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Learner strategies in SLA

Evidence from research in the acquisition of L2 English

Unit 4
November 26th

In the last session


Strategies: Definition and typology
Learning strategies
Cognitive
Metacognitive (planning, monitoring, evaluation)
Social
Communicative strategies
Formal reduction
Functional reduction
Achievement
Teaching strategies
Strategies and language development

Communication Strategies: Typology


Formal REDUCTION strategies: imply avoidance of items/rules that
may appear problematic.
They might take place at the phonological, syntactic or lexical level

Functional REDUCTION strategies: affect communicative goal rather


than form (goal of the desired message is reduced to avoid the
problem).

ACHIEVEMENT strategies: used when learners try to solve the problems


encountered in communciation.
Compensatory: when linguistic resources are insufficient (codeswitching,
transfer, paraphrase)

Some examples
Reduction strategies (risk avoiding)

Formal reduction:
If she would not be

If she is not there

Functional reduction:
He plays

He does sport

Some examples
Achievement strategies (risk taking)
Code-switching
I dont have any bolis (PENS)
Foreignising
And I have a colch on my bed (Bedspread)
Literal translation
My grandfather has a frightenbirds in his orchard (SCARECROW)
Substitution
And he also has animals there (RABBITS)
Paraphrase
He cleaned the house with a it sucks air (VACUUM CLEANER)
Word coinage
We went to visit a picture place (GALLERY)
Restructuring
I have two

//

I have a brother and a sister

Some examples
Achievement strategies
Co-operative strategies
Appeals for assistance:

whats this?

Retrieval strategies
Waiting
Enumeration of words in the semantic field: the learner

mentions a list of words until s/he finds the one s/he is


looking for
We bought a it was not a shirt, not a jacket, not a tie, not a belt, a
waistcoat, yes: we bought him a waistcoat!

Effects of variables on the use of CS


Effects of proficiency level:
L2 learners of limited proficiency prefer either

reduction strategies or L1-based achievement


strategies, while more advanced learners prefer L2based achievement strategies such as paraphrase.

Effects of the problem-source:


Code-switching is more likely when both languages
have close cognates.
The extent to which L2 child learners display
avoidance depend on the grammatical structures
involved.

Effects of variables on the use of CS


Effects of personality:
Personality factors may correlate with the use of CS
E.g. appeals for assistance in elaborate descriptions

Effects of the learning situation:


Learners may use fewer strategies in a classroom
environment than in a natural environment, especially
if the focus is on correct L2 rather than on fluent
communication.

Two further issues on CS:


1. Does a successful use of communication
strategies prevent acquisition?

A need of hypothesis testing or formation can be


disregarded

2. What aspect of language development is affected?

Lexis/Grammar ??

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