I.Principles of Teaching Learning Strategy

Learning strategy plays an important role in language learning, which, as its name suggests, mainly focuses on the learning of language, including language knowledge, language skills, and of course, cultural knowledge and cultural awareness. As learning English is learning a language it can hardly be considered successful without a solid mastery of language knowledge and skills.

Other aspects of learning English are also important, such as learning strategy, affect and attitude, cultural awareness, etc., which are all indispensable in composing a complete system for learning English. Given that we have an integrated approach to teaching, the teaching of the above should be combined with language instruction.

Is it more difficult for teachers to teach language and other content at the same time? Will it be very time-consuming? In fact, the concept of making language the central concern and integrating other aspects into it does not necessarily lead to an extension of teaching time, but can in fact enrich the teaching content, as long as the teaching of the content is integrated into language instruction instead of being carried out independently. The teaching of learning strategy should also be integrated into language instruction as independent learning strategy instruction is more time-consuming and less likely to produce expected results.

To be more specific, there are two principles of teaching learning strategies: the integrative principle and the conditional principle.

According to the integrative principle, the teaching of English language（language knowledge and skills）should be the central concern and major objective of teaching English, and the teaching of learning strategies should be integrated into English language instruction. Language knowledge consists of grammatical, textual, functional and sociolinguistic knowledge, while language skills include listening, speaking, reading, writing, and so on. In the teaching process, the teaching of learning strategies can be integrated both through and across language instruction. Teachers can thus integrate the teaching of relevant learning strategies through the whole process of language knowledge and skill instruction. For example, teachers can show students how to predict and identify situations, etc. when training listening skills；they can demonstrate how to guess the meaning of new words and summarize the main idea of the text during reading practice. The same approach can also be applied to vocabulary teaching. In this case, the teaching of learning strategies related to knowledge acquisition can be integrated across the teaching of language skills, and vice versa. For example, the teaching of grammar strategies can be involved in writing tasks；techniques such as recognizing pronunciation can be shown when teaching phonetic knowledge.

The conditional principle requires that specific conditions should be addressed while designing the teaching of learning strategy. Most of these conditions are related to language and students. First, the features of given language material may lend themselves more readily to the application of certain learning strategies, but may not be all that suitable for the application of other strategies. For example, when dealing with a grammatically complex text, it is easier to develop students' awareness of applying grammar strategies than phonetic strategies. Decisions on the suitable application of strategies, on the one hand, require teachers to pay special attention to the specific conditions of language and, on the other hand, to the needs of students. Due to the students' differences in language proficiency, ability and personality, teachers need to adjust their teaching approach to effectively integrate strategy instruction through or across language teaching.

II.Learning Strategy Teaching Models

(I) Teaching learning strategy in language knowledge instruction

Language knowledge mainly consists of pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar.

1.Pronunciation learning strategies

Pronunciation learning strategies basically include sound identification, imitation, and repetitive rehearsal. The following case, from Lesson 82 of Book 4B, New Starting Line（for elementary schools）by People's Education Press, is about the teaching and learning of pronunciation.

C.Try to read.

Three, think, through, theatre, Thursday

These, father, mother, brother, they, there

D.Try to say.

My father, my mother and my brother are talking with each other.

Three men are passing a theatre on Thursday.

This excerpt is mainly about the pronunciation of “th”, both the voiceless and the voiced. Therefore, teachers can take this opportunity to train students' sound identification strategies. If they learn to distinguish different sounds, especially the sounds to be learnt and those they have already learnt, then they are more likely to be able to accurately pronounce the new sounds. Taking initiative to identify different sounds is a kind of learning strategy.

Taking the excerpt above as an example, teachers can first make use of Part C to help students to build awareness of sound identification by presenting a word with a voiceless “th” and another word with a voiced “th”. When the next pair of words is presented, students will be asked to tell the difference between the two “th”s. Even if they might not be able to give an accurate answer, the students have perceived and noticed the difference. Continuous practice will gradually strengthen students' awareness of actively employing and eventually mastering this strategy.

Teachers can also show students the standard pronunciation of the “th” sound with an audio recording, or demonstrate it in an exaggerated way, and then ask the students to imitate the sounds. The strategy of repetitive rehearsal can also be taught this way in the classroom.

2.Vocabulary learning strategies

There are various aspects of vocabulary knowledge, ranging from morphology to usage, etc. There are also abundant vocabulary strategies, such as learning a word in context, memorizing a word with the aid of image（s）or associative memory, etc. The following case is from Part 2 of Unit 7, Book 7B, Go For It！（for junior middle schools）, by People's Education Press.

Huaxing Clothes Store SALE！

Come and buy your clothes at Huaxing's great sale！ Do you like sweaters? We have sweaters at a very good price—only ￥25！ Do you need bags for sports? We have great bags for only ￥12！ For girls, we have T-shirts in red, green and white for only ￥18！ For boys, you can buy socks for only ￥5 each！ Anybody can afford our prices！

Come and see for yourself at Huaxing Clothes Store！

An important aspect of vocabulary knowledge is collocation, which is not all that predictable, making such knowledge difficult to acquire. Therefore, teachers should help students to raise their awareness of collocation, i.e., the awareness of noticing and memorizing the collocation of new vocabulary items. Such awareness needs consistent emphasis in everyday teaching. Only in this way can students effectively master this strategy.

There are some collocations in daily expressions, such as at Huaxing's great sale, at a very good price, bags for sports, great bags for only ￥12, etc. Instead of giving a lecture, teachers can bring students' attention to these collocations by simply mentioning them.

The following is another example from “Using Words and Expressions” of Unit 3, Module 4, English（for senior middle schools）, by People's Education Press.

1.Read the following sentences and work out their meanings. Match each underlined word with its meaning in the column on the right.

Using a dictionary well is a learning strategy which can hugely facilitate students' vocabulary learning. However, teachers should be very concrete when teaching this strategy, giving specific instructions to students or even showing them how to use the dictionary step by step.

Using the above material, teachers can first ask students to look up the first meaning entry of the four words（mess, whisper, react, and collection）in an English-English or an English-English/Chinese dictionary, and carefully study the sample sentences. After that, a comparison can be made between the dictionary meaning and the word meaning in the eight sentences. Naturally, some meanings may be the same while others may not. The students can proceed to check other meaning entries to see if any of them is in keeping with the word meaning in the sentences. In so doing, students get to know that there is a basic meaning among the many entries, but the word meaning in a specific sentence may not always be the same as the basic meaning. Finally, students can finish the matching exercise. If the matching exercise is the only task students need to perform, they won't have an opportunity to learn the strategy of using dictionaries. Besides, it is also important for students to read and get accustomed to English definition/explanation of a new word.

3.Grammar learning strategies

Grammar knowledge mainly includes grammar for vocabulary and for sentences. There are a variety of grammar learning strategies such as learning grammar in communication and deduction. Teachers should seize their opportunities to effectively integrate strategy instruction with grammar teaching. The following case is from the reading section of Unit 11, Book 9, Go For It！（for junior middle schools）, by People's Education Press.

Section 2 While You Read

Could you please lend me your pen?

Asking for information or help is a very common and necessary activity, especially when we visit a foreign country. So knowing how to ask for information politely is important. In English, “Where are the restrooms? ” and “Could you please tell me where the restrooms are? ” are similar requests—both are correct English, but the first could sound rude. It's important to use correct language, but sometimes this alone is not enough—we need to learn how to be polite when we make requests.

In English, just like Chinese, we change the way we speak when talking with different people. The expressions you use might depend on whom you are speaking to or how well you know them. If you say to your teacher, “Where is my book? ” This will sound rude. But if you say, “Excuse me, Mr West. Do you know where my book is? ” Your question will sound much more polite. On the other hand, it might be alright to say “Where is my book? ” in some situations, perhaps with people you know well.

And you would not usually say, “Peter, lend me your pen.” A very direct order like this can sound rude in English. Usually in English polite questions are longer and include extra language such as “Could you please ...? ” or “Can I ask ...? ” It sounds more polite to say, “Peter, could you please lend me your pen? ” Sometimes we might even need to spend some time leading in to a question or request. For example, if you stop a stranger in the street, we might first say, “Excuse me. I wonder if you can help me.” or “I'm sorry to trouble you but ...” before asking them for help.

It might seem that speaking politely is more difficult than being direct, and in a way this may be true. However, in order not to offend people, learning about language etiquette is just as important as learning grammar or vocabulary. And doing this will also help you become better at English, or any other language you wish to speak.

First, teachers need to help students to understand the fact that, like vocabulary knowledge, the acquisition of grammar knowledge also takes place in context. Therefore, there are plenty of opportunities to learn grammar in reading, and grammar learning strategies can just help us to seize these opportunities.

In the text above, the verb-ing form occurs a few times such as in asking for information, knowing how to ask for information politely, talking with different people, etc. Teachers can ask students to underline them for a comparison. Of course, before that, they should be told what to compare, for example, the part of speech of these verb-ing forms. Then the students will find that most of these verb-ing forms act as the subjects of these sentences. In so doing, the students can not only come to know the phenomenon of verb-ing acting as the subject, but can also learn the grammar learning strategy of induction.

Besides, there are also many modal verbs in the text, such as could, can, might, may, etc.（Please refer to the complete text in the textbook.）Students can learn to perceive their usage and meaning in each specific context, promoting the awareness of learning grammar in contexts, which is also a grammar learning strategy.

(II) Learning strategy teaching in language skill instruction

Language skills include listening, speaking, reading, and writing, which are the basis for language proficiency. Therefore, teaching the strategies related to the formation of language skills is also important.

However, it is impossible to completely isolate the training of the four skills, especially listening and speaking, or reading and writing, which are by nature closely integrated. Therefore, the teaching of skill formation strategies should not differentiate the four skills, either. That is to say, strategy instruction for listening will inevitably involve that of speaking；the same applies to reading and writing as well.

1.Listening and speaking strategies

The following case is from Unit 3, Module 4, English（for senior middle schools）, by People's Education Press.

LISTENING TASK

1.Before listening, look at the pictures below and predict what it is about. Write down your prediction in a sentence. Then listen to the tape and choose the picture which best describes what happened. Check whether your prediction was correct or not.

2.Listen to the tape again and choose the best answer to each question.

(1)Why did the children decide to give the dog to the teacher?

A. Because none of them wanted to keep the dog.

B. Because their teacher liked it.

C. Because they could not decide which of them should own it.

D. Because they thought the teacher had told the biggest lie.

(2) What do you know about children?

A. They all like dogs.

B. They all respect their teachers.

C. They all work hard at their lessons.

D. They are honest and lovely.

(3) What do you know about the teacher?

A. He does not like these boys.

B. He wants to become the owner of the dog.

C. He does not like the way the children choose an owner of the dog.

D. He wants to stop the children telling lies to own the dog.

3. Listen to the tape again and answer the question: How do you think the teacher felt when he was offered the dog?

4. Work in pairs. Discuss how you would solve these problems and help the teacher. Then be prepared to tell your ideas to the class.

This is a piece of listening material. Task 1 is for developing pre-listening prediction skills, a listening strategy the textbook designer has already integrated into the lesson. However, teachers can adjust the design by, for example, asking students to orally present their prediction, or to compare the three pictures using given structures and suggested expressions. In this way, the students will be more able to make comparisons and gradually realize that the given structures and suggested expressions can help with the oral production, which is a useful speaking strategy.

Task 2 is aiming at listening for simple details. Teachers should first help students to recognize the target details they need by, for example, locating the keywords and the “wh-” words in the questions.

In order to complete Task 3, students have to listen for complex details and produce language output. The strategy of note-taking and producing utterances with the help of the notes can be of great use in completing the task.

Task 4 is a combination of listening and speaking, focusing on speaking. Teachers can remind students to quickly organize their thoughts before oral production.

It is of course not necessary or possible to teach so many strategies in one period of class. The aim of the above discussion is to show that strategy instruction can be integrated into the teaching of almost any language skills.

2. Reading and writing strategies

The following case is from Lesson 71 of Book 5B, New Starting Line（for elementary schools）, by People's Education Press.

The Animals Who Play Music

1.One day, a cow runs away from a farm. He can play the horn and he wants to play music in the city.

2.On the way to the city, the cow sees a dog doing the dishes. The cow asks the dog, “Do you want to go to the city with me? ” “Sure, I'd love to. But first, I have to do the dishes！” “Hurry！” says the cow. “We can play music together.”

3.The cow and the dog walk to the city. On their way, they see a cat clearing a table. The cow asks the cat, “Do you want to go to the city with us? ” “Sure, I'd love to. But first I have to clear the table.” “Hurry！” says the cow. “We can play music together.”

4.In the city, they see some robbers going into a house. “What should we do? ” they ask. The cow says, “I exercise every day. I am strong. I should catch the robbers.” The dog says, “I eat lots of good meat every day. I am strong. I should catch the robbers.” The cat says, “I drink milk every day. I am strong. I should catch the robbers.”

5.The cow says, “I have an idea！ We should frighten the robbers away. We are going to give a concert. I am going to play the horn. Dog, you are going to play the drum. Cat, you are going to play the bells.”

6.The three friends start to play music. They get louder and louder. Everyone in the town comes to the concert. The robbers hear the music and the people around. They're frightened and quickly run away far from the city.

7.The cow, the dog and the cat now have a new home in the city. Every day, you can hear the music of a horn, a drum and bells in the city.

This story is from a reading lesson, which can also be designed as an integrated lesson. Strategies for listening, speaking, reading, and writing can all be involved, with the focus on reading.

The teacher can first ask students to find out who the main characters are, where they are going, and what they are going to do by listening to the story. Students can practise the listening strategy of getting main ideas by doing this. Then they can read the story through and mark the keywords, which is an important reading strategy.

After the students have a full understanding of the story, they can try to retell the story paragraph by paragraph with the help of the keywords they have marked. After that, the students can try to do some copy writing, which is an important writing strategy.

In sum, the teaching of learning strategies does not have to occupy extra class time. In fact, it can be carried out all the time. The key is whether the teachers can follow the integrative principle and the conditional principle to integrate it into the teaching of language.

III.Chapter Summary

There are cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, affective strategies, social strategies, etc. in learning English. Cognitive strategy is the system of methods we employ when we perceive, process, comprehend, memorize and retrieve information. Metacognitive strategy includes the methods learners use to monitor and control their cognition. Affective strategies are usually used to control and regulate motivation, emotion, attitude and affect, while social strategy is the system of methods by which learners use English in social interactions and coordinate the relationships between themselves and others to make communications smoother.

Many researchers have made systematic and scientific classifications of learning strategies, such as O'Malley and Chamot, Oxford, Cohen, and so on. There are both merits and defects in their classifications.

Language should be the central concern in both teaching and learning, while the teaching of learning strategy should be integrated into the teaching of the language.

The integrative principle and conditional principle should be followed during strategy instruction. The integrative principle requires that the teaching of the English language（i.e. the teaching of language knowledge and language skills）should be the central concern and the major objective, and the teaching of learning strategy should be integrated into the teaching of the English language. According to the conditional principle, specific conditions should be addressed while designing the teaching of learning strategies. Such conditions are mostly related to language and students.

Learning strategy instruction includes strategies related to language knowledge and language skills as well.