Article published In: The Hard Work–Entertainment Continuum: Teaching Asian languages in Australia
Edited by Andy Kirkpatrick, Yong Zhong and Helen Kirkpatrick
[Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. Series S 12] 1995
► pp. 169–182
Strategy choice and the target language
A comparative study of learners of Japanese and French
Published online: 1 January 1995
https://doi.org/10.1075/aralss.12.11whi
https://doi.org/10.1075/aralss.12.11whi
Abstract
This paper compares the strategies used by a group of English native speakers to develop competence in Japanese, a non-cognate language, and in a more familiar language, French. The participants were undergraduate students enrolled in both French and Japanese language courses. A verbal report procedure, the yoked subject technique, was used to gather data on strategy use by learners as they worked with target language materials. The data was analysed according to four dimensions of strategy use: metacognitive, cognitive, social and affective. The results indicated that the cognitive strategies learners used when learning Japanese diverged from those they used for learning French. The learning of Japanese was characterised by the use of repetition, writing out, and translation, with limited use of resourcing and no elaboration or inferencing strategies. The discussion of the results addresses the issue of the impact of language teaching methodology on cognitive strategy use, the effects of which cannot be readily separated from those of the structure of the target language.
References (29)
Aida, Y. (1994) Examination of Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope’s construct of foreign language anxiety: the case of students of Japanese. The Modern Language Journal 78,2:155–168.
Bialystock, E. (1979) The role of conscious strategies in second language proficiency. Canadian Modern Language Review 351:372–394.
Chamot, A.U. and J.M. O’Malley (1987) The cognitive academic language learning approach: A bridge to the mainstream. TESOL Quarterly 21,2:227–249.
Chamot, A.U., J.M. O’Malley, L. Küpper and M.V. Impink-Hernandez (1987) A study of learning strategies in foreign language instruction: first year report. Rosslyn, Va., Interstate Research Associates.
Chamot, A.U. and L. Küpper (1989) Learning strategies in foreign language instruction. Foreign Language Annals 22,1:13–24.
Ehrman, M. and R. Oxford (1989) Effects of sex difference, career choice, and psychological type on adult language learning strategies. Modern Language Journal 73,1:1–13.
Ellis, G. and B. Sinclair (1989) Learning to learn English. A course in learner training. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Huang, X-H. and M. van Naerssen (1987) Learning strategies for oral communication. Applied Linguistics 8,3:287–307.
Larsen-Freeman, D. and M. Long (1991) An introduction to second. language acquisition research. London, Longman.
Marriott, H. and N. Yamada (1991) Japanese discourse in tourism shopping situations. In Japan and the World. Vol. 31. Proceedings of the Seventh Biennial Conference of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia.
Naiman, N., M. Fröhlich, H.H. Stern and A. Todesco (1978) The good language learner. Toronto, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.
Nayak, N., N. Hansen, N. Krueger and B. McLaughlin (1990) Language-learning strategies in monolingual and multilingual adults. Language Learning 40,2:221–244.
Nunan, D. (1991) Language teaching methodology: a textbook for teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall.
O’Malley, J.M., A.U. Chamot, G. Stewner-Manzanares, L. Küpper, and R.P. Russo (1985) Learning strategies used by beginning and intermediate ESL students. Language Learning 35,1:21–46.
O’Malley, J.M., A.U. Chamot and L. Küpper (1989) Listening comprehension strategies in second language acquisition. Applied Linguistics 10,4:418–437.
O’Malley, J.M. and A.U. Chamot (1990) Learning strategies in second language acquisition. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Oxford, R. (1985) A new taxonomy for second language learning strategies. Washington, D.C., ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics.
(1990) Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know. New York, Newbury House – Harper and Row.
Oxford, R. and D. Crookall (1989) Research on language learning strategies: Methods, findings and instructional issues. Modern Language Journal 73,4:404–419.
Oxford, R. and M. Nyikos (1989) Variables affecting choice of language learning strategies by university students. Modern Language Journal 73,3:291–298.
Politzer, R. (1983) An exploratory study of self-reported language learning behaviours and their relation to achievement. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 6,1:54–68.
(1981) The study of cognitive processes in second language learning. Applied Linguistics 11,2:117–131.
(1987) Learner strategies: theoretical assumptions, research history and typology. In A. Wenden and J. Rubin (eds) Learner strategies in language learning. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall: 15–30.
Samimy, K. and M. Tabuse (1992) Affective variables and a less commonly taught language: a study in beginning Japanese classes. Language Learning 42,3:377–398.
Uzawa, K. and A. Cumming (1989) Writing strategies in Japanese as a foreign language: lowering or keeping up the standards. The Canadian Modern Language Review 46,1:178–190.
Wenden, A. (1991) Learner strategies for learner autonomy: planning and implementing learner training for language learners. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall.
Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Hayakawa, Sayuri, James Bartolotti & Viorica Marian
Grainger, P. R.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.