On The Teachability Of Language Learning Strategies

There has been a prominent shift within the field of language learning and teaching over the last few decades with greater emphasis being put on from teachers and teaching to learners and learning. In parallel to this new shift of interest, more and more attention has been given to strategy training. The underlying assumption of strategy training is that if learners explore how, when and why to use language learning strategies, and evaluate and monitor their own learning, they can take a more active role in language learning process. It is further assumed that teachers can assist the language learning process by promoting awareness of strategies, and encouraging their use. This thesis writes about the background of strategy training as well as the practice of strategies-based instruction in language teaching programs; it also validates the teachability of language learning strategies. Chapter one is a general introduction of strategy training. Chapter two provides theoretic background for the application of strategy training to foreign language teaching, and gives some basic concepts of strategies and strategy training.During the last few decades, foreign language teaching has become more learner-centered and interactive, for it is hold that if the students are not learning, it does not matter how well the teachers are teaching, thus language programs are requiring teachers of training language students in efficient strategy use. Weaver and Cohen define strategy training as 'explicitly teaching students how to apply language learning and language use strategies' (Cohen 1998). By encouraging students to find their own ways to success, strategy training can 'enhance students' efforts to reach language program goals', and thus it 'promotes learner autonomy and self-direction' (Cohen 1998). The goal of strategy training is to equip students with certain strategies to facilitate their competence in learning and using a foreign language and to build up learner autonomy and self-direction. Therefore, teachers should always bear in mind that while they can provide proper instruction and practice with strategies, it is the individual student that should take main responsibility for choosing and using appropriate strategies. Chapter three concerns the practice of strategy training, that is, strategies-based instruction. Strategies-based instruction (SBI) is a learner-centered approach to teaching that embeds both explicit and implicit training of language learning and use strategies into everyday class activities in the language classroom. 'The underlying premise (of strategy training) is that language learning will be facilitated if students become more aware of the range of possible strategies that they can consciously select during language learning and language use' (Cohen, 1998). SBI is thus viewed as the most effective way for heightening learner awareness and self-evaluation. It is of great importance to point out that the focus on learner strategies and more learner responsibility in the language classroom, or during the strategy training, does not in any way put teachers out of work. It is simply that teachers' roles have changed a lot to achieve the goal of strategy training, from that of working exclusively as the controller and instructor to that of being a facilitator of the learning and assistant of the students. Thus the teachers are more partners than trainers in strategies-based instruction, and they actually take on a variety of roles during the process of strategy training, such as diagnosticians, learner trainers, coaches, language learners and researchers, etc. Chapter four is a field test, which validates the teachability of learning strategies and the practicability of strategy training. The overall goal of this research is to find out the relationship between strategy training and students' performance by providing strategies-based instruction in the foreign language classroom, and also to find out whether there remains certain relationship between SILL sco...