Language learning strategies use in university and beyond

Language learners who engage actively in their selection of language learning strategies (LLSs) better manage and evaluate their learning processes. In this paper, we report on a 14-week study investigating the influence of strategy training on 51 students in 5 settings and across 2 groups, students at 3 Japanese universities and learners at 2 private language schools. The study involved repeated exposure to the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL; Oxford, 1990), having learners select, practice, and evaluate strategies from the SILL and regularly record their reflections on strategies. Pre- and poststudy SILL scores, student feedback in interviews, and the students’ reflections were analyzed across the various contexts. The findings suggest that explicit training on LLS was the single most important factor in improving the students’ strategy use, but such training must consider factors of resistance to the concept of strategy training with diverse sets of learners in different environments.