Week #17:
Learning Strategies
and
Ambiguity Tolerance
Second Language Acquisition
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0. Outline
1. Individual learner differences and
language learning
2. Defining learning strategies
3. Types of learning strategies
4. Learning strategies  a résumé
5. Ambiguity tolerance
2
(Skehan 2000: 268; Pavi%0ńić Taka%0ń 2008: 45)
MODALITY
PREFERENCES
LEARNING
" visual
STYLE LEARNING
" auditory
STRATEGIES
" kinaesthetic
" analytic vs.
LANGUAGE
holistic " metacognitive
FL APTITUDE
LEARNING
" visual vs. " cognitive
components
verbal " social-
" phonemic
" active vs. affective
coding
passive
" language
analytic
" memory
aptitudinal
1. Individual learner differences
preference
and language learning
" memory vs.
analytic
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2. Defining learning strategies
Among researchers, there is no consensus as to
whether cognitive styles and learning styles
refer to the same concepts, or whether
intelligence and aptitude overlap.
There is also controversy as to whether
learning strategies can be distinguished from
ordinary learning activities.
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2. Defining learning strategies
Rebecca Oxford (2011) defines a learning
strategy as "a deliberate attempt to
manage and control efforts toward a
learning goal" (p. 288).
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2. Defining learning strategies
(Oxford 1990: 8)
Learning strategies are specific actions taken by
the learner to make learning
easier
faster more enjoyable
more self-directed more effective
and more transferrable to new situations.
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2. Defining learning strategies
A learning strategy is:
żð a specific method of approaching a
problem or a task
żð a planned design for controlling and
manipulating information
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2. Defining learning strategies
A learning strategy is a conscious action
or behaviour that a student engages in,
in order to make his or her learning
more effective and efficient
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2. Defining learning strategies
Learner strategy instruction (training)
refers to teaching effective plans, so
that learners can use adequate study
skills and thus become more self-
directed and autonomous
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3. Types of learning strategies
(I) COGNITIVE STRATEGIES
involving direct manipulation
of the learning material
resourcing imagery transfer
auditory
repetition inferencing
representation
grouping note taking
keyword method
deduction translation
elaboration
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3. Types of learning strategies
(II) METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES
involving knowledge about
or regulation of cognition
planning monitoring one's evaluating
one's output and one's
learning comprehension learning
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3. Types of learning strategies
(III) SOCIOAFFECTIVE STRATEGIES
seeking output opportunities
in social interaction
asking for questioning negotiating
repetition for meaning
or clarification
explanation
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4. Learning strategies  a résumé
The outcomes of research into learning
strategies can be summed up as follows (Pavi%0ńić
Taka%0Å„ 2008: 45):
" L2 acquisition is similar to learning of other
complex cognitive skills;
" learning strategies reflect conscious efforts
the learner invests in L2 learning and enable
the learner to control the learning process;
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4. Learning strategies  a résumé
" the process of L2 acquisition is different from
the L1 acquisition:
whereas L1 is acquired by means of an inborn
language acquisition capacity in a mostly
predetermined order, L2 acquisition is governed by
the use of learning strategies and is characterised
by diverse acquisition patterns;
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4. Learning strategies  a résumé
" learning strategies affect L2 acquisition
process, its success or failure;
" learning strategies are a source of individual
learner differences;
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4. Learning strategies  a résumé
" learning strategies are the individual learner
characteristic that is seen as the most
amenable to change:
learning strategies can be taught and practised until
their use becomes automatic, i.e. until learners
become skilled and fast strategy users.
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5. Ambiguity tolerance
Tolerance of ambiguity is the degree to
which an individual is cognitively
prepared to tolerate concepts, ideas
and propositions that conflict with
his/her own inner belief system or
structure of knowledge (Ely 1989).
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5. Ambiguity tolerance
Ambiguity directly refers to anything in
L2 that is perceived as vague,
incomplete and lacking consistency.
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5. Ambiguity tolerance
It stems from the fact that L1 and L2 are
usually significantly different systems,
as regards their structure, lexis,
phonology and spelling.
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5. Ambiguity tolerance
It is essential for language learners to
be able to accommodate any
explanations or rules that run counter
to the ones already accepted and
internalized at earlier stages of study.
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5. Ambiguity tolerance
The optimum level of ambiguity
tolerance is not high, but moderate.
Too much acceptance of vagueness and
wishy-washiness is undesirable.
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5. Ambiguity tolerance
Too high a level of ambiguity tolerance may
lead a language student not only to accept
every linguistic proposal and believe that
indeed "anything goes", but also to make
false assumptions about the system of L2.
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Thank you
for your
attention
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