In order to meet Chamot and Rubin's fifth condition (providing extensive practice with authentic tasks) the design of language teaching materials should ideally include a strategy focus, as well as the usual grammatical, functional or topic focus. Once tutors have introduced the different types of language learning strategies to their students, it is easier for them to discuss the strategic rationale behind the various language-learning activities that they then use. Hurd et al (2001) recommend that students are introduced to strategies gradually through a range of activities, and that the strategies required for each activity should be made explicit. In this section, three activities are described along with a summary of the strategies that they are intended to promote. Before beginning an activity, the tutor should explain the strategic rationale to the students. This 'meta-discussion' could then be resumed after the activity, when students are asked to say what strategies they think that they have employed.

One activity that could be used to promote the use of strategies is peer correction of written work (Tudor, 1996: 218). In groups of about three, the students are asked to write a short paragraph on a topic they are studying in their English class. The tutor then corrects the completed paragraphs using a simple coding system to indicate errors or inappropriate usage. The coding system is explained to the learners in advance and they are provided with a key and a few examples per error type. Learners read over their paragraph and try to correct the problems identified; they then exchange their corrected paragraph with their colleague's paragraph. At this stage, the tutor should give clues and pointers rather than simply providing the correct solution. The tutor then goes over each paragraph in detail on the overhead projector. The students note down the corrected versions. (See also Module 13, section 13.3.2.)

Figure 12.7 Sample student work card for 'Correcting paragraphs'

The metacognitive strategies fostered by this activity include:

• selective attention: students' attention is directed to the elements highlighted and coded by the tutor;
• self- (and peer-) monitoring: learners check their own and fellow students' work;
• self- (and peer-) evaluation: students assess their performance of the writing task.

The cognitive strategies that it fosters include:

• resourcing: learners gather insight from the tutor and fellow students;
• transfer: learners use their existing knowledge of the target language to find appropriate forms for the highlighted errors.

As for social mediation, the strategies fostered include:

• questioning for clarification;
• co-operation: students share their knowledge of the target language.

Another activity that is likely to foster the use of learning strategies is that of 'troubleshooting'. Towards the end of the course, the tutor asks each of the students to write down the three aspects of the course that they have found most difficult (these might be grammatical points, specific skills or areas of lexis). The students then walk round and locate another student who has experienced at least one of the three problems on their list. They then pair up with this person, discuss the nature of the problem, and work together to try and solve it. In order to do this, they use resources that have been provided by the tutor. These resources might include grammar books, textbooks, reference books, dictionaries, the Internet, or indeed the tutor.

Figure 12.8 Sample student work card for 'Sharing and solving problems'

The metacognitive strategies that are likely to be generated by this activity include:

• problem identification: the students decide for themselves what problem needs to be solved in the activity;
• self-evaluation: in order to identify their weaknesses, they need to have some idea of their own internal standards.

Cognitive strategies include:

• resourcing: students must consult grammar books as well as other resources in order to solve their problem;
• deduction/induction: they need to learn and apply grammatical rules.

Social mediation strategies that are fostered include:

• cooperation: with the other student in the pair;
• questioning for clarification: they should be strongly encouraged to ask the tutor for help if necessary.

A third activity that should promote the use of language learning strategies is that of an e-mail exchange project. For example, a tutor of French in a British university would locate a group of French students learning English in a British university. He or she would then pair each of her students up with a French student and give out the students' e-mail addresses. Each pair of students must then decide on a contrastive project on which they would like to work over a period of four weeks. They might like, for example, to compare aspects of student life in their respective institutions, regional cookery, political systems, and so on. The students must then exchange relevant information by e-mail. Each student would be asked to prepare a short report in the target language. They would be expected to ask their e-mail partner to comment on written work where appropriate.

Figure 12.9 Sample student work card for 'An E-mail Project' for students of French

The metacognitive strategies promoted through this activity include:

• planning: the students must decide for themselves the nature of their project, a decision that they may make based on personal interest in a certain subject, or a perceived weakness in a certain area;
• directed attention: they need to work out what language they will need for the task;
• self-management: they need to arrange to have regular e-mail contact;
• self-management: they need to work out what kind of e-mail communication will be most effective;
• advance preparation: they will need to agree upon the general outline of the project before beginning.

The cognitive strategies promoted through this activity include:

• resourcing: using their e-mail partner as a resource;
• grouping: information may not come to them in the desired format and may therefore need to be reorganized;
• compensation: plans may need to revised as a result of unexpected information;
• transfer: they will need to add newly learned facts to their existing knowledge of the target culture;
• inferencing: they are likely to be faced with new vocabulary items, whose meanings they need to guess.

The social mediation strategies that are likely to be involved include:

• co-operation: with their e-mail partner;
• questioning for clarification: when they receive information from their partner that they do not understand.

Task 6

Grenfell and Harris (1999: 87-88) recommend that tutors employ a six-stage cycle of strategy instruction. The six stages in the cycle are:

1. awareness raising;
2. modelling;
3. general practice;
4. action planning;
5. focused practice and fading out of reminders;
6. evaluating strategy acquisition and recommencing the cycle.

For example, a cycle of strategy instruction designed to promote the use of memorization strategies might take the following suggested format (Grenfell and Harris, 1999: 88):

1. During the awareness raising stage, learners would be given a number of vocabulary items to learn at home. In the next lesson, they would be encouraged to discuss the various memorization techniques that they had used.
2. They would then move on to the modelling stage, during which the tutor might explain strategies such as word-mapping (drawing spider-diagrams, showing the semantic relationships between words) or word association (thinking of words in the students' native language that sound like the target word, and associating the two by means of an image or a sentence).
3. The students would then be given the opportunity for general practice during class time. The tutor might, for example, ask them to select five words to remember from a new text and give them five minutes to learn them, using the techniques suggested.
4. The students could then be helped to devise an action plan, in which they identify which strategies are most appropriate to their learning goals and learning styles (see 12.3).
5. Opportunities for focused practice could then be provided in subsequent lessons. Students often complete classroom activities at different rates. Grenfell and Harris suggest that as each student finishes the task, he or she should be encouraged to identify any new or difficult words that they have come across, and try to remember them, using appropriate strategies.
6. In subsequent classes, both the tutor and the students can evaluate the students' strategy acquisition, and the tutor can suggest and model more complex strategies where applicable. The cycle then recommences.