Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies. By Rebecca L. Oxford PDF

Preview

Summary

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com System 40 (2012) 161e174 www.elsevier.com/locate/system Book reviews Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies, Rebecca Oxford, Longman, Harlow, UK (2011). 342 pp. This book is a useful addition to Longman’s Applied Linguistics in Action series. ...

Description

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

System 40 (2012) 161e174

www.elsevier.com/locate/system

Book reviews Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies, Rebecca Oxford, Longman, Harlow, UK (2011). 342 pp. This book is a useful addition to Longman’s Applied Linguistics in Action series. It follows the principles of the series as a whole by combining theoretical perspectives on the field in question with more practical concerns in terms of how to conduct research within that area and how such findings might impact on practice. It is thus of interest to a range of readers, from those looking for insights into how language learning strategy theory has developed to beginning researchers and classroom practitioners. The book is divided into four sections, addressing these different concerns. The first section considers, across four chapters, the theoretical background to learning strategies, beginning with a detailed exposition of the ‘The Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R) Model of Language Learning’, then looking in the next three chapters at its cognitive, affective and sociocultural-interactive aspects. This model is based around a definition from Schunk and Ertmer (2000) regarding self-regulation, which includes ‘setting goals for learning, attending to and concentrating on instruction, using effective strategies to organize, code, and rehearse information.holding positive beliefs about one’s capabilities.’ (p. 11). Self-regulated L2 learning strategies are defined as ‘deliberate, goal-directed attempts to manage and control efforts to learn the L2.broad, teachable actions that learners choose from among alternatives and employ for L2 learning purposes.’ (p. 12). The categories Oxford lists as examples of strategies are indeed broad, for example, ‘Going Beyond the Immediate Data’, or the so-called cognitive strategy of ‘Using the Senses to Understand and Remember’ (p. 24). Furthermore, Oxford then breaks strategies down into ‘tactics’, which she defines as ‘the specific, applied way or ways in which a strategy is being used to meet a goal in a particular situation.’ (p. 31). Whether this further sub-division is helpful is something that might be disputed, just as it is among the ‘experts’ on strategies that Cohen (2007) canvassed regarding the definition of a strategy. Examples of tactics are broad in the same way that those for strategies are (p. 33). Unlike other models, Oxford’s also includes ‘metastrategies’ (which in other models would be called metacognitive strategies), and which she then breaks down into those belonging to three ‘domains’ related to language learning e metacognitive (eight strategies), meta-affective (8), meta- sociocultural-interactive strategies (8) e arguing that the use of the term ‘metacognitive’ to cover the regulation of non-cognitive aspects of learning is confusing, and underplays the importance of the affective and sociocultural-interactive realms. The strategies in each domain are in turn underpinned by six kinds of metaknowledge, which Oxford claims builds on Wenden (1991) and Flavell’s (1979) view of metacognitive knowledge. While aspects of the model seem to be a useful expansion of previous models and to be related effectively to general educational theory and to sociocultural models of learning, this first section gives a sense of an unnecessary over-proliferation of categories (alongside numerous boxed text examples and diagrams), resulting in the lengthy appendices that go with Section 1. The overall effect of this first section is less coherent than I would have liked. Section 2 moves on to consider how we gain information about learners’ strategy use (what the author terms ‘Strategy assessment’) in Chapter 5; then in Chapter 6, how we might help learners, through instruction, to use strategies more effectively (‘Strategy assistance’). While the former gives a useful overview of the advantages and disadvantages of certain research instruments, in places I would like to have seen a more in-depth consideration of the issues. For example, the section on verbal report and thinking aloud is relatively short (five pages, two of which are devoted to tables) and the studies cited as using this research approach are quite old (from the1990s). Similarly, stimulated recall, a method which has grown in importance in the field of learning strategies, is covered in just over four lines of text. By contrast, ten pages are devoted to questionnaires. More useful, however, are the tables that present issues relating to the validity and reliability of different data collection methods, which research students and their supervisors will no doubt find helpful. Chapter 6 is strongly practice-based and gives a clear overview of important models of strategy instruction.

Book reviews / System 40 (2012) 161e174

162

Section 3, ‘Researching learning strategies’, contains what, for me, were the most, and also the least helpful chapters of the book. The content of Chapter 7, ‘A guide to conducting research on self-regulated L2 learning strategies’, matches its title very closely, giving advice and examples that less experienced researchers in this area will find beneficial. Chapter 8, by contrast, fails to provide what it promises: ‘What we know from L2 learning strategy research’, perhaps because it tries to give an overview of a very wide field in just one chapter. As a result, the topic is not treated in any great depth and not all of the studies considered are the most up-to-date ones. In listening, for example, Oxford cites the chapter on this skill in Cohen and Macaro’s (2007) in-depth review of learner strategy work by Macaro et al. (2007), calling for more intervention studies in listening strategy instruction; yet the author does not cite any of the listening intervention studies that have taken place since 2007. The strengths of this book are the practical advice and examples it gives of exploring learning strategies either as a researcher or a teacher (with Section IV listing useful resources); in this respect, it is likely to be of benefit to beginning researchers, research students and their teachers, and classroom practitioners. The theoretical model presented in Section 1 is likely to provoke some discussion among other writers in the field, not all of whom will agree with Oxford’s various sub-divisions and categories. The inclusion of affective and socio-cultural perspectives on learning strategies may well be broadly welcomed, however. Aspects of the book I liked less are the heavy use of ‘Concept’ boxes, lists and tables, and less up-to-date references than I would have expected. At times, too, I felt the argumentation needed to be more precise and issues dealt with in more depth, for example, the link between motivation and strategy use. There is certainly plenty of breadth here but some readers might miss the depth. References Cohen, A., 2007. Coming to terms with language learner strategies: surveying the experts. In: Cohen, A.D., Macaro, E. (Eds.), Language Learner Strategies: 30 Years of Research and Practice. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 29e45. Flavell, J.H., 1979. Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: a new area of cognitive-developmental inquiry. American Psychologist 34, 906e911. Macaro, E., Graham, S., Vanderplank, R., 2007. A review of listening strategies: focus on sources of knowledge and on success. In: Cohen, A.D., Macaro, E. (Eds.), Language Learner Strategies: 30 Years of Research and Practice. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 165e185. Schunk, D.H., Ertmer, P.A., 2000. Self-regulation and academic learning: self-efficacy enhancing interventions. In: Boekaerts, M., Pintrich, P.R., Zeidner, M. (Eds.), Handbook of Self-Regulation. Academic Press., San Diego, CA, pp. 631e649. Wenden, A., 1991. Learner Strategies for Learner Autonomy. Prentice Hall, London.

Suzanne Graham University of Reading, Institute of Education, Bulmershe Court, Reading, Earley, RG6 1HY, UK E-mail address: [email protected] doi:10.1016/j.system.2011.12.004

New Trends in Corpora and Language Learning, Ana Frankenberg-Garcia, Lynne Flowerdew, Guy Aston (Eds.). Continuum, London and New York (2011). 268 pp. Keyness in Texts, Marina Bondi, Mike Scott (Eds.). John Benjamins, Amsterdam and Philadelphia (2010). 251 pp. New Trends in Corpora and Language Learning provides exactly what you would expect from the title: a comprehensive update on current issues within the rapidly-growing field of corpus use in language learning and teaching. Originating from research first reported at the 2008 Teaching and Language Corpora (TaLC) conference held in Lisbon, the 15 chapters are shared across three parts: ‘corpora with language learners: use’, ‘corpora for language learners: tools’, and ‘corpora by language learners: learner language’ (my emphasis). The diversity of the studies in the book presents something for every reader e whether you are an experienced language teacher but novice user of...