Part of a larger research project, this descriptive study identified the range and characteristics of learning strategies used in studying foreign languages. Related studies include a course development study, in which foreign language instructors teach their students to apply learning strategies, and a longitudinal study that analyzed differences…

This study investigated over a 3-year period the learning strategies high school students reported using for learning a second language. The learning strategies used across languages and modalities are described. The report is organized by instrument--questionnaires, small group interviews, individual think-aloud interviews--and presents the data…

Explores questions regarding the knowledge and proficiency level expected of second-language learners, the acquisition of valued knowledge, the relationship between cognition and language learning, the nature of "progress," and quality curriculum design. These questions are discussed in reference to the development in Australia of the…

Examines how two groups of computer students reacted to tasks involving different degrees of reflectivity. Results indicate that students found almost all tasks, including the reflective ones, helpful and relevant although the intervention group studied disliked the reflective tasks, especially those at the metacognitive level. (15 references)…

Investigation of the monitoring behavior of Turkish children speaking Dutch as a second language found that subjects' use repairs increased or decreased with a certain age. A positive relationship was found between monitoring use and subjects' cognitive skills and second language proficiency. (27 references) (Author/CB)

Discusses a study of grades six, eight, and ten students in the Netherlands to whom grade-appropriate measures of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge were administered in their native language, Dutch, as well as in English. The aim was to explore relative contributions to native language and foreign language reading comprehension of a…

Examines issues affecting the teaching and learning of listening skills within the study of Japanese as a Foreign Language. Listening within foreign-language learning is a complex skill, and students encounter several difficulties in learning to listen for comprehension. Teachers face concerns ranging from resource availability to how to teach…

In the author's previous teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) experience, he had found that Chinese university students were overdependent on teachers in EFL learning. Drawing on research on language learning strategies, he used metacognition training (MT) as a form of classroom intervention to promote learner autonomy. This article…

EFL learners from three language institutes in Brazil answered the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning--SILL--to self-report how they go about learning English. They emerged as balanced users of various strategies with a tendency to use metacognitive and social strategies to learn the language. This tendency, further reinforced by factor…

Previous studies (Liyanage, 2003a, 2003b, 2004) by one of the authors indicated that ethnicity and religion jointly predict the metacognitive, cognitive and social affective strategies of ESL learners in Sri Lanka. The current study further examines which of these two variables (ethnicity or religion) is more important in determining the…

This paper examines variables such as linguistic ability in the target language, schemata, and psychological factors affecting the English language reading success or failure of a 31-year-old Thai graduate student in the information system program at a U.S. university. The subject's self-assessment of reading, speaking, and listening in Thai was…

A study analyzing word characteristics that make them more easily translated from English to French (or vice versa) indicates that translation efficacy is most strongly influenced by the frequency of the word in the language, its familiarity, and the similarity of the French equivalent to the English word. (Author/CB)

Compares English-as-a-Foreign-Language students beliefs about language learning, using responses to the Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory (BALLI) to identify similarities and differences across cultural groups. Examination of individual BALLI responses did not yield clear-cut cultural differences in beliefs. (Author/VWL)

Presents listening comprehension strategies used by students learning French. Through interviews, students described their conscious use of strategies in different contexts. All evidenced a familiarity with metacognitive, cognitive, and socioaffective techniques. (50 references) (Author/CK)

This article focuses on the incidence of lexical transfer as a communication/learning strategy in the written English of 32 beginning Hispanic, disadvantaged students learning English as a Second Language at Bayamon University Technical College in Puerto Rico. Subjects were asked to write a detailed description in English of a simple ink drawing…