
  too often satisfied ourselves with patricidal
  fury on a named or unnamed predecessor before
  launching ourselves into our own rediscovery of a
  slightly circular wheel of our own.
• Bernard Spolsky (1995) Measured words, p. 352

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Part 6 Where from here? Re-opening the research
agenda

• Build on the strength and knowledge from LLS
  research
• Proceed with a complete open mind, both in terms
  of theorising and in terms of research
  methodology
• Aim for complete integration into SLA
• Cognitive/neuro-psychological perspectives
• Sociocultural perspectives

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Re-opening the research agendaCognitive
perspectives

• Reconceptualise static LS as dynamic strategic
  learning
• Describe strategic learning in sufficient detail
• Explain strategic learning
• Open up the explanatory framework
• Explain strategic learning and its relationship
  to learning outcomes
• Tie strategic learning closely to learning tasks
• Examine the effectiveness of each constituent
  tactic in relation to task, learner, and learning
  context

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Re-opening the research agendaCognitive
perspectives

• Study Individual differences in strategic
  learning
• Incorporate strategic learning into classroom
  instruction
• Expand strategic learning aims to include learner
  autonomy

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Dynamic strategic learning

• Dynamic strategic learning involves at least the
  following procedures
• Problem identification and selective attention
• Analysis of task
• Choice of decisions
• Execution of plan
• Monitoring progress and modifying plan
• Evaluating result and deciding on next steps

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A dynamic view of strategic learning implies

• Strategies can no longer be studied as presence
  /absence of strategies or frequency of strategy
  use.
• Each of the following can influence learning
  results
• Selective attention to learning problems and
  novel tasks
• Task analysis
• Choice and use of strategies
• Monitoring and evaluating of strategies
• Flexible orchestration, adaptation and revision
  of strategic choice and implementation

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Explaining strategic learning A
person-task-context-strategies framework
Context
Strategies
Person
Task
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Explaining strategic learning

• How is strategic learning represented in the
  mind?
• How is strategic learning developed over time?
• Does strategic learning make a difference in SLA?
  
• Why does strategic learning make a difference?
• How does strategic learning work to make a
  difference?
• How much difference does strategic learning make?

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Learning task and strategic learning

• Traditional learning tasks studied
• LLS for language learning in general
• LLS for the four skills
• LLS for vocabulary
• A new agenda for strategic learning should
  include all aspects of second language acquisition

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Learning task and strategic learning What is
strategic language learning the learning of?
(Bachman,1990)
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Learning task and strategic learning

• Which aspect of communicative competence?
• Accuracy
• Fluency
• Complexity
• Appropriateness

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Strategic learning beyond communicative competence

• Micro-focus Strategic learning is for the
  achievement of success in language learning
  (communicative competence)
• Macro-focus Strategic learning is also for the
  holistic development of the active, reflective
  and socially responsible individual (Learner
  autonomy)

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Strategic learning at different stages of SLA
(Ellis, 1998, p. 43)
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Re-opening the research agendaSociocultural
perspectives

• Higher forms of human mental activity are always
  and everywhere mediated by symbolic means
• The source of mediation is either a material tool
  (artifact), a system of symbols (e.g., classroom
  discourse) or the behaviour of another human
  being in social interaction
• The emergence of strategies is a by-product of
  goal directed, situated activity in which
  mediation through artefacts, discourse, or others
  plays a central role in apprenticing novices into
  a community of practice.

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Research from sociocultural perspectives should
collect evidence to show

• that strategic learning, rather than solitary,
  individual activities, is developed in
  communities of practice where inexperienced
  learners are apprenticed gradually into the
  sociocultural practices of the classroom
  community.
• that the genesis of learning strategies as
  object-oriented learning activities and goal
  directed actions are situated, mediated and
  shaped by artefacts, discourse, or other people
  in and out of the classroom.
• that dialogic and reflective communities of
  language learning practice and mediation can lead
  to the emergence and restructuring of strategies

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Methodological considerations

• Continued exploration with think-aloud
  elicitation, interviews, diaries, questionnaires.
• Much more experimentation
• Strategy-Based Instruction of a whole range of
  needed strategies
• Effectiveness of individual strategies in
  controlled learner-task-context configurations
• Classroom experimentation, small-group training,
  one-on-one tutoring
• Laboratory tests of strategic processing, e.g.,
  fMRI scans
• Much more classroom integration and action
  research
• Much more narrative enquiry and genetic method
  that document situated and mediated strategic
  development
• Much more research from emic perspectives, i.e.,
  learners own decision making processes in
  strategic learning, rather than codes imposed by
  researchers

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Exploring new methodologiesExample fMRI scans

• Strategic vs. non-strategic behaviour
  (representation) Is strategic processing
  neurologically different from non-strategic
  processing?
• Development of strategic learning (neural
  correlates of learning results) Do beginning and
  experienced strategy users processing the same
  task show different brain scan patterns?
• Strategy transfer to novel tasks Do brain
  behaviours show similar patterns in the strategic
  performance of similar and novel tasks?

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Criteria for evaluating the new research agenda

• Explanatory power There is no need for one
  single theory. We need a multitude of
  perspectives to explore the strategic learning
  phenomenon.
• Usefulness No matter a cat is black or white,
  if it catches mice, it is a good cat. In other
  words, research has to yield results that lead to
  the learners more active control of their own
  learning and to better language learning outcomes.

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• Thank you!