On balance, research suggests that training learners to use these strategies can lead to improvements in learning performance. However, in order for strategy training to be effective, a number of conditions need to be met. According to Chamot and Rubin (1994: 775), five conditions for successful strategy training are:

1. Discovery and discussion of strategies that learners are already using for specific learning tasks.
2. Presentation of new strategies by explicitly naming and describing them.
3. Explanations of why and when the strategies can be used.
4. Modelling of strategies.
5. The provision of extensive practice with authentic tasks and opportunities for students to discuss their own applications of the strategies and their effectiveness.

Language tutors could meet the first three of these conditions by interviewing their students about their approaches to language learning. These interviews could be carried out either in their native language or in the language being learned, depending on their level. Through such interviews, tutors could establish what strategies their students are already using, and suggest ones that are not mentioned. An example of such an interview is given in Task 4.

Task 4

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Although desirable, it is not always practical to conduct such interviews, particularly when faced with large groups of students. Furthermore, these interviews are unlikely to provide opportunities for the tutor to model the strategies or to provide extensive practice. They are therefore unlikely to meet Chamot and Rubin's fourth and fifth conditions.

A good way to meet their fourth condition (strategy modelling) is to use a learning strategy questionnaire. This provides an opportunity for tutors to present strategies to their students and to get their students to reflect on their own strategy usage. The most widely-used self-report strategy questionnaire is Oxford's (1990) 'Strategy Inventory for Language Learning' (SILL). Oxford is one of the most prolific researchers into language learning strategies. She has found evidence of variation in patterns of learning strategy preferences in students from different cultures, with different career aims, and different kinds of motivation (see, for example, Oxford and Ehrman, 1995). Although Oxford groups language learning strategies differently from O'Malley and Chamot, there is a great deal of overlap between the two approaches. She uses six categories, namely:

• memorization;
• use of mental processes;
• compensation strategies;
• organization of emotions;
• management of learning;
• learning with others.

Figure 12.6 A comparison of Oxford's and O'Malley and Chamot's learning strategy taxonomies

Task 5