The Teacher: another Variable in the Use of Foreign Language Learning Strategies?

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2011-01-01Department
Filología Francesa e InglesaSource
Multiple Voices in Academic and Professional Discourse: Current Issues in Specialised Language Research, Teaching and New TechnologiesAbstract
The Bologna process aims to create the European Higher Education Framework (EHEF) by making
academic degree and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe.
The EHEF has different implications for university students, representing a change in emphasis from
‘teaching’ to ‘learning’, from a teacher-centred approach to a student-centred approach.
In the last thirty years, researchers have discussed the role of teachers and students in the language
learning-teaching process. Until then, the acquisition of a foreign language was focused on the teacher’s
methodology. In the 80s and 90s, a series of student-centred approaches emerged, with the aim of making
students more autonomous and independent in their learning.
Language learning strategies are part of the tools used to improve language learning. There are
different definitions and taxonomies of language learning strategies (Chamot (2001), Cohen (1998),
Oxford (1990), O'Malley (1990) and Wenden & Rubin (1987) and there have been extensive descriptive
studies on the different variables affecting the use of learning strategies including gender, previous
linguistic knowledge, motivation, learning styles and/or second language versus foreign language
acquisition.
This paper aims to explore the instructor’s conscious or unconscious influence students’ use of
learning strategies. To undertake this study, a group of teachers was asked to assess the 50 strategies
presented in an adapted version of the Strategies Inventory Language Learning (Oxford 1990) according
to their suitability and practicality for their students. The participants were lecturers from the French and
English Department at Cádiz University. The languages included in the study were English, French and
German for specific and general purposes.