This thesis aims to identify the learning styles and strategies of students, to check whether there are significant differences in the learning style and strategy preferences between male and female learners, and investigate whether there is a relationship between students&amp / #8217 / learning style and strategy preferences. A total of 60 students were asked to complete two questionnaires. One was used to identify students&amp / #8217 / perceptual learning style preferences and the other was used to identify students&amp / #8217 / learning strategies. In addition, think aloud protocols were held to determine the cognitive and metacognitive strategies students used while reading. The data analysis of the first questionnaire revealed that students&amp / #8217 / major learning style preferences were auditory learning and individual learning. Furthermore, significant difference was found in the preference of tactile learning between males and females. The analysis of the second questionnaire revealed that cognitive strategies were favoured the most. No significant difference was found in the preferences of learning strategies between males and females. The analysis with respect to the relationship between learning styles and strategies revealed that &amp / #8226 / visual styles had a significant relation with affective strategies / &amp / #8226 / auditory styles had significant relationships with memory, cognitive, affective, and social strategies / &amp / #8226 / there was a significant relationship between the individual learning style and compensation strategies. &amp / #8226 / none of the learning styles had a significant relationship with metacognitive strategies. The think aloud protocols revealed that students used various cognitive and metacognitive strategies.

This essay has studied the extent to which research on language learning strategies has influenced four Swedish syllabi for the English subject in compulsory school year 7-9. The study has made use of hermeneutics to both categorize and interpret the various mentions of language learning strategies that can be seen throughout the various syllabi. All in all, it can be concluded that research, especially Swedish research, has come to increasingly influence the syllabi over time, which can be seen through both the increased number of mentions of language learning strategies and through the more clearly defined terminology used when mentioning the strategies in LGR 11 (2011). This development may be seen as showcasing a shift in focus from teaching methods regulated by the teacher to learning strategies applied by students and their significance for the degree of success and level of achievement reached in the target language. However, for the teachers and students reading the syllabus, it is still not overtly mentioned what the strategies are, and in order to find out, they have to find the description of language learning strategies on their own. It can, therefore, be beneficial to include workshops and seminars on the topic to ensure that all English teachers understand what kind of strategies they should be looking for in their students. This would strengthen the verification of the grades given to the students and the overall professionalism of the teachers. How exactly these seminars and workshops should be constructed and incorporated in schools and universities, however, is not within the scope of this essay, but can be determined in future studies on the subject.

Language learning strategies have been given a large role in the Swedish curriculum for modern languages and the usage of strategies is one of the requirements for getting a passing grade in the subject. However, language learning strategies is a term that is hard to grasp when seeing it without a context. Even in a context it can be hard to explain what is really meant. This study tries to explain what language learning strategies are in relation to the Swedish school system and aims to find out if these strategies are to be found and how they are used in two Swedish-German textbooks.The study shows that there are no explicit examples where a certain type of languagelearning strategy is to be found. Nevertheless, there are multiple instances where both books offer assignments that can lead to the usage of said strategies.

In a multilingual world, it is common for the English classroom in upper secondary schools in Sweden to be filled with more than second language learners. These multilingual students have the potential to bring their language learning strategies (LLS) to the classroom, as well as their language repertoire, which every student could benefit from. The aim of this degree project is therefore to gain a deeper understanding of the language repertoires and language learning strategies of participating students at upper secondary schools in Sweden. To explore this, a qualitative approach was employed to discover participants’ language repertoires and the LLS participants report to use. Interviews were used to collect data about language use, repertoire and reported strategy use. In addition to the interviews, Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) was utilized to find out which strategies participants claimed to use in a broader sense. The results show that participant’s multilingualism is not taken advantage of in school, but it blossoms outside of English class where it is used to retain connections to friends and family. The results also show that participants use cognitive, social and compensation strategies the most, by translating, practicing, and asking others for help.

Language learning strategies have become an important element of second language acquisition research over the course of the last few decades. Much research on these strategies has been dedicated to speaking, reading, and other language skill sets. However, one essential skill needed for communication is pronunciation. No matter how proficient other areas of linguistic ability may be, it can be difficult to interact effectively with native speakers if one's pronunciation is poor. Yet research dedicated to pronunciation and language learning strategies is in surprisingly short supply. Of those studies that have researched pronunciation strategies, some have been dedicated to discovering new pronunciation strategies (Derwing & Rossiter, 2002; Osburne, 2003; and Vitanova & Miller, 2002), while others (Peterson, 2000) categorized pronunciation strategies using a well known strategy inventory. However, there is one study that has gone in a different direction concerning pronunciation strategies. Rather than categorize pronunciation strategies using a strategy taxonomy like Oxford (1990), Eckstein (2007) categorized pronunciation strategies using Kolb's (1984) Experiential Learning Cycle model and found significant effects between pronunciation accuracy and use of pronunciation strategies mapped using Eckstein's (2007) Pronunciation Acquisition Construct (PAC).The present study tested the PAC by teaching pronunciation strategies to L2 Japanese learners. The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of pronunciation strategy usage categorized using the PAC upon pronunciation gains and to examine learner differences based upon pronunciation gains and strategy usage. In doing so, significant gains were found in contextualized pronunciation. Additionally, subjects who more frequently used the strategy "think of benefits to be gained by improving pronunciation", a motivation strategy, were found to show higher levels of pronunciation gain in a non-contextualized pronunciation environment.

In the technological world that characterizes the 21st century society, new specialized developments are applied immediately to the different social environments and, especially, in education. Language teaching is no stranger to this unstoppable progress, thanks to the widespread implementation of the internet and of the web 2.0 in particular. New technologies help and can sometimes replace the more traditional systems used in foreign language teaching by favoring autonomous learning at any time and in any place. In this doctoral thesis, I review the literature on foreign language learning motivation, styles, and strategies applied to autonomous online platforms. This is done to present and describe the theoretical underpinnings of the COMALAT virtual learning platform, which was designed and created at the University of Alicante as a European Project in cooperation with the University of Siegen in Germany and the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Then, I report on a quantitative study that explores the attitudes, learning styles and strategies of 80 A2-B1 level EFL university students that make use of COMALAT. Besides determining the profile of the participants, the study aims to demonstrate the effects of previous training in online language learning strategies. As main conclusions, the following stand out: (a) the students’ use of this platform increases their level of foreign language learning as they can adapt it at their own pace and dedication; (b) the virtual learning environment provides a greater learning effectiveness by combining materials which consider the different learning styles; and (c) the application of the appropriate online learning strategies can help students to solve the different learning problems they may encounter while doing a self-directed online language course.

To understand learners’ beliefs about language learning and strategy use in an EFL exit test environment, this study investigated Taiwanese university students’ language learning beliefs; EFL exit test beliefs; language learning, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies; the relationships among their beliefs and strategy use; and the differences in students’ beliefs and strategy use according to their major, gender, grade level, entrance exam English score, and EFL exit test experience. A total of 518 Taiwanese university students participated in the questionnaire study. Two major instruments were developed and used to measure students’ beliefs and strategy use in the Taiwanese EFL exit test context: (1) the Belief about Language Learning in an EFL Exit test Context (BALLIEETC), and (2) the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning in an EFL Exit test Context (SILLEETC). Analysis of the questionnaire data involved descriptive statistics, factor analysis, canonical correlation analysis, and multivariate analysis of variance. The questionnaire results suggested the following: (1) students believed in the importance of speaking English well, repeating and practicing, learning vocabulary words, acquiring excellent pronunciation, and correcting errors; (2) students primarily used memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies to learn English, prepare for the EFL exit test, and take the test; (3) students’ beliefs were associated with their strategy use; (4) English majors had stronger beliefs and higher levels of strategy use than non-English majors; (5) students with higher entrance exam English scores had stronger beliefs and higher levels of strategy use than those of lower scores; (6) college seniors believed more in foreign language aptitude and use test-taking strategies more often than freshmen; (7) students who had taken and passed an EFL exit test had stronger beliefs and higher levels of strategy use than those who had not taken a test. The results of this study support an association between learners’ beliefs and strategy use. Understanding students’ beliefs about language learning and the EFL exit test, as well as their use of language-learning, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies, may enable EFL teachers to help students develop effective language learning, test-preparation, and test-taking strategies and improve their English abilities and EFL exit test performance. The field of second language acquisition may also benefit from insights into students’ beliefs and their use of strategies in an EFL exit test environment. The EFL exit test may affect students’ beliefs about language learning and strategy use, such as their having stronger beliefs about the importance of vocabulary and higher levels of memory strategy use. / text

The aim of this study is to investigate the preferred language learning strategies and with the use of three different variables as: motivation, language competence as a foreign language and contact with the Spanish language investigate if they influence the preference choice. The variables that has been chosen for the sake of the investigations wider understanding of preference and effects of the choice of preferred language learning strategies by students. The investigation was applied on students that study Spanish as foreign language in a city of southern Sweden. The study theory is based on different theories of language learning strategies like R L. Oxfords theory, motivation and competence. The chosen method for this study is a quantitative investigation with questionnaire surveys. The questionnaire surveys are constructed with 68 different questions of diver’s language learning strategies and variable. The questionnaire surveys were distributed in 3 different schools with a total of 273 students that responded to them. Results have shown that the variable motivation was more preferred than competence or contact with language. This means that motivation could have an important preference significance on students that are studying Spanish as foreign language in a city south of Sweden. The results also have shown that direct strategies like memory, cognitive and compensations strategies could be more acceptable than indirect strategies like metacognitive, affective and social strategies.

International students in the United States enroll in private and public high schools with a goal to graduate and attend an American university. This goal is often difficult to achieve because these students are not acquiring the academic English necessary to be successful in a post-secondary setting. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate what language-learning strategies (LLS) a group of East Asian international students at a private American high school had self-regulated and what strategies their content area teachers had taught them to use to become proficient in academic English. The conceptual framework was Oxford's findings on LLS and self-regulation, which is a self-motivated method of learning that English language learners (ELL) use to become proficient in English through control of the learning environment. The research questions explored which LLS the East Asian international students had used themselves and what LLS the teachers used to help the students attain English proficiency. Data were collected from interviews with 8 East Asian international students who were 12th graders during 2016-2017, 18 years old, and scored 18+ on the English section of the ACT. There were also interviews with 6 core content area teachers. Data analysis involved coding and development of common themes. Findings revealed that East Asian international students self-regulated LLS, and content area teachers did not purposefully plan or use LLS instruction to increase English proficiency among the students. A policy paper project based on the findings included recommendations for professional development, global education, and renewal of the international program. This study promotes positive social change by developing teacher and students' understanding of how to help all ELLs succeed at the secondary and post-secondary levels.

In the last thirty years, language learning strategies have been used in the field of English as a Second Language (ESL) to help learners autonomously improve their English listening, speaking, reading, and writing. However, language learning strategies have not been applied to pronunciation learning in a large scale manner. This study attempted to bridge this gap by investigating the usage of pronunciation learning strategies among adult ESL learners. A strategic pronunciation learning scale (SPLS) was administered to 183 adult ESL learners in an Intensive English Program. Their scores on the SPLS were compared with their scores of spontaneous pronunciation on a program-end speaking assignment. A stepwise regression analysis showed that frequently noticing other's English mistakes, asking for pronunciation help, and adjusting facial muscles all correlated significantly with higher spontaneous pronunciation skill. Other analyses suggested that strong pronunciation learners used pronunciation learning strategies more frequently than poorer learners. Finally, a taxonomy is proposed that categorizes pronunciation learning strategies into pedagogically-founded groups based on Kolb's (1984) learning construct and four stages of pronunciation acquisition: input/practice, noticing/feedback, hypothesis forming, and hypothesis testing. This taxonomy connects language learning strategies to pronunciation acquisition research.