Learning Strategies

Learning strategies are...

• teaching tools to help teachers improve their teaching.

• steps taken by students to enhance their own learning.

• teaching strategies to keep students engaged.

• tips used by students to develop critical thinking.

Only one out of four strategies is a memory strategy. Which one?

• Guessing intelligently.

• Creating structure for input and output.

• Analyzing and reasoning.

• Applying images and sound.

Which strategies are useful for making mental linkages?

• Grouping, associating/elaborating, and placing new words into a context.

• Semantic mapping, using keywords, and using imagery.

• Representing sounds in memory and structured reviewing.

• Using mechanical techniques and guessing intelligently.

The strategy of recombining involves...

• writing a new expression in a full sentence on a flashcard.

• constructing a meaningful sentence by putting together known elements in new ways.

• altering the message by ommiting some items of information to make the ideas simpler.

• explaining or describing a single concept or a synonym to convey the intended meaning.

Two strategies that can be used to overcome limitations in speaking are...

• Using linguistic clues and using other clues.

• Repeating and practicing naturalistically.

• Using mime or gesture and coining words.

• Transferring and grouping.

Metacognitive strategies...

• allow learners to control their own cognition.

• develop students´abilities to control their thoughts.

• help learners to actively participate in class.

• reduce students´ anxiety levels.

Metacognitive strategies include three strategy sets:

• asking questions, cooperating with others, and evaluating your learning.

• Empathazing with others, encouraging yourself, and developing cultural understanding.

• Centering your learning, arranging and planning your learning, and evaluating your learning.

• Using a checklist, asking for correction, and asking for clarification.

Centering your learning strategies help learners to...

• converge their attention and energies on certain language tasks, skills, activities, or materials.

• gauge either general language progress or progress in any of the four skills.

• lower their anxiety, no matter which skill or combination of skills is involved.

• ask the more proficient speaker to slow down , paraphrase, and explain what s/he has said.

Strategies are divided into two major classes:

• cognitive and metacognitive.

• memory and compensation.

• direct and indirect.

• drill and practice.

Compensation strategies help learners to...

• overcome knowledge limitations in all four skills.

• think properly in difficult situations.

• take risks when they need to use the language.

• relax and develop their self-esteem when using the L2.