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Grammar learning strategies as a key to mastering second language grammar: A research agenda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 September 2019

Mirosław Pawlak*
Affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Kalisz, Poland State University of Applied Sciences, Konin, Poland

Abstract

Although major advances have been made in research on language learning strategies (LLS), there are some areas that have been somewhat surprisingly neglected by specialists. This applies without doubt to the strategies that learners draw on to better understand and learn grammar rules but also to employ grammar structures in real-time processing, as required in spontaneous communication. In this paper, I outline a research agenda for grammar learning strategies (GLS), identifying three distinct lines of inquiry: (1) identification and measurement of GLS, (2) examination of factors moderating GLS use, and (3) strategies-based instruction as applied to GLS. Although these three areas are to some extent reflective of the main foci of empirical investigations in research on LLS, in each case, I try to demonstrate how cutting-edge theoretical and empirical developments can be applied to the study of GLS. For each of the three areas, I propose research tasks the execution of which has the potential of moving research on GLS forward.

Type
Thinking Allowed
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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