A Contrastive Study On Learning Strategy Design In Textbooks For High School Students

The importance of learning strategy in language learning on the part of language learners is well recognized by researchers in applied linguistics. It is an effective way to insert learning strategy in textbooks. Compilers of textbooks have recognized the significance of learning strategy training, hence, learning strategies can be easily found in some textbooks.The current study is carried out on investigation of learning strategies in Book A and Book B, which are frequently used by Grade One students of senior high school. They are designed in accordance with the National English Curriculum Standards (2003). Learning strategies in those textbooks are the main subjects of investigation in the current study, which concerns itself with two research questions under the assumptions that different learning strategies are inserted into different language tasks and approaches adopted are diversified.The research questions are as follows:(1) What major learning strategies are inserted in different language tasks?(2) What are the similarities and differences of learning strategies in target textbooks?The results show that:(1) Learning strategies inserted in these textbooks share some similarities. First and foremost, both two textbooks contain metcognitive, cognitive and social-affective strategies. In addition, there is a part of self-evaluation (Unit Dairy in Book A an Summing Up in Book B) in each textbook. The third similarity is that both two textbooks have following substrategies, resourcing, self-management, mapping, inferencing, cooperation, guessing, grouping, and word-formation.(2) Percentages of vocabulary strategy and reading strategy are big, while those of speaking strategies and writing strategies are small.(3) Main training approaches in these two books are embedded.