Remedial Instruction

in English
Heshell S. Ellaga
Southern Luzon State University
A.Y. 2015-2016 (1st Semester)

Language Learning
Strategies in a Nutshell:
Update and ESL Suggestions
Rebecca L. Oxford

language learning strategies

specific actions, behaviors, steps,
or techniques that students (often
intentionally) use to improve their
progress in developing L2 skills.

facilitate the
internalization, storage,
retrieval, or use of the
new language.

tools for the self-directed

involvement necessary for
developing communicative
ability.

LEARNING ABOUT LEARNING

STRATEGIES
Therefore, much learning strategy
research depends on learners
willingness and ability to describe
their internal behaviors, both
cognitive and affective (emotional).
Brown (1989) & Harlow (1988)

RESULTS OF RESEARCH ON
LEARNING STRATEGIES

Outside the L2 field

Other determinants:
Maturity
comprehension of ones own
learning style preferences
(visual, auditory, etc.)
previous experience

Brown, Bransford, Ferrara, & Campione

(1983)

Metacognitive strategies
+ Cognitive strategies
= Successful learning

organizing, evaluating, and planning their

learning along with analyzing, reasoning,
transferring information, taking notes, and
summarizing

Dansereau (1985) & McCombs (1988)

Social strategies
+ Affective strategies
= Successful learning

to control their emotions, to stay motivated,

to cooperate, and to get help

In the L2 field
Effectiveness: Improved L2 proficiency
Orchestration: Skilled L2 learners select
strategies that work well together and that
are tailored to the requirements of the
language task.
Less successful learners: the use of
mundane strategies such as translation,
rote memorization, and repetition

However less effective learners apply these strategies in

random, even desperate manner, without careful orchestration
and without targeting the strategies to the task
(Vann &
Abraham, 1989).

INFLUENCE ON STRATEGY
USE
More motivated L2 students typically used
more strategies than less motivated
students, whether in intensive classrooms,
regular classrooms (Oxford, 1989; Oxford
& Nyikos, 1989; Oxford, Park-Oh,
Ito,&Sumrall, 1993).
Engineering students, for instance, chose
learning strategies that were more analytic
than those selected by humanities students.

Females reported greater strategy use than

males in several studies (summarized by
Oxford, Nyikos, & Ehrman, 1988).

Rote memorization was more prevalent

among Asian ESL students than among their
Hispanic counterparts.

conversation versus letter writing, listening

for details versus listening for the main idea

More sophisticated strategies are often being

employed by more advanced students.

LEARNING STYLES AND

STRATEGIES
Style

Strategy

Analytic learning

Contrastive analysis, rule

learning, dissecting
words/phrases

Global style

Guessing, Scanning,
Predicting

Visual

Listing, Word grouping

Auditory

Working with tapes, Practice

aloud

Oxfords (1990): L2 learning

Behaviors
(a) affective
(b) social
(c) metacognitive
(d) memory-related
(e) general cognitive
(f) compensatory

Reference
Oxford, R. (2002). Language learning
strategies in a nutshell: Update and ESL
suggestion. In Richards, J. & Renandya, W.
(Eds.), Methodology
in language teaching:
An anthology of current practice.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
pp. 124-132.