New technologies are increasingly becoming a component of education, as computers are integrated into both students' lives and as a teacher's tool of management and teaching. At the same time, constructivist learning theories have had extensive effects at the level of learning paradigms and in prescribed education goals. Yet there are worrying…

There are numerous publications on language learner strategies, and this bibliography of books is by no means exhaustive. They have been selected because they can be considered classics in the field and are easily available as this special issue of the "Language Learning Journal" goes to press. Though some of the books were written several decades…

The present study sets out to examine the strategies used by Chinese learners in a predominantly naturalistic environment and how such learner strategy use relates to their proficiency in the second language. Data were collected from four Chinese research students in the UK using semi-structured interviews. Their proficiency in English was…

This article outlines some of the key issues involved in developing a programme of strategy training for learners of French, in listening and in writing. It highlights the theoretical perspectives and research findings on listening and writing that informed the selection of strategies to teach learners and thence the development of appropriate…

This article reports on a descriptive and exploratory study of near-beginner learners of French in English secondary schools, their cognitive and metacognitive strategies, and their general approaches to writing. There is virtually no research on foreign language writing at this level, conceived in this study as including the copying of words and…

Cross-study comparison of the impact of strategy instruction (SI) is problematic because of differences in learning settings, the periods of time over which it is undertaken and the nature of the SI itself. Few studies indicate how the choice of skill areas and strategies has been tailored to meet the learners' age, stage and proficiency level,…

In this article I describe how a survey instrument was constructed to elicit from Year 7 learners their strategies for reading in French as a foreign language. The rationale for this project entails a brief review of the status of foreign language reading in England since the advent of the GCSE and the National Curriculum for Modern Foreign…

The editors and guest editors of Volume 35 have very kindly asked me to write an end-piece to this special issue of "The Language Learning Journal" that has focused on language learner strategies (LLS). Particularly they have asked me to evaluate the extent to which the papers presented in this volume adhere to some sort of theoretical consensus.…

This article addresses language learner strategy research in the context of second language learning and teaching in the UK. It arises from two sources: firstly, a personal background in research and writing about language learner strategy research in the context of modern foreign language learning and teaching in England and Wales; secondly, a…

This article reports on part of a larger study of the impact of strategy training in listening on learners of French, aged 16 to 17. One aim of the project was to investigate whether such training might have a positive effect on the self-efficacy of learners, by helping them see the relationship between the strategies they employed and what they…

In UK schools, as elsewhere, linguistic diversity is on the rise. Changing patterns of migration and settlement mean that schools in areas where once English was the only language spoken are encountering bilingual pupils for the first time, while schools with a long history of multilingualism are finding that the range of languages spoken by…

Motivation is one of the most significant predictors of success in foreign language learning. While individual and Governmental commitment to the learning of foreign languages is growing throughout most of Europe and across the globe, it is stuttering in the UK. An entitlement to language learning in primary school is not yet fully in place,…

Language learning strategy research has focused on the actions of the individual language learner and investigated the links between successful learning and the strategies that such learners use. At the same time, researchers studying beginner bilingual pupils learning English and learning to read in English in UK schools have also been interested…

This article explores the role which the social context of learning plays in the development of learner strategies. It is based on longitudinal foreign language classroom research in state comprehensive schools in the UK. It is built on the premise that the development of learner strategies is linked to the type of learning context in which they…

This article reports on a distinctive form of continuing professional development that emerged from a classroom-based collaborative research project between university researchers and teachers of French. We shall argue that one of the outcomes of this particular form of collaboration is a relatively unexplored, yet potentially important, approach…