Vocabulary Strategy Training To Enhance Second Language Acquisition in English As A Foreign Language 1st Edition Andrés Canga Alonso

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Vocabulary Strategy
Training to Enhance
Second Language
Acquisition in English
as a Foreign Language
Vocabulary Strategy
Training to Enhance
Second Language
Acquisition in English
as a Foreign Language
By
María Pilar Agustín Llach

and Andrés Canga Alonso
Vocabulary Strategy Training to Enhance Second Language Acquisition
in English as a Foreign Language
By María Pilar Agustín Llach and Andrés Canga Alonso
This book first published 2020
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Copyright © 2020 by María Pilar Agustín Llach and Andrés Canga Alonso
All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.
ISBN (10): 1-5275-4113-4

ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-4113-9
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................ 1
Part 1........................................................................................................... 5
Strategies, SLA, and Vocabulary Acquisition: Literature Review
and Theoretical Framework
1.1. Learning strategies and learner autonomy ..................................... 5
1.2. Strategies and Second Language Acquisition ................................ 9
1.3. Vocabulary strategies .................................................................. 14
1.3.1. Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) ................................. 17
1.3.2. Vocabulary communication strategies................................. 25
1.3.3. Vocabulary teaching strategies or How to teach
vocabulary ............................................................................... 27
1.3.4. Should we teach vocabulary learning strategies? ................ 32
Part 2......................................................................................................... 39
A Class Experience
2.1. Learner autonomy and learning strategies ................................... 39
2.2. Learner autonomy and vocabulary learning strategies ................. 43
2.3. The study. Method ....................................................................... 43
2.4. The study. Results and discussion................................................ 47
Part 3......................................................................................................... 55
Teaching and Practising Vocabulary Learning and Communication
Strategies in the EFL Classroom
3.1. Vocabulary learning and communication strategies .................... 55
3.1.1. The keyword method ........................................................... 57
3.1.2. Promote dictionary search ................................................... 59
3.1.3. Rote learning ....................................................................... 67
3.1.4. Grouping words ................................................................... 69
3.1.5. Keeping notebooks .............................................................. 70
3.1.6. Circumlocution and paraphrase ........................................... 72
3.1.7. Asking others....................................................................... 73
3.1.8. Guessing from context ........................................................ 74
3.2. Exercises and tasks ...................................................................... 78
vi Table of Contents
Conclusion ................................................................................................ 87
References ................................................................................................ 89
Glossary of Terms .................................................................................. 101
Appendix A ............................................................................................ 105
Appendix B............................................................................................. 107
Answer Key ............................................................................................ 111

INTRODUCTION
This book intends to be a guide and help for future teachers of English
as a Foreign Language (EFL) at primary, secondary and university levels,
where language awareness and explicit teaching take over the implicit
character of child foreign language acquisition during pre-school
education (nursery school and kindergarten). It is precisely this explicit,
metalinguistic learning of vocabulary, which serves as the link and
common aspect among EFL learning at the primary, secondary, and
tertiary levels. This also serves as a justification for the vocabulary
learning strategies training program. If learning is assumed to be, at least
partially, explicit and conscious, then it is desirable that learners are
instructed in how to make the most of that learning with vocabulary
learning strategies. The present work is also addressed to EFL learners, as
well, who can benefit from the information, practical and in theory,
contained in this volume.
Our main aim is to endow future teachers and conscious EFL learners
with the tools, resources and abilities necessary to enhance vocabulary
instruction via strategies; and to supply them with some concrete examples
or ready-made activities to teach vocabulary learning strategies.
Concurrently, a better understanding and knowledge, a deeper insight, and
a more frequent use of vocabulary learning strategies contribute to
developing learner autonomy.
Giving learners hints on learning strategies to remember vocabulary
by means of self-assessment activities and tasks to be developed in the
foreign language classroom will also favour life-long learning, which is
one of the main aims of the policies passed by the Council of Europe in
recent decades (Common European Framework of Reference (CEF 2001)).
Giving learners a tool to improve and speed up their vocabulary learning
can lighten up the process of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), and
make it funnier and more interesting and motivating. This improvement of
the teaching-learning process is in the hands of the teachers and
autonomous learners, as well.
Vocabulary knowledge is central in foreign language acquisition and
use. Words instantiate the grammar of a language and give sense to its
messages. Without words, nothing can be conveyed (cf. Wilkins 1972: 11,
Widdowson 1978: 115). Helping learners to develop a large enough
2 Introduction
vocabulary to function in the foreign language is pre-conditional for

successful language learning, since learners with larger vocabularies, and
all other things being equal, perform better (cf. Meara 1996). In this sense,
several studies have confirmed the relevance of lexical competence for the
performance of different tasks in the foreign language (FL), such as
reading comprehension (Qian 2002), listening comprehension (Staehr
2008), or writing (Laufer and Nation 1995, Albrechtsen, Haastrup, and
Henriksen 2008, Agustin Llach and Terrazas 2009). Vocabulary
knowledge is closely linked to general levels of proficiency, so that
learners with higher levels of lexical competence are also found to display
better overall linguistic competence (e.g. Meara 1996, Laufer 1997, Nation
2001, Cameron 2002, Qian 2002).
The issue of foreign language acquisition has occupied researchers for
a long time; however, research findings so far, have not fulfilled the
curiosity of researchers to learn more about foreign vocabulary acquisition
or the endeavours of teachers to improve vocabulary teaching. When
facing the task of lexical learning and teaching, two approaches stand out:
incidental versus intentional learning/teaching (e.g. Meara 1997; Nagy
1997; Sökmen 1997; Singleton 1999; de Groot 2000; Nation 2001, and in
L1 acquisition McKeown and Curtis 1987). This dichotomy between
incidental and intentional learning/teaching is pervasive in the literature
and a very useful one in discussions on how to best and most cost-
effectively introduce new words in the FL classroom. It is generally
acknowledged that both modes of learning are involved in vocabulary
acquisition. Intentional vocabulary learning1 is very effective in relative
terms (e.g. Gu 2003, Lee 2003). However, it is very time-consuming and
we cannot possibly teach every word in the FL. Additionally, there is
practical evidence that some words are learned without having been taught
explicitly, as we all know from our own experience as FL learners (Cf.
Criado Sánchez et al. 2010). In addition, incidental word learning as the
result of listening or reading has been repeatedly accounted for (e.g.
Krashen 1989, Rodrigo, Krashen and Gibbons 2004, Vidal 2003). Other
studies show the increase in the difficulty of the new vocabulary to which
learners are exposed. Vocabulary tends to get more complex and abstract
and this hampers the development of lexical competence (Graham 2006).
Furthermore, students report having difficulties in learning large amounts
of new vocabulary as collected in a study by Graham (1997). Additionally,
Graham (1997) found that learners used a very limited range of vocabulary
1 Multiple choice, synonym, antonym or hyperonym matching, collocations,

translation, bilingual lists, mnemonic techniques or word form analysis are typical
activities for intentional vocabulary acquisition.
Vocabulary Strategy Training to Enhance Second Language Acquisition 3
in English as a Foreign Language
learning strategies, which fairly consisted of list-making and short-term

memorization. These findings put forward the need to train students in
strategic competence so that they can improve and extend their vocabulary
knowledge in an autonomous and effective way. Strategic competence
refers to the ability to use different stratagems or strategies to compensate
for communication problems in comprehension or production or for lack
of linguistic knowledge (cf. CERF 2001).
In general terms, vocabulary intervention studies either in intentional
or incidental lexical learning have proved the positive results of explicit
vocabulary strategy instruction (e.g. Lawson and Hogben 1998, Fraser
1999). Graham, Richards and Malvern (2008) note that the potential
impact of strategy training and the process of strategy awareness raising
on vocabulary acquisition merit further exploration.
With all this in mind, and stressing the important role of learning and
communication strategies as facilitators of general language learning
ability (cf. Takac 2008), we want to provide a guide to teachers and
learners on how to best and most effectively deal with strategy training for
vocabulary acquisition and use.
The main rationale behind this book is our interest in vocabulary
acquisition and the variables and factors that contribute to it. Additionally,
the observations also stated that learners have a hard time learning
relatively large amounts of new vocabulary in the EFL classroom. This has
made the necessity of a guide like the present one even more evident. Our
belief is that by training students in strategy use and by fostering the use of
learning and communication strategies, they can improve their vocabulary
knowledge and consequently, their general language proficiency.
The book will be divided in three main sections. The first part
includes an overview on learning strategies and their relationship with
SLA and vocabulary learning. This first part sets the theoretical
framework by reviewing theoretical and empirical studies that have dealt
with the issue of vocabulary learning strategies, foreign language
acquisition, and its benefits for the fostering of learner autonomy. In part
two, we will focus on an experimental study in strategy training conducted
with first year undergraduate students at the University of La Rioja. The
university context and primary and secondary school contexts share their
explicit nature of foreign language learning, and in this sense, we believe
the need for and benefits of explicit strategy training are justified in all
three learning contexts. Finally, part three provides EFL learners and
prospective EFL practitioners with various tasks to put in practice the
strategies analysed in Part 1. It includes some ready-made activities
addressed to teachers or EFL learners, which show vocabulary learning
4 Introduction
strategies and their evaluation according to students’ own views. This last
part intends to be a guide for strategy training for future EFL teachers in
primary, secondary and tertiary levels and for conscious EFL learners to
use on their own.
PART 1
STRATEGIES, SLA, AND VOCABULARY

ACQUISITION:
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL
FRAMEWORK
This first part intends to review the existing literature related to

learning strategies in general, and to vocabulary learning strategies, in
particular. Likewise, it aims at setting the theoretical framework for the
rest of the volume. A general account of strategies and definitions of key
terms will be followed by considerations related to vocabulary learning
strategies, teaching and learning strategies, and strategy training.
1.1. Learning strategies and learner autonomy

This section offers an overview of research-related studies dealing
with strategies and accounting for the different types of strategies (Oxford
1996, 2001, 2011; Chamot et al. 1999; Cohen 1996; Takac 2008) and their
effect on the development of learner autonomy (Sinclair 2000; Benson
2001).
There is not a single or indisputable definition of learning strategy,
and many are the researchers who define learning strategy within the
frame of their own studies, i.e. they create their own ad-hoc definition of
strategy to suit the purposes of the specific research study (Oxford 1996,
2001, 2011; Chamot et al. 1999; Cohen 1996; Takac 2008). What they all
have in common is highlighting the facilitative role of strategies in the
second language learning process (cf. Chamot 2004, Takac 2008: 51).
However, not all agree in their conscious nature (e.g. Oxford 2003), their
cultural adequacy (e.g. Chamot 2004) or their teachability (Chamot 2004).
For the purpose of the present volume, we chose Oxford’s widespread
definition, which asserts that:
6 Part 1
Learning strategies are operations employed by the learner to aid the

acquisition, storage, retrieval and use of information, specific actions taken
by the learner to make learning, easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-
directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations (2001:
166).
According to this definition, learning strategies allow learners to store

and use information to make their learning easier, faster and more
enjoyable. Thus, as it will be shown in the following sections, by using
different strategies, apprentices will be able to take control of their
learning process and become more autonomous learners.
Another area of conflict arises within the categorization of language
learning strategies. Myriad classifications or taxonomies invade the field.
For example, McLaughlin (1987) distinguishes among learning
(simplification, overgeneralization, transfer, inferencing, intralingual,
extralingual, hypothesis testing, practice), production (planning, semantic
simplification, linguistic simplification, correcting strategies), and
communication (reduction, formal, functional, achievement, compensatory,
retrieval) strategies (cited in Takac 2008). The learners’ intention is, in this
case, the classification criterion. Also in Takac (2008), Stern (1986: 411)
includes strategies in his model attempting an explanation of second
language teaching and learning and groups them into active planning,
academic “explicit” learning, social, and affective.
In what is probably the most popular of classifications, Cohen (1999,
2012) (see also Oxford, e.g. 2003, Chamot 2004, 2005) distinguishes
between cognitive, metacognitive, affective and social strategies. Cognitive
strategies involve the identification, relation, storage, and retrieval of
words, phrases, and other elements of the target language. This type of
learning strategy will be analysed in detail in the following sections since
it is of paramount importance for the development of vocabulary learning
strategies and, therefore the acquisition of new words in the target
language.
Metacognitive strategies deal with the pre-assessment and pre-
planning, planning and evaluation of language learning activities.
Therefore, they are key to foster learner autonomy since they imply
students’ reflection on their own learning (vocabulary learning in the case
of the present volume) and the evaluation of the tasks they have done in
order to improve their (vocabulary) knowledge in the target language. The
overt teaching of these strategies in the foreign language classroom is vital
for learner involvement in their learning, and relevant to foster life-long
learning and learner autonomy (Benson 2001, Little, Ridley and Ushioda
2002; De Florio-Hansen 2009; García Magaldi 2010).
Strategies, SLA, and Vocabulary Acquisition 7
Affective strategies serve to regulate emotions, motivation and

attitudes and are closely related to social strategies since the latter include
the actions that learners choose to take in order to interact with other
learners and with native speakers.
In the same vein, Oxford and Leaver (1996) claimed that the aim of
learning strategies is "to help students become more self-directed,
autonomous and effective learners through the improved use of language
learning strategies" (p. 227). Therefore, the application of learning
strategies in the classroom, involves active learning-strategy instruction
and growth on the part of each student. Strategy training involves
instruction, helping students to know more about themselves, so that they
can try out, test, and become experts in using the strategies that help them
the most.
More recently, Oxford (2011) developed the Strategic Self-Regulation
Model (S2R) of language learning. As this author claims, self-regulated
learning strategies help learners regulate or control their own learning,
thus making it easier and more effective. What is more, self-regulation,
according to its Latin roots, involves not only self-management but also
"self-righting," i.e., self-adjustment or self-adaptation if something goes
off track or needs improvement. Self-regulated L2 learning strategies are
defined as follows:
Self-regulated L2 learning strategies are defined as deliberate, goal-
directed attempts to manage and control efforts to learn the L2 (based on
Affierbach, Pearson, and Paris 2008). These strategies are broad, teachable
actions that learners choose from among alternatives and employ for L2
learning purposes (e.g., constructing, internalizing, storing, retrieving, and
using information; completing short-term tasks; and/or developing L2
proficiency and self-efficacy in the long term). (Oxford 2011: 12).
Examples of these strategies are planning, evaluating, obtaining and

using resources, reasoning, going beyond the immediate data, generating
and maintaining motivation, and overcoming knowledge gaps in
communication.
Self-regulated L2 learning strategies are employed consciously,
involving four elements of consciousness: awareness, attention, intention,
and effort. They make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, and more
effective, and are manifested through specific tactics in different contexts
and for different purposes (cf. Schmidt 1995).
According to Oxford (2011), self-regulated strategies also reflect the
whole, multidimensional learner, not just the learner's cognitive or
metacognitive aspects; and can be combined into strategy chains, i.e.,
groups of strategies working together. These strategy chains are applied in
8 Part 1
a given situation but can be transferred to other situations when relevant

and helpful.
Oxford’s S2R model is strikingly consistent with learners' active
control of learning. Through the effective use of learning strategies,
learner autonomy is fostered, since learners choose appropriate strategies
for the purpose and situation and evaluate the success of these strategies.
Therefore, they progressively take charge of their own learning which
favours learner autonomy. What is more, students can use strategies to
regulate many aspects of their learning, their internal mental states, beliefs,
observable behaviours, and the learning environment.
Identifying strategies is not always easy, and authors have used a
number of different instruments and resources to find out the strategies
that learners are using (Chamot 2004). Below, we will deal more in depth
with vocabulary learning strategy questionnaires. For now, suffice it to say
here that apart from questionnaires such as the SILL (Strategy Inventory
for Language Learning) (Oxford 1989), researchers have used self-reports,
which are somehow inaccurate and not completely truthful; retrospective
and stimulated recall interviews; diaries and journals, which raise
metalinguistic awareness and usually have instructional purposes; and
think-aloud protocols, which reflect online processing (cf. Chamot 2004).
The Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (Oxford 1990)
is perhaps the most frequently used inventory for collecting research data
on L2 strategies. Each item describes a language learning strategy and
learners are asked to respond to the SILL items by indicating how often
they employ these strategies by selecting one response out of five Likert
scale options. The SILL classifies language-learning strategies into six
parts; each part comprises strategies with a similar function.
In another attempt to systematize learning strategies, Sheorey and
Mokhtari (2001) and Mokhtari and Sheorey (2002) developed a new
instrument named the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) designed to
measure the metacognitive reading strategies of L2 readers engaged in
reading academic materials. It works in the same way as the SILL with
learners choosing from Likert scale options of frequency of use.
We consider that Oxford’s (2011) S2R Model is the best-developed
questionnaire, since it covers all the aspects mentioned in all the other
strategy inventories (e.g. SILL and SORS), so we will deal with it in more
detail below.
In the following section, we will provide a classification of learning
strategies and we will highlight their facilitative role in SLA.
1.2. Strategies and SLA

In the previous section, we have briefly introduced some
classifications of learning strategies and have distinguished between
cognitive, metacognitive and affective strategies (Cohen 1996). In the
present section, we will provide the reader with a classification of learning
strategies according to the more recent S2R model. We will also put
forward and highlight the beneficial and facilitative role of learning
strategies in the SLA process. To this end, we will deal with the SLA and
FLT studies, which either explicitly mentioned or implicitly illustrated,
include reference to learning and communication strategies and their
facilitative role in learning the foreign language.
In her comprehensive review of learning strategies, Oxford (2011)
distinguishes three dimensions in language learning strategies (LLS).
Dimension 1 includes cognitive strategies for remembering and processing
language. Dimension 2 refers to affective strategies linked with emotions,
beliefs, attitudes, and motivation. Finally, dimension 3 covers socio-
cultural interactive strategies for contexts, communication, and culture.
The S2R model contains six cognitive strategies in Dimension 1,
which are listed below:
1. using the senses to understand and remember,

2. activating knowledge,
3. reasoning,
4. conceptualizing with details,
5. conceptualizing broadly, and
6. going beyond the immediate data.
These strategies take some tactics2 associated with them, for instance,
“I understand better when…” or “I distinguish between” (Oxford 2011:
46-47). The aim of cognitive strategies in Oxford’s model is to help the
learner concentrate, pay attention, plan, gather resources, organize,
monitor, and evaluate, using metacognitive knowledge as a basis.
In the same vein, cognitive approaches to SLA also put learning
strategies in a prominent position according to Takac (2008). In the
cognitive view of L2 acquisition, the learner is active and consciously
learns the L2 using the strategies at hand, among other learning
2 Tactic means: “a specific, “ground level” application of a strategy or
metastrategy by a particular learner in a given setting for a certain, real-life

purpose to meet particular, immediate needs, same as operations in activity theory”
(Oxford 2011: 299).
10 Part 1
instruments, to organize the new linguistic system (Takac 2008: 29). This
relates to the idea that using strategies promotes learner autonomy.
However, prior to current efforts towards lifelong, independent and
autonomous learning, research on language learning strategies had a
cognitive stance. The mental processes that learners engage in while
learning a second language and especially the way good language learners
process linguistic information arose interest in the early days of strategy
research (O’Malley and Chamot 1990, Wenden 1987, Rubin 1975, Stern
1975, Oxford 1990, Oxford 1996; Oxford 2011; Oxford and Leaver 1996,
Cohen 2012). Good language learners were those who used learning
strategies, and in turn, learning strategies were the stratagems and
behaviours put forward by good and successful language learners in their
language acquisition process.
Affective strategies, which make up Dimension 2 in Oxford’s model,
help the learner effectively deal with attitudes, beliefs, emotions, and
motivation and thus optimize them for learning (Oxford 1990). The S2R
model contains two affective strategies:
1. activating supportive emotions, beliefs and attitudes, and

2. generating and maintaining motivation (Oxford 2011: 64).
Affective language learning strategies are central to SLA because they

have been found to relate to L2 proficiency both directly and indirectly
through increasing motivation and improving beliefs and attitudes
(Chamot 2004, 2005, Oxford 2003).
The sociocultural context has gained importance in SLA and FLT in
recent decades. Thus, sociocultural strategies should be considered to
favour FL language learning and, therefore foster learner autonomy. The
S2R Model goes a step further from previous theories on strategy training
and describes two categories of strategies: socio-cultural interactive (SI)
strategies and meta-SI strategies.
Meta-SI strategies can be viewed as the “community manager” in the
S2R Model since they cover six areas: person knowledge, culture or group
knowledge, task knowledge, whole-process knowledge, strategy
knowledge, and conditional knowledge. This dimension includes eight
strategies, of which the following are especially relevant for vocabulary
learning: paying attention to contexts, communication and culture,
planning for contexts, communication and culture, obtaining resources for
contexts, communication and culture, and organizing for contexts,
communication and culture (Oxford 2011: 87-88). We consider these four
as the most relevant for the purpose of vocabulary strategy training
because learners need to plan the strategies they need to use, paying
attention to the context to select the appropriate words and organize the
words chosen to produce a coherent speech or piece of writing.
SI strategies are known as the “community workers which directly
facilitate communication and deep understanding of the socio-cultural
context and one’s roles in it” (Oxford 2011: 88). Oxford includes three
strategies under this heading: interacting to learn and communicate,
overcoming knowledge gaps in communicating and dealing with
sociocultural contexts and identities. These strategies help students interact
and collaborate with others. Overcoming knowledge gaps in
communication is particularly relevant for a student’s word choice, since
they use a synonym or antonym when they cannot think of the word
needed in a given communicative context.
As we have tried to explain throughout this section, the main goal of
strategy training and use is to enhance learning, i.e., to improve learning
outcomes and facilitate learning. This assisting role is what makes
strategies so relevant in the process of acquiring a foreign language.
Moreover, learners themselves acknowledge that using strategies is helpful
and necessary and that strategies help them improve their lexical repertoire
and thus become more autonomous learners (Oxford and Scarcella 1994;
Nyikos and Fan 2007, Sinhaneti and Kalayar Kyaw 2012). Strategy use
characterizes successful language learners (Takac 2008: 58, 63-64), and
distinguishes them from other learners.
For this reason, it is necessary to teach learning strategies for students
to become better, more motivated, and more autonomous learners. In this
sense, Oxford & Leaver distinguish among five fundamental levels of
learner autonomy:
(1) Identifying and improving strategies that are currently used by the
individual;
(2) Identifying strategies that the individual might not be using but that
might be helpful for the task at hand, and then teaching those
strategies;
(3) Helping students learn to transfer strategies across language tasks
and even across subject fields;
(4) Aiding students in evaluating the success of their use of particular
strategies with specific tasks;
(5) Assisting subjects in gaining learning style flexibility by teaching
them the strategies that are instinctively used by students with other
learning styles. (1996: 227)
12 Part 1
The higher the number of strategies used and the higher the frequency
of their use, the higher is the learning success. Chamot (2004) believes that
the effectiveness of specific strategies in language learning depends to
some extent on the learning purposes, that is, depending on what learners
want to do, on their learning goal, one strategy will be more effective than
others. Similarly, she defends that learners need to experiment, explore,
and evaluate different strategies to pick their set of effective strategies,
with metacognitive strategies being beneficial for all learners and all
learning styles. In this sense, Oxford (2003: 8) already stated that good or
effective strategies are not such by definition, but are those that relate well
to the task at hand, that fit the students’ learning style, and that are
employed effectively and in combination with other relevant strategies.
In this line, Selinker (1972) lists learning and communication
strategies as two of the five basic components in interlanguage
development, the other three being language transfer, transfer of training,
and overgeneralization (which are actually strategies themselves as well,
see Takac 2008). In a somehow similar vein, Schmitt (2014) comments
that using different strategies necessarily leads to different kinds of
learning. He is specifically referring to how learners acquire new words
and he highlights the different types of knowledge that may derive from
learning words in isolation from word lists or learning them within a given
context, for instance. The first learning strategy might contribute to
strengthening the form-meaning link, whereas the second might provide
learners with, among others, collocational knowledge. In this sense, not
only are learning strategies relevant because they help, promote, speed up,
and consolidate the acquisition process, they are also crucial, because they
determine the type of learning and knowledge to be obtained. On the
contrary, communication strategies can lead to fossilization, since learners
stop learning and improving their L2 when an acceptable or successful
communication level has been reached thanks, on most occasions, to the
application of communication strategies.
These considerations add more weight to the need to study strategic
competence and to develop it in practice within the foreign language
classroom. As already hinted above, in the introduction section, it is one of
the basic competences that make up communicative competence, and
consequently an important and indispensable component in SLA.
Bachman (1990, 107-108) provides the following definition of strategic
competence:
Strategic competence is seen as the capacity that relates language
competence, or knowledge of language, to the language user’s knowledge
structures and the features of the context in which communication takes
place. Strategic competence performs assessment, planning, and execution

functions in determining the most effective means of achieving a
communicative goal.
A well-developed strategic competence will aid the process of foreign

language acquisition and will therefore contribute to improving learners’
communicative competence. Martín Leralta (2008) defines a series of
descriptors to evaluate strategic competence: a) range of the strategy
repertoire, b) adequacy to the task, c) effectiveness in its application, and
d) degree of awareness of use. Transfer of the strategies to new learning
contexts can also serve as a sign of a developed strategic competence. As a
result of developing learners’ strategic competence, they feel more
motivated to pursue their learning and increase their learning experiences.
Learner autonomy, strategic behaviour, motivation, and success are
four (inter)related concepts (Dam 1995, Little 2001, Benson 2003). First,
learners who use different strategies when learning an L2 are able to take
control of their own learning since they are capable of choosing those
strategies, which are most suitable to attain a given goal. Moreover, this
choice usually leads learners to succeed academically and contributes to
raising their extrinsic, intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. Different
studies have proved the relationship of these factors in different academic
contexts. Thus, Nikopour, Salimian, Salimian and Farsani (2012) proved
that intrinsically motivated Iranian learners used metacognitive strategies
more than any others did. On the contrary, Xu (2011) proved that there is a
correlation between extrinsic motivation and strategy use, since the
motivated Chinese learners they analysed tended to use a great number of
learning strategies. Schmidt and Watanabe (2001) in a study conducted
with students from different origins at the University of Hawai’i concluded
that the motivational factors of Value, Motivational Strength, and
Cooperativeness affect strategy use and pedagogical preferences most
strongly, while the Heritage Language factor appears to have little or no
influence on these variables. Chang and Liu (2013) also found a strong
correlation between the frequency of strategy use and motivation.
Participants with a high English proficiency level displayed a significantly
higher level of strategy use than their counterparts at lower and
intermediate levels display and were more motivated towards EFL.
As for self-efficacy and motivation developed through strategy
training, Lavasani, Mirhosseini, Hejazi and Davoodi (2011) found that the
teaching of self-regulation learning strategies has had a significant effect
on the academic motivation and self-efficacy of the students.
Teachers were also asked about the importance of learning strategies
(Cheng and Dörnyei 2007). The results indicate that the list of motivational
14 Part 1
macro-strategies that emerged in this study provides reassurance that at

least some motivational strategies are transferable across diverse cultural
and ethnolinguistic contexts. However, there are findings indicating that
some strategies are culture-sensitive or even culture-dependent.
In line with this, Sozler (2012) argues that training in how to use
effective vocabulary learning strategies can have a motivating effect, since
using strategies leads to vocabulary acquisition and thus to developing or
improving communicative competence. Consequently, learner autonomy is
reassured, anxiety is lowered and learners feel more self-confident and
motivated. In this line, Ping and Siraj (2012) found that low motivation led
to a lack of strategy use.
In the particular case of vocabulary acquisition and vocabulary
learning strategies, which is the main goal of the present volume, learner
autonomy provides students with several skills, which foster and promote
language learning, for example, more free opportunities for communication,
increase of a learner’s willingness to engage in active learning, and
mastery of the basic skills that are required for long-lasting learning.
Nevertheless, becoming an autonomous vocabulary learner is a long
process, which needs the help and assistance of the teacher, or a guidebook
such as the present volume, which provides the learner with some tips
about learning strategies and how they can be applied to promote
autonomous vocabulary learning.
In the next couple of sections, we will address the issue of vocabulary
learning strategies and vocabulary strategy training more specifically. The
main focus of the present work is vocabulary because vocabulary
knowledge is of paramount importance in SLA and learner autonomy
should be enhanced in vocabulary learning to make the most of the lexical
acquisition process (Daller, van Hout and Treffers-Daller 2003, Morris
and Cobb 2004).
1.3. Vocabulary learning strategies

In the words of Takac (2008: 58), research in vocabulary learning
strategies started as the result of two observations, one was that most of
the learning strategies used were addressed at apprehending vocabulary,
and the other was the desire to look into the effectiveness of strategy use in
lexical acquisition. Additionally, the big learning burden imposed by
lexical acquisition plus the need to master a great number of words to
achieve fluency and develop communicative competence make vocabulary
a good candidate for strategy use (cf. Oxford 1990). As briefly hinted
above several times, vocabulary is central in the SLA process, and every
effort to facilitate and maximize this process will be welcomed by teachers

and students alike. In this sense, vocabulary learning strategies are key
elements in this facilitative role.
Takac (2008) defines vocabulary learning strategies as the “activities,
behaviours, steps or techniques used by learners (often deliberately) to
facilitate vocabulary learning” (p. 106). Griva et al. (2009) broaden the
scope of the term and refer to them as “the knowledge about what students
do to find out the meaning of new words, retain them in long term
memory, recall them when needed in comprehension, and use them in
language production” (p. 22). In short, vocabulary learning strategies are
the steps aimed at comprehension, production, and retention of new
vocabulary.
The importance of vocabulary learning strategies is made patent by
learners’ claims that they need to commit to conscious vocabulary learning
to enlarge their lexical repertoires (e.g. Takac 2008: 67, see study below).
Vocabulary learning strategies prove very useful in this respect as Gu
(1999), McKeown and Curtis (1987), Cusen (2005), or Kafipour (2009)
demonstrated.
Classifications of vocabulary learning strategies abound in the
literature. They are generally considered a sub-group of general learning
strategies and are classified accordingly. One of the first authors to deal
with the topic was Ahmed (1989). He proposed a dual classification of all
strategies into macro-strategies, which included memorization, practice,
note-taking, and using different information sources; and micro-strategies,
which included specific behaviours within one of the macro-strategies.
However, some authors provide specific or research-dependent classifications.
For instance, Griva, Kamaroudis, and Geladari (2009), in the line of
previous studies (Hatch and Brown 2000, Takac 2008) distinguish
between vocabulary learning strategies, such as guessing from context,
dictionary searches, recourse to cognate or deducing from word-form; and
vocabulary retention or consolidating strategies like repeating words over
and over, setting up word webs in the mind, or linking new words to
existing background knowledge.
Some years before, Gu and Johnson (1996) designed a very
comprehensive list of vocabulary learning strategies in their Vocabulary
Learning Questionnaire (VLQ), which consisted of 108 items. The
questionnaire was based on the previous strategy research by Oxford
(1990). The following table reproduces this classification, which included
three categories: vocabulary learning beliefs, metacognitive strategies, and
cognitive strategies (Table 1.1). There are different subcategories within
the main categories, which were targeted, in the said questionnaire:
Ma (2009) also proposed a process-oriented classification of vocabulary

learning strategies. First, she listed eight stages, which summarized the
process of vocabulary acquisition (p. 164):
1. A new word is encountered through different contexts

2. The meaning of the word is found out
3. Various aspects of the meaning and form of the word are studied
4. The information about the word is recorded or organized
5. The word is memorized with the help of some strategies
6. The word is reviewed to ensure retention
7. When the word is met again, it is retrieved
8. The word is used to consolidate its acquisition.
For each stage, she identified the strategies that aided learners overcome
the stage and go to the next one. Thus, for stage one concerning how
learners discover new vocabulary, she talks about cognitive strategies,
social strategies, and metacognitive strategies; to help learners make sense
of the new vocabulary, they can make use of metacognitive strategies,
cognitive strategies, and social strategies; to learn the different aspects of
the new words they might resort to cognitive strategies; to organize the
new lexical information, they have metacognitive strategies and cognitive
strategies; to memorize new vocabulary, Ma (2009) mentions cognitive
strategies and memory strategies. In order to review the newly learned
vocabulary, learners might use metacognitive strategies and social
strategies; to retrieve the needed vocabulary, they use cognitive strategies
and finally to make use of the new vocabulary productively learners can
use metacognitive strategies and social strategies.
In the present work, we will first deal with vocabulary learning
strategies, i.e. those aimed at facilitating the acquisition, and retention of
new vocabulary and then, we will move on to communication strategies
which are addressed at making communication possible both in production
and comprehension.
1.3.1. Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)

In his “big” vocabulary book, Nation (2001) also deals with vocabulary
learning strategies. For him vocabulary learning strategies need to meet
four requirements or conditions. Thus, they a) involve some kind of
choice, b) consist of several procedural steps, c) require knowledge and
benefit from training, and d) enhance vocabulary learning and use. Other
researchers such as Takac (2008) also highlight the four main characteristics
18 Part 1
of VLS which, in line with Nations’ (2001) proposal are 1) require

selection, 2) are complex, i.e. develop in several steps, 3) can be
developed through instruction, and 4) make L2 vocabulary acquisition
more effective.
Individual vocabulary learning strategies have long since aroused
great attention. In particular, the application of the Keyword Technique to
learn and retain new vocabulary has been widely researched in the
literature (e.g. Avila and Sadoski 1996, Van Hell and Mahn 1997,
Rodriguez and Sadoski 2000). Notebooks (McCrostie 2007), dictionaries
(Lew and Doroszewska 2009), and games (Huyen and Nga 2003, Yip and
Kwan 2006) are individual vocabulary learning strategies which have also
been submitted to study. However, inventories of vocabulary learning
strategies as a whole are rarer (but see e.g. Stoffer 1995, Schmitt 1997,
Kudo 1999, Takac 2008).
Back in 1995, Stoffer developed the VOLSI (Vocabulary Learning
Strategies Inventory) containing 53 strategies, but found that they could be
clustered into nine main categories: involving authentic language use, for
self-motivation, to organize words, to create mental linkages, memory
strategies, involving creating activities, physical action, to overcome
anxiety and auditory strategies. Using this self-report instrument, the
VOLSI, she managed to get data from 707 American learners of different
foreign languages and most interestingly, she found that learners of
different languages also reported a preference for different strategies: self-
motivation for Japanese, memory strategies for Russian, and creating
mental associations for lexically related languages such as French or
Spanish. Additionally, learners of non-related and lexically distant
languages (e.g. Japanese, Russian) reported the highest use of strategies.
As already mentioned above, Schmitt (1997) also offers a comprehensive
typology of vocabulary learning strategies classified into several groups
and subgroups according to their purpose. On the one hand, he identifies
strategies aimed at finding the meaning of the new words, discovering
strategies; on the other, at consolidating the meanings of known words,
consolidating strategies. The first group is comprised by determination and
social strategies, and the second by social, memory, cognitive and
metacognitive strategies. In total, he could account for a considerable
number of individual vocabulary learning strategies amounting to 58.
Learners in his study, who were Japanese EFL university learners,
highlighted bilingual dictionary use as the most popular vocabulary
learning strategy followed by oral and written repetition and study of
spelling. Among the least used strategies, students mentioned use of
physical action, word association, semantic maps and, curiously enough
the Keyword method (so popular and loved among researchers, but as we
see not so among students). Nevertheless, these strategies, that require
deeper mental processing and greater cognitive effort, became more
popular among older students, probably because they could better
appreciate their value. These results are in line with the idea that students
use and value the strategies that they perceive as useful (e.g. Chamot
2004).
Some time later, and based on these previous studies, Kudo (1999)
conducted an investigation of vocabulary learning strategies among
Japanese EFL learners. He found that social strategies were rare, as were
semantic mapping and the keyword method, but memory and cognitive
strategies were more frequent, with bilingual dictionary use ranking top
again. The cultural context of the students is most probably influencing
these results, the same as in Schmitt (1997). Japanese culture advocates for
memorization, dictionary use, and translation among the methods and
techniques to learn foreign languages (Kudo 1999). The age of the
students, adolescent senior high school students, is also argued to explain
the lack of use of deeper cognitive strategies.
On their part, Griva et al. (2009) offer a very simple taxonomy
distinguishing between strategies to understand the meaning of the words,
and those specifically aimed at learning new words. Among the former,
they mention guessing from context, deducing the form-meaning link,
linking to cognates, or using the dictionary; among the latter are included
repeating, organizing in the mind, and linking to background knowledge.
This distinction is similar to the one adopted in the present work.
To end with in this review on vocabulary learning strategies, we want
to deal with Takac’s (2008) work, which probably represents the most
comprehensive classification of vocabulary learning strategies. She
conducted a study to examine the vocabulary learning strategies of
elementary school EFL learners (Takac 2008: 91-104). This study focuses
on the design of a questionnaire to elicit data from her young informants
and aims at a comprehensive classification of the strategies these learners
use. She finally came up with the VOLSQES (Vocabulary Learning
Strategies Questionnaire for Elementary Schools), a 27-item questionnaire
(out of an initial 53 items) on vocabulary learning strategies, where
students had to choose from three-scale options of strategy use. According
to the results she obtained, she proposed a novel classification of
vocabulary learning strategies:
20 Part 1
1. Strategies of formal vocabulary learning and practising, used in

classroom-based contexts. Their use is based on instrumental
motivation and aims at formal language learning. Strategies in this
type are repeating words, and testing word knowledge with
bilingual lists.
2. Self-initiated independent vocabulary learning reflects a
conscious effort on the part of learners to apprehend new lexical
items. Some strategies in this type are taking notes, grouping words
together to study them, using words in sentences, using the
dictionary to learn new words, or associating words with context.
3. Spontaneous (incidental) vocabulary learning (acquisition). The
use of this type of strategy depends on learners’ personal interests
and reflects their communication needs, especially outside the
classroom. They do not imply conscious effort to learn the FL.
Examples of these strategies are listening to songs, using
circumlocution, or remembering words from the internet, TV, and
so on.
Researchers have tackled the examination of strategy use when

learning and using vocabulary in the target language (TL). They have
identified the most and least frequently used strategies. As a general rule,
more proficient learners produce more vocabulary learning strategies and
the strategies they use tend to be more elaborate or cognitively demanding,
e.g. contrastive analysis, use of contextual information, than the ones used
by less competent learners, such as L1 translation or dictionary
consultation (e.g. Griva et al. 2009).
Specifically, Griva et al. (2009) rank strategies according to students’
preferred use and perceptions of usefulness. They discovered that among
Greek EFL 6th graders (12 year-olds), low-demanding strategies were
preferred and more complex and highly demanding ones, such as use of
morphology, or semantic associations, e.g. using a synonym, ranked lower
in the list. The following figure shows the ranking of the strategies with
the number of students who mentioned them (Griva et al. 2009).
Table 1.2. Preference list of vocabulary learning strategies
Vocabulary learning strategy No. of students

mentioning it
Repeating orally 116
Translating in mother tongue 110
Looking up the words in the dictionary 108
Asking teacher for clarification 89
Written repetition 81
Placing new words in sentential context 80
Guessing from context 79
Underlining the words in the text 72
Self-evaluating in word learning 79
Using imagery 66
Switching to mother tongue (check for L1 cognate) 65
Associating with already known words 63
Using word parts 61
Grouping words in patterns 43
Using a synonym 29
Cooperating with peers 27
Thus, Ping and Siraj (2012) confirm lack of use of deep cognitive and
metacognitive strategies by Chinese pre-university EFL learners.
Dictionary consultation, note-taking and oral repetition are the most
frequently used strategies, while semantic encoding or using word
structure are the least commonly used. Likewise, they found that learners
lack strategic knowledge, they indicate that they do not try out new
strategies or set goals or plan their learning or monitor or evaluate their
learning. The authors allude to low self-efficacy and motivation as reasons
for poor strategy use and call for specific strategic training to increase
learners’ vocabulary acquisition. Motivation and self-consciousness are
relevant concepts for strategy use, and working on them can be a good
way to help learners develop their strategic knowledge and increase and
maximize their strategy use. In the same line, Rasekh and Ranjbary (2003)
believe that being aware of their progress increases learners’ motivation
for learning. Again, their study emphasized metacognitive strategies as the
most effective for vocabulary learning among university students of
intermediate proficiency level.
Mechanical strategies involving repetition of some kind were found to
be the most strategic procedure in learning Italian FL by Australian
learners (Lawson and Hogben 1996). Deeper cognitive strategies leading
22 Part 1
to associations or transformation of the new information, or those

involving context were comparatively much less common.
Komol and Sripetpun (2011) conducted a study with Thai university
learners and reached several interesting conclusions. They found that
determination strategies such as dictionary consultation or learning from
word lists were the most frequently used by more and less proficient
learners, with social strategies ranking last in the frequency scale.
Unfortunately, these determination strategies, especially looking up words
in the bilingual dictionary did not result in contributing to vocabulary
knowledge. For all the strategy types, learners with bigger vocabularies
had a significantly more frequent use, but the order of frequency of
strategies remains stable across vocabulary size levels. Finally, they also
showed a relationship between vocabulary size and efficient strategy use.
Similar findings are reported by Dóczi (2011) who stated that social and
metacognitive strategies were least frequently used by Hungarian
adolescents and young adults. More specifically, older learners made more
frequent use of social strategies than younger ones, of whom only 44%
report using this type of strategy. Use of memory strategies also increases
with age. Younger and older students resort to discovery strategies,
especially guessing from context and bilingual dictionary use, with similar
frequency. She used a questionnaire based on Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy
to gather her data.
In sum, the more complex the strategy, i.e. more demanding of deeper
and more active manipulation of information (e.g. keyword, making
associations), the more effective it is (e.g. Takac 2008: 59), but not
necessarily the most frequently used by students, who prefer strategies that
are easier to apply and which require less cognitive effort (see review
above). Among the main factors identified in the literature to influence
vocabulary strategy use, we find age, the L1 and FL being learned, not to
mention the big individual variation related to preferred cognitive and
learning styles. Providing learners with a wide inventory of VLS is the
best way to have the whole range of possibilities covered.
Some other studies have looked into the effectiveness of some
vocabulary learning strategies over others as regards vocabulary
acquisition. Gu and Johnson (1996) probed that self-initiation, selective
attention, contextual guessing, dictionary use for learning, note-taking,
analysing word forms, contextual encoding and intentional activation of
new words correlated well with vocabulary size and general language
proficiency. They had Chinese university EFL learners as informants and
used a battery of vocabulary tests together with a VLS questionnaire. Also
with Chinese university EFL students as informants, Wen and Johnson
(1997) looked at the relationship between, among other variables VLS,

and language achievement in EFL. They used proficiency tests, interviews,
diary studies, on-task observations and questionnaires to obtain their data;
and concluded that VLS have a positive effect on general English
proficiency. Some time later, Sozler (2012) probed that memory strategies,
i.e. associating the new word to known words and images, were more
effective in vocabulary acquisition and word retention than learning from
word lists. Similarly, memory strategies were also better for vocabulary
recall and retention than other strategies in kindergarten learners (Kron-
Sperl, Schneider and Hasselhorn 2008). McDaniel and Pressley (1989)
found the superiority of the keyword technique over contextual vocabulary
learning. Likewise, in Lawson and Hogben’s (1998) study, the keyword
technique also proved more effective than other strategies. Training in
paired-associations also resulted in more vocabulary gains than use of
other strategies (Cohen and Apek 1980).
As the previous review suggests, it is difficult to generalize results,
since studies were conducted on learners of different age, L2 proficiency,
or L1 background. Likewise, the strategies focused on also vary from
study to study. What seems to be undeniably true is that the more
competent the learners, the more frequently they use strategies and the
higher is the number of different strategies they use. Additionally, research
studies coincide in concluding that vocabulary learning strategies are
effective and enhance vocabulary acquisition in the FL.
Schmitt (2010) believes that the key aspect in research about
vocabulary learning strategies is the one about the quality of strategy
application, i.e. how learners make use of the strategies they have at their
disposal in a qualitative, learning-relevant way; and not how many
strategies they make use of, the so-called quantity of strategy use. In this
sense, Oxford’s (2011) model of Strategic Self-Regulation (S2R), a model
of language learning, in which learners actively use strategies to manage
their learning, becomes especially relevant. If learners are able to self-
regulate their use of vocabulary learning strategies, they can much better
benefit from them, particularly in qualitative terms.
However, this model is very new to the field, and has not yet been
subject to much empirical research, in particular in the field of vocabulary
learning strategies. For Tseng, Dörnyei, and Schmitt (2006), current
popular questionnaires for assessing vocabulary strategy use do not
measure the quality of such use, but only give an account of learners’
perceptions of their strategic behaviour in quantitative terms, but they
leave the researcher clueless as to whether the learner is a successful
strategy user (cf. Kulikova 2015). Thus, they take up the concept of self-
24 Part 1
regulation and develop an alternative approach to exploring strategic

behaviour. Accordingly, they focused on the learners’ ability to self-
regulate and decide which strategies to apply and how for each specific
situation. In order to look into this self-regulatory capacity, they devised a
self-report questionnaire consisting of 20 items divided into five sections
(Tseng et al. 2006, cf. Kulikova 2015). The five sections are: 1)
Commitment control, 2) Metacognitive control, 3) Satiation control, 4)
Emotion control, and 5) Environment control. Within each category of
self-evaluation, they include a series of questions or statements for
reflection. Thus, for commitment control they mention:
- When learning vocabulary, I have special techniques to achieve my

learning goals.
- I believe I can achieve my goals more quickly than expected.
- I persist until I reach the goals that I make for myself.
- I believe I can overcome all the difficulties related to achieving my
vocabulary learning goals.
-
In the case of metacognitive control, the questions and statements for
reflection are the following:
- I have special techniques to keep my concentration focused.

- I think my methods of controlling my concentration are effective.
- I have my special techniques to prevent procrastination.
- I think my methods of controlling procrastination are effective.
Concerning satiation control, learners are asked to reflect about:
- Once the novelty of learning vocabulary is gone, I easily become

impatient with it.
- During the process of learning vocabulary, I feel satisfied with the
ways I eliminate boredom.
- I am confident that I can overcome any sense of boredom.
- When feeling bored with learning vocabulary, I know how to regulate
my mood in order to invigorate the learning process.
With regard to emotion control, Tseng et al. (2006) suggest the following
statements:
- When I feel stressed about vocabulary learning, I know how to reduce

this stress.
- I feel satisfied with the methods I use to reduce the stress of vocabulary
learning.
- When I feel stressed about vocabulary learning, I simply want to give

up.
- When I feel stressed about my vocabulary learning, I cope with this
problem immediately.
Finally, regarding environment control, learners have to reflect about their

behaviour concerning the following statements:
- When I am studying vocabulary and the learning environment becomes

unsuitable, I try to sort out the problem.
- I know how to arrange the environment to make learning vocabulary
more efficient.
- When learning vocabulary, I am aware that the learning environment
matters.
- When I study vocabulary, I look for a good learning environment.
Tseng et al. (2006) and others after them (e.g. Gao 2006, Mizumoto &
Takeuchi 2012) have tested the instrument and found it useful to measure
self-regulation in vocabulary acquisition and strategy use.
1.3.2. Vocabulary communication strategies

Within the broader category of vocabulary strategies, we have
distinguished here among learning and communication strategies.
Communication strategies related to vocabulary are frequently reduced to
compensatory strategies or strategy for language use. Their main purpose
is to make do or compensate for lack of lexical knowledge. Hence, when a
learner does not know how to say a word in the TL, or does not understand
it when exposed to it, he/she/they can resort to a different communication
strategy, such as use an L1 word, use a paraphrase or description of the
word, create a new word from generalization or from applying L2 rules,
ask the teacher or a classmate or look up the intended word in the
dictionary (e.g. Poulisse 1993, Rababah 2002, Salazar Campillo 2006,
Agustin-Llach 2010). In general, taxonomies of language learning
strategies, communication strategies are subsumed under the category of
compensatory strategies. Although not directly aimed at learning new
lexical items, compensatory or communication strategies indirectly result
in the learning of the new word after the lexical search has been completed
(cf. Oxford 2003).
Back in 1977, Tarone classified communication strategies into the
following five groups:
26 Part 1
1. Avoidance. It simply refers to the ignorance or abandonment of a

topic or a message because of lack of knowledge of the vocabulary
needed to deal with it.
2. Paraphrase. Learners can paraphrase unknown words either by
using an approximation or word, which is not correct, but that
refers to a similar event or object. They can also coin a new word
that describes the object or event. And finally, they can just
describe the object or event using the appropriate vocabulary.
3. Conscious resort to the L1 through transfer. Learners can transfer
by literally translating a word from the L1 into the L2, or by
switching languages, that is by directly using the L1 word
immersed into the L2 syntax.
4. Appeal for assistance. Learners can consult an authority to help
them with the lack of knowledge. Dictionaries, the teacher, or other
native speakers are understood as authorities.
5. Mime. Learners can also convey their message by using gestures or
non-verbal means to refer to the intended object or event.
Adapting and expanding Faerch and Kasper’s (1983) ideas on

communication strategies, Mariani (1994) proposed a dichotomized
approach to communication problems, which included reduction and
achievement strategies. Reduction strategies imply some kind of avoidance,
abandonment, or message adaptation to the available knowledge. On the
contrary, achievement or expansion strategies require the adoption of an
alternative plan to keep and achieve the communication goal. A number of
sub-strategies are included within this type. The first group has its grounds
on previous linguistic knowledge, such as borrowing from the L1 or any
other Ln available, or foreignizing, which refers to the learners adapting
an L1/Ln word to the morphophonological characteristics of the L2. Also,
literal translation when the student just calques the L1 word into an L2
equivalent disregarding any semantic, contextual, or morphosyntactic
restrictions. The second group is based on learners’ knowledge of the L2.
Thus, using this imperfect or partial knowledge learners may opt for using
general words such as thing, stuff, put, or make, using superordinates,
like dog instead of German shepherd, using antonyms, or synonyms;
coining new words to approximate to the desired target; using
paraphrases, circumlocutions or examples is another communication
compensatory strategy which uses L2 knowledge.
Mariani (1994) discussed communication compensatory strategies at
discourse level and related them to interaction theories and meaning
negotiation episodes, although he did not explicitly use this terminology
and referred to them as cooperation strategies. He put forward that the use
of one or several communication strategies in combination through a
process of meaning negotiation can enhance communicative success.
He further dealt with the teachability of these strategies and analysed
their inclusion in EFL programs. He concluded that communication
strategies can be taught and rather than devising a strategy syllabus, he
suggested the teaching of patterns in strategy use at the communication or
discourse level. Furthermore, Mariani (1994) believed that there is no
conclusive evidence in favour of explicit formal instruction of strategies to
guarantee development of communicative competence, but he indicated
that reflection and awareness of strategies increase the chances for an
improved communicative competence. In addition to reflection and
analysis, providing learners with enough opportunities for strategy use will
have beneficial effects on strategic competence.
Mariani (1994) also pointed out that the choice of a strategy depends
on the nature of the task, the nature of the problem, and the level of
language proficiency, and accordingly, recommended that students
discover, discuss and develop their preferred strategies for communicating.
1.3.3. Vocabulary teaching strategies or How to teach

vocabulary
Takac (2008: 106), echoing Hatch and Brown (2000) defines
vocabulary teaching strategies as “everything teachers do or should do in
order to help learners learn the vocabulary of the target language”, e.g.
introducing the meaning and form of lexical items, making learners revise,
practise, consolidate, help memorize, recycle vocabulary, or monitor, and
evaluate learners’ progress. Takac (2008) found a correlation between the
strategies that teachers use in class and the use learners make of
vocabulary learning strategies, especially for synonym use, meaning
explanation and relating words’ meaning with pictures. However, for
many other strategies, there was no relationship so that the vocabulary
learning strategies chosen by learners were independent from those
vocabulary-teaching strategies used by teachers. Explicit training in
strategy use may contribute to strengthening this relationship.
Griva et al. (2009) ranked the vocabulary teaching strategies preferred
by students and found that they show a clear preference for L1 translation,
teacher explanation, and dictionary consultation, i.e. explicit techniques.
Implicit vocabulary instruction through the usage of extralinguistic or
paralinguistic elements, synonyms, pictures, or sentential context are less
favoured by young, less proficient learners. Especially competent learners
28 Part 1
resorted to using imagery and linking new words to previous background

knowledge. Breaking words into formal components was a strategy rarely
used, and if so, only by very competent learners. Similarly, cooperation
with classmates is a very unpopular, even reviled, and in our opinion,
underrated strategy.
Increasing the motivation of our learners to learn vocabulary and
practise at home is also essential. A positive attitude towards lexical
learning is the starting point for a successful foreign vocabulary
acquisition process. Contrary to what many authors have wrongly deduced
from Krashen’s hypothesis of extensive reading (1985 in Laufer 2004),
vocabulary learning is not an easy task that requires little effort on the part
of the learner. The English learner has to work hard to learn, recall and use
vocabulary satisfactorily. Showing him/her the advantages of practising
and of the effectiveness of activities and exercises and of the use of
vocabulary learning strategies will prove beneficial to the learning process.
Furthermore, learners themselves repeatedly recognize the need for
learning and improving their vocabulary knowledge and are willing to do
so.
Learners can and would benefit from a structured or directional
approach to spelling and pronunciation. It is reasonable to claim that
explicit instruction would raise orthographic and phonetic awareness.
Opportunities should also be provided to practise writing and saying new
unfamiliar words in the English classroom. Knowledge of derivational and
compositional morphology plays an important role in the development of
spelling skills. The ability to spell correctly is very much linked, and
somehow derives from, the mastery of word morphology (see Carlisle
1988). It goes without saying that being aware of the form of suffixes and
prefixes that combine with substantive, verbal, adjectival or adverbial
roots will be of much help when facing the difficult task of having to spell
in English. For instance, the cognitive spelling load of words like
beautiful, needless, or impossible is reduced if learners are shown what
parts these words are composed of, and how these parts or morphemes are
spelt. This would turn, then, into a very useful and effective strategy.
Teaching learners how to spell and how words are formed
morphologically can very much enhance their vocabulary learning
possibilities. Instructing young learners in the basic morphological rules of
English can assist them in expanding their vocabulary and enriching their
vocabulary knowledge. For instance, by creating lexical fields of the type:
mean, meaning, meaningful, meaningless, meaningfulness learners can
enlarge their vocabulary. Learners should be made aware that words are
made up of morphemes they can combine to form other words (see
Beheydt 1987). This approach can change a seemingly endless

memorization process into a “confident search for pattern and regularity
leading to orthographic awareness and consequent increased word
knowledge” (Goldsmith 1995: 124). This is an economic way of learning
vocabulary, an effective and efficient strategy, therefore, which should be
introduced in the class.
Additionally, a comparison of lexical systems L1-L2 may prove very
useful in second language vocabulary instruction. Teachers should be
aware that learners draw on their previous linguistic knowledge, usually
L1, but also L3, to compensate for deficiencies in lexical knowledge
(Odlin 1989/1996, see the above communication strategies).
Consequently, highlighting the similarities and differences between the
lexical systems of the mother tongue and the foreign language regarding
different aspects of the lexical items is a strategy, which can lead to
improvements in vocabulary learning, recall and use (Swan 1997). One
particular manifestation of linguistic similarity are cognates, i.e. words
that look very similar and have equivalent meanings in L1 and L2. For
example, communication (Eng.) and comunicación (Sp.) or house (Eng.)
and Haus (German) are cognates. Despite the annoying recurrence of the
false friend phenomenon, i.e. words that look similar but have different
meanings, many authors (see e.g. Lindell 1973, Meara 1993, Treville
1996, Swan 1997) believe in the advantages of cognates in foreign
vocabulary acquisition and use, and support cognate instruction in the
foreign language classroom. Teaching practitioners should equip their
learners with a good and large set of cognates that can be exploited in
vocabulary learning and in written and oral production. Furthermore, they
should provide learners with enough opportunities to practise those
cognates for the sake of pronunciation or spelling, at least. Cognate
recognition and use have proved a very useful strategy, as well (Aguinaga
Echeverría 2012). Previous research (e.g. Agustin-Llach 2014) proved that
learners, especially of low proficiency, have trouble in recognizing
cognates, even transparent ones. Thus, it is very interesting and highly
recommendable, that teachers instruct learners in the recognition of those
cognates or productive cognate structures between the foreign and the
native language to help them increase their vocabulary knowledge and
lexical repertoire.
We agree with Beheydt (1987) that lexical learning is a process of
semantization, that is, of lexical network formation. According to this,
teachers should make learners aware that vocabulary learning implies and
brings forth associations and interconnections of words. Words relate to
each other by means of paradigmatic and syntagmatic associations, called
30 Part 1
collocations; they suffer syntactic restrictions, display morphology and are

usually polysemous, i.e. a single word means different things depending
on the context in which it is immersed. Considering these features of
lexical items, it is argued that their retention and use will proceed more
easily. As a consequence of the notion of lexical learning as semantization,
Beheydt (1987) claims, the need arises to provide learners with vocabulary
learning strategies other than simple memorization or rote learning.
Helping learners to develop their strategic competence by teaching them
new learning strategies or by reinforcing the use of existing ones is one of
the best ways to contribute to successful foreign vocabulary acquisition.
Some of these lexical learning strategies are, e.g. contextual guessing of
meaning, comparison of different usages of words, looking up words in
the dictionary, working with context cards, using mnemonic techniques,
such as the keyword technique (see e.g. Pressley, Levin, and McDaniel
1987, Ellis and Beaton 1993, Brown 2002), forming mental images of the
word, associating, classifying, and interconnecting words, etc. (Beheydt
1987).
In a thorough review of how to best teach vocabulary, Sökmen (1997)
gives a series of hints or recommendations. For instance, teaching first
concrete words, and words easy to imagine can be a good start up.
Likewise, for the beginner learner, he suggests that the best way to
increase the lexical repertoire is through a combination of direct and
explicit instruction of the form-meaning link of the lexical items through
bilingual lists, word definitions, or matching exercises and of implicit,
contextualized acquisition through, e.g. extensive reading as the learner
progresses. In this vocabulary learning and teaching approach, guessing
the meaning of words from the context is one relevant vocabulary learning
strategy. Sökmen (1997) also believes that the use of several vocabulary
learning strategies is one of the typical signs of good language learners,
thus, he says, teachers need to promote and strengthen the employment of
several techniques, methods and strategies. This mixture of strategies,
among which Sökmen (1997: 255) mentions dictionary use, word
morphology analysis, mnemonics, associations, and exercises with
collocations and fixed phrases, results in better vocabulary acquisition
apart from harmonizing different learning and cognitive styles of learners.
Finally, using strategies that demand a great involvement load, e.g. several
repetitions, meaningful use, meaning searches, on the part of the learner
will also lead to higher benefits (Sökmen 1997: 242-244).
In a very comprehensive study, Takac (2008) examined the
relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary
teaching strategies. She relies on the idea that the strategies learners might
select for learning vocabulary faithfully reflect the strategies they have
been taught vocabulary with. Parting from this assumption, she conducted
a study (2008: 105-133) to explore vocabulary teaching strategies and their
role in vocabulary learning strategies that learners come up with using.
Vocabulary teaching strategies refer in her study to everything the teacher
does in order to help learners learn the new vocabulary (p. 106). In her
study, she uses the VOLSQES questionnaire (see p. 19) and she found that
when teachers gave synonyms, wrote them on the board or explained the
meaning of words in English, students used more synonyms and
circumlocutions themselves. Similarly, whenever teachers presented the
meaning of a word with a picture, learners tended to link the word to a
mental image of its meaning. Using this strategy allows learners to store
the words in long-term memory. This result has further important
pedagogical implications concerning the recommended vocabulary
teaching strategies. Dictionary use is another strategy that could benefit
from teachers’ encouragement in the classroom. For further strategies,
Takac (2008) found that the selection of vocabulary learning strategies on
the part of elementary school learners was independent from the
vocabulary teaching strategies teachers used. The young age of her
informants is alluded to as the reason why some strategies were more
frequently used than others, thus in line with Schmitt’s (1997) findings.
More recently, Ranalli (2009) devised a web-based instrument to
teach vocabulary to students. This included tutorials, practice exercises
and awareness raising tasks. The instrument was designed as an online,
virtual strategy trainer aimed at promoting vocabulary acquisition. He
found that learners rated it as a helpful, interesting and relevant instrument
for lexical learning. Furthermore, they enjoyed using the instrument and
believed it had potential to help them improve their vocabulary
knowledge. His was a first step into virtual vocabulary acquisition using
strategies.
We might question whether teachers should also, based on their
experience, train learners in vocabulary learning strategies that mirror the
vocabulary instruction techniques they use. The following section tries to
reconcile both issues of vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary
teaching strategies. Furthermore, we review studies, which have made
attempts at training students in using strategies and have checked the
impact this training has on vocabulary acquisition.
32 Part 1
1.3.4. Should we teach vocabulary learning strategies?

The issue of vocabulary strategy training, that is, of whether and how
teachers should instruct learners in the use of strategies, is far from being
resolved. Many questions arise for both researchers and practitioners when
facing this task: Is it effective? Does it pay off (in terms of lexical learning
and time spent on the training in the classroom) to instruct learners in
vocabulary learning strategies? How should teachers instruct vocabulary
learning strategies? Should strategy instruction be integrated in the
teaching curriculum and be part of a classroom activity? Should the
learning tasks used for practice be authentic? What should be the language
of instruction and training? L1 for beginners and a combination of L1 and
L2 for more advanced learners?
All these questions are central for teachers and researchers working
with language learning strategies. However, research has yet failed to find
unambiguous and definite answers.
Research on strategy training is scarce (Chamot 2004, Oxford 1990,
2011, Takac 2008), but the few studies that have addressed this issue draw
positive results (e.g. Lawson and Hogben 1996, Fraser 1999, Zhao 2009).
For instance, in a landmark study, Lawson and Hogben (1996) found a
strong tendency for those students employing more strategies to recall
more words than those who used fewer strategies and less frequently.
Furthermore, they conclude that
one element of success in learning foreign language vocabulary is the
consistent and skilful use of individually congenial strategies rather than
the employment of some particular fixed set of strategies. However, this
leaves aside the possible effect of training in elaborative strategy use, the
effects of which can be considerable. (p. 127)
In a study on lexical processing strategy training, Fraser (1999)

probed that learners who had been trained obtained higher lexical gains.
Specifically, she trained eight university-level Francophone learners of
English in three vocabulary learning strategies while reading during two
months: ignore the word and continue reading; consult (a dictionary or
another person); and infer (via linguistic or contextual clues). She used a
think-aloud protocol to ascertain learners’ use of strategies while reading
and identifying unknown words. Then, learners were tested on their
knowledge of the mentioned unknown words. Individual learner variation
was high, but with a retention rate of 28%, Fraser (1999: 238) argues that
it is higher than had been attested in previous studies on incidental
vocabulary acquisition, without the strategy-training component. Although
she thinks that results must be interpreted cautiously for the lack of a
control group and the small number of participants, she concludes that
strategy training and instruction seemed to have improved the underlying
conditions for vocabulary learning.
Likewise, Zhao (2009) also found a significant correlation between the
vocabulary learning of a group of Chinese students and a metacognitive
strategy-training period. Specifically, he looked into the vocabulary gains
of learners who had been trained in using metacognitive strategies,
planning, monitoring, and evaluating, which are especially important in
the fostering of autonomy in language learning. He found that these
students improved their vocabulary learning significantly, apart from
increasing the number and frequency of metacognitive strategies they
made use of. Previously, Stoffer (1995) found that strategy training was
the best predictor of successful strategy use, and Hustijn (1997) obtained
similar results for the one strategy of the keyword technique. In a very
interesting study, Tilfarlioglu and Torun (2012) demonstrated that strategy
training contributed to improve vocabulary proficiency. In an endeavour to
maximize autonomous vocabulary acquisition in the L2, Ranalli (2009)
designed a web site (The VVT Site) to train learners in the use of
vocabulary learning strategies. His results based on learners’ perceptions
of usefulness and relevance showed that the web site was deemed as
helpful for vocabulary learning, however, learners could not agree on the
effectiveness of the online training to improve their lexical skills despite
the recognized potential. Ranalli (2009) concludes that lexical strategy
training is a complex undertaking, but he found a promising tool to carry it
out. His preliminary results warrant further research, especially as
concerns the effects and outcomes of this training on actual lexical
improvement. Furthermore, he also claims that training learners in strategy
use can benefit word retention and use because learners choose which
words to learn and this leads to better retention and recall (Gu and Johnson
1996, Ranalli 2003). In a comprehensive study with over 300 informants,
Nemati (2009) confirmed that memory strategies such as using acronyms,
using imagery, and grouping words were effective in vocabulary storage
and retention in the long term. Students who were trained in using these
memory strategies showed better results in immediate and delayed
vocabulary tests than students in a control group who were simply taught
the target words without being informed about the strategies they might
use to remember those new words. Previously, Rasekh and Ranjbary
(2003) determined that students trained in the use of metacognitive
strategies obtained higher scores in a vocabulary achievement test than a
control group who were not taught how to reflect on the strategies they
34 Part 1
used. Mizumoto and Takeuchi (2009) conducted a study on the effectiveness

of explicit instruction of vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) over a ten-
week semester with a group of 146 female EFL learners from two
Japanese universities. Their findings show that instructing learners in
knowing and using strategies to learn vocabulary results in higher degrees
of lexical learning and lexical accuracy in a vocabulary test. In addition,
dealing with memory strategies, Bornay (2011) concluded that explicit
strategy training contributes to enlarging the VLS repertoire, raising
learners’ metacognitive awareness and enhancing their regulatory skills.
She trained a group of Australian university students of Spanish FL in
grouping and mind-mapping and found very positive results as concerns
the degree of autonomous strategy use, the perceptions of students towards
VLS and their usefulness, and also their vocabulary knowledge. Sozler
(2012) obtained similar results with 26 students studying in an Austrian
Public Secondary School. Azimi Amoli and Karbalaei (2012) proved that
mnemonic strategy instruction affects the immediate and delayed
information retrieval of vocabulary learning in EFL elementary learners
since their data analysis confirmed the superiority of the experimental
group to the control group. Recent studies with 70 elementary level EFL
learners at the Preparatory School of Mersin University Turkey (Aktekin
and Güven 2013), and with 700 high school students from Iran (Ostovar-
Namaghi and Rajaee 2013) proved that vocabulary strategy instruction
helps students learn and store more vocabulary.
As stated above, vocabulary learning strategies need to be taught in
the L2 classroom since learners who have used learning strategies attain
higher academic achievement in vocabulary tests than learners who have
not used strategies in their instruction (Oxford and Scarcella 1994;
Mizumoto and Takeuchi 2009; Bornay 2011, Oxford 2011; Sozler 2012;
Aktekin and Güven 2013; Ostovar-Namaghi and Rajaee 2013).
From the evidence provided in these studies, we think that Nation
(1990) was right when he suggested that teaching vocabulary learning
strategies is better than teaching the words. Similarly, we also agree with
Schmitt (1997) who concluded that pushing learners to try new strategies,
different from the ones they already employ, and instruct them in using
them, can greatly benefit learners’ task of vocabulary acquisition, since
learners were shown to perceive as useful strategies other than the ones
they were currently using. Teaching how to learn vocabulary is, thus, an
inevitable part of vocabulary instruction together with word teaching.
Takac (2008) (echoing Kaplan 1998) comments that strategy use or
frequency of use somehow depends on the target language (see also
Stoffer 1995). She found (2008: 134-144) that there is a set of core
strategies, or vocabulary learning strategies that is applied independently

from the specific FL studied, e.g. translating into L1, writing words down,
testing oneself. There are, however, some differences in how learners of
German, Spanish or English tackle foreign language learning (FLL). For
instance, German and Spanish FL learners focus on formal strategies:
memory and metacognitive strategies are most frequent. This reflects a
traditional, school-based approach to FLL. English FL learners, on their
part, resort to more spontaneous and indirect learning promoting incidental
vocabulary acquisition. The type and amount of exposure to the FL may
account for these differences.
Although, we do not have empirical data to confirm this point,
informal observation of textbooks clearly indicates that instruction of
German, French, or Spanish as foreign languages has traditionally included
some sections on vocabulary learning strategies absent in the more
widespread and broader area of English FL teaching. Colouring nouns
according to their grammatical gender, grouping words according to their
formal resemblance and morphological relatedness (e.g. nouns, adjectives,
verbs, adverbs, suffixes and prefixes), or drawing pictures to attach them
to the words in memory are some of the vocabulary learning strategies
recommended and practised in the Spanish or German FL textbooks (e.g.
Berliner Platz (Langenscheidt), Aula (Difusión)). This explicit strategy
training, which informs students of the name, purpose and value of the
strategies, is often accompanied by implicit strategy instruction contained
in the rubrics or instructions of the activities or tasks to be performed by
the students. Explicit and informed strategy training are particularly
frequent for vocabulary over other language aspects. Examples of these
might include encouraging students to guess the meaning of unknown
words from the context and co-text, having them predict the vocabulary of
a reading text from the title, or prompting students to use FL classroom
discourse. This is in line with McDonough’s (1995) observation that
strategy-training benefits are culturally-dependant, since not all learners
react equally to the different strategies, nor are they prone to use them all
in similar terms.
Accordingly, Griva et al. (2009) recommend learners to individualize
their strategy use to their learning style, cultural or linguistic background;
and to the needs, context, or learning task we might add; evincing thus, the
adaptability and versatility of vocabulary learning strategies as a tool for
vocabulary acquisition.
Not only language proficiency, task, purpose or cultural background,
but also age is another of the variables to be taken into account when
recommending or training in strategy use, quoting Schmitt’s (1997: 226)
36 Part 1
words: “… some learning strategies are more beneficial at certain ages

than others, […] learners naturally mature into using different strategies.
[…] we must take our learners’ cognitive maturity and language proficiency
into account when recommending strategies”.
It is part of the teachers’ role to inform and convince learners of the
usefulness of the strategies so that they use them. For example, Lawson
and Hogben (1996) found a clear pattern between strategies that involved
complex elaborations, e.g. the keyword method, and recall rates. However,
learners barely used these strategies, and might need to be pointed towards
the advantages of these strategy types for vocabulary acquisition. Strategy
training programs can be a way to do so.
In this sense, strategic training is deemed one basic approach in
vocabulary instruction (Coady 1997). Oxford and Scarcella (1994)
advocate for strategic training, since it contributed to fostering autonomy
to expand vocabulary on their own and meet specific and/or individual
vocabulary needs. Empowering students to take hold of their own
vocabulary learning processes should be the main purpose of strategy
instruction. This is especially relevant in foreign language contexts where
exposure to the TL is limited and the task of vocabulary acquisition
becomes even bigger and more arduous. Consequently, learners should be
encouraged to learn vocabulary out of class, that is, in an autonomous and
independent way. Teaching them how to apply vocabulary learning
strategies to learn on their own certainly results in higher vocabulary gains
(Al-Shawwa 2010). Similarly, in the latest approaches to FL teaching the
focus has shifted from the language and teacher to the learner, with the
corresponding emphasis on responsibility on the part of the learners, i.e.
on developing autonomy.
As hinted at above, few programs and models of training have been
proposed, despite agreement on the need and effectiveness of vocabulary
strategy training. Nation (2001: 77) lists four decisions to be taken in
designing a strategy training program 1) strategies being trained [most
effective], 2) time devoted to each strategy [the more the better], 3) a
teaching plan for every strategy [demonstration, explanation, practice, and
feedback], and 4) monitoring and giving feedback to strategy use. Drawing
on models of general language learning strategy training, we can observe
both recursive and linear procedures consisting of several steps which go
from an awareness-raising phase to a transfer phase going through teacher
modelling of selected strategies, practising, and self-evaluation of the
strategies used. The most popular models for strategy training include the
Cognitive Academic Learning Approach (CALLA, Chamot and O’Malley
1986), Oxford’s 1990 strategy training model, Grenfell and Harris (1999),
or Cohen’s (1998) Strategy-based Instruction model. Although with very

slight differences in emphasis, all models mentioned coincide in the steps
collected above. The work of Martín Leralta (2007) merits special
attention in this respect, on the specific area of listening skills, which can
be transferred to vocabulary strategy training. She proposes integrated
training consisting of a preparation phase (needs analysis, strategy
selection, preparation of materials), an introduction phase (modelling,
guided practice), a practice phase (less controlled and free practice,
transfer to other tasks), and an evaluation phase (effectiveness of strategy
and students’ motivation). Some models, e.g. the CALLA, also include an
expansion phase, where students are encouraged to use and apply the
strategies that they find helpful in new contexts, and situations. This is the
model we intend to follow in our strategy training (see Part 2).
Explicit strategy instruction integrated in the regular language
classroom is the format that strategy training should take to be most
effective in a comprehensive, diverse model adapted to learners’ needs.
Griva et al. (2009) following Cook (2001); Nagy & Scott (2000); and
Graves Watts-Taffe (2002) believe that vocabulary strategy training is of
incommensurable help to develop vocabulary knowledge and make
students autonomous language users and learners.
In this sense, we collect some of Oxford’s (1994) postulates that are
relevant when dealing with learning strategy training:
1) L2 strategy training should be based clearly on students' attitudes,

beliefs, and stated needs,
2) Strategies should be chosen so that they mesh with and support
each other and so that they fit the requirements of the language
task, the learners' goals, and the learners' style of learning,
3) Training should, if possible, be integrated into regular L2 activities
over a long period rather than taught as a separate, short
intervention,
4) Students should have plenty of opportunities for strategy training
during language classes,
5) Strategy training should include explanations, handouts, activities,
brainstorming, and materials for reference and home study,
6) Affective issues such as anxiety, motivation, beliefs, and interests –
all of which influence strategy choice – should be directly
addressed by L2 strategy training,
7) Strategy training should be explicit, overt, and relevant and should
provide plenty of practice with varied L2 tasks involving authentic
materials,
38 Part 1
8) Strategy training should not be solely tied to the class at hand; it

should provide strategies that are transferable to future language
tasks beyond a given class,
9) Strategy training should be somewhat individualized, as different
students prefer or need certain strategies for particular tasks, and
10) Strategy training should provide students with a mechanism to
evaluate their own progress and to evaluate the success of the
training and the value of the strategies in multiple tasks.
As has been seen in the preceding review of the existing literature on

learning strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, and above all strategy
classification and training, there is no single or unified model of how to
best teach strategies, or what strategies to train students to use. Research
studies pinpoint some main trends and suggest awareness raising and
practice in a number of different strategies to enhance and improve
learners’ (word) knowledge.
In what follows, we will first detail a study conducted about
vocabulary strategy preferences of a group of EFL learners at tertiary level
(university) before and after a training period. Then, we will offer a model
for a vocabulary strategy-training program with suggestions for some
selected vocabulary learning and communication strategies. Finally, we
will present the reader with a set of exercises aimed at developing a
similar instruction program with some further strategies.
PART 2
A CLASS EXPERIENCE
This second part of the book wants to illustrate the need for
vocabulary strategy training and its use in the successful communication
and development of learner autonomy, which are the main goals of current
foreign language teaching and learning in the European context. We do so
by presenting a study carried out with first-year university students, who
are prospective primary school teachers.
In our European context, the command of several foreign languages
has special relevance. The European Commission through the Council of
Europe recommended that all European citizens should master at least two
foreign languages. For this reason, the Council of Europe advocates a
communicative approach in language teaching that has, among other
objectives, the promotion of learner autonomy and lifelong learning
(Common European Framework 2001). Making students aware of their
own learning processes, and progress as well, is the way of helping them
develop autonomy and take charge of their own learning (Little 1991,
1999, 2007; Benson 2001, Benson and Toogood 2002; Sinclair, McGrath
& Lamb 2000).
Similarly, having a good command of the vocabulary of the second
language is a prerequisite for successful communication. In this sense, we
agree that vocabulary strategy instruction will contribute greatly to
developing learner autonomy (Oxford 1990, 1996, 2011, García Magaldi
2010, Griva, Kamaroudis & Geladari 2009, Jiménez Catalán 2003).
2.1 Learner autonomy and learning strategies

The notions of lifelong learning and learner autonomy are not new.
Definitions of the concept “learner autonomy” have occupied scholars
since the 1980s (cf. Holec 1983, Little 1991, Benson 2001). The notion
spins around the idea of taking up the responsibility for learning associated
with an innate human curiosity and need for asking questions and finding
answers (Little 1991). It is the role of teachers to stimulate this autonomy
and make students see the importance of the cognitive and emotional
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craft, the dies should be rosso appunto, to the point of redness,
neither more nor less; and to make them so you do this. You take
some clean iron scale[90] and place it on a board and then rub pila
and torsello alike on this until they are thoroughly bright, and the film
quite gone from them, and in the same manner may you afterwards
brighten your coins. And—another little hint—you clean out the
deeper parts of your dies with pieces of pointed cork tipped with iron
scale, & then everything is done & you can give your dies to the
stamper, at the mint.
I must not forget to tell you, as I promised, how it was that the
ancients never turned their coins out as well as we; & the reason of it
was because they cut their dies out direct with goldsmith’s tools,
gravers, chisels, punches, & that was very difficult for them to do,
especially as the mints needed a large number of these dies—pile
and torselli.
I need give you but one instance of what I mean, gentle reader, and
you will see how right I am. On one occasion when I was making the
dies for Pope Clement in Rome, I had to turn out thirty of these iron
pile and torselli in one day; had I gone to work in the manner of the
ancients, I could not have produced two, nor would they have been
as good. Thus it was that the ancients had to employ a large number
of die cutters, and these could never do their work as well as they
wished to do it, having never attained our facility.
But now will I tell you of medals which the ancients made
superlatively well; & whatever I may have omitted in dealing with
coins I will make up for in treating of medals, so that you shall learn
all in listening to both.
FOOTNOTES:
[79] See the ‘Vita,’ Symonds, Book I., xlii.

[80] Terribilissimi popolani.
[81] E ricci del Duca Alexandro.
[82] Meaning in the way Cellini describes them.
[83] Terra di bolo Armenio: red earth that was and is used in
gilding grounds, &c.
[84] Ricuocano.
[85] Cellini’s method of hardening differs from that of Theophilus;
the latter in describing the tempering of files, Book III, Chapter
xvii., practically employs animal charcoal to case-harden his
metal.
[86] Cellini uses the words ‘stampare’ and ‘intagliare’ in their
generic as well as their specific sense.
[87] What we should call engraved punches.
[88] Bolso forte. This might be: ‘strongly backed,’ i.e., the reverse
of undercut.
[89] Cellini’s description is not very clear; see note, pp. 68 & 74.
[90] Scaglia: perhaps fine oxide of iron. Professor Roberts-Austen
suggests that this may have been what is now called ‘rouge.’
CHAPTER XV. ABOUT MEDALS.
In dealing with these beautiful things I will first explain to you the
method adopted by the ancients and then tell you how we are wont
to go to work nowadays. As far as we can gather from the methods
of this art, it appears that in the days when the art of making medals
commenced to flourish in Egypt, Greece, and Rome, the rulers put
the impressions of their heads on one side and on the other some
record of the great deeds they had done. What strikes us
professionals, however, who look deeper into the matter, is the
variety of medals struck for each emperor by a number of different
masters. And the reason of this is that when a new ruler was elected
all the masters of the craft of medal stamping in his dominions, and
especially those in his immediate residence, struck a medal for the
occasion, the prince’s head on one side, and on the other some
commemoration of one of his deeds of honour. Then all the many
medals were shown to the prince, and his ministers, and to him
whose work was pronounced the best was awarded the Mastership
of the Mint, or rather the making of the dies for the coins.
Now as to their making. The first thing to be done is to make a model
in white wax of the head, the reverse, and whatever there may be, to
the exact size and relief of the final work, for we know this was how
the ancients did it.
The white model in wax is made as follows: Take a little pure white
wax, add to it half the quantity of well-ground white lead, & a little
very clean turps. It depends on the time of the year as to whether
you put much or little turps, winter requiring half as much again as
summer. With wooden sticks[91] it is worked on a surface of stone,
bone, or black glass, & thereupon—for the ancients and the moderns
are at one here—it is made in the gesso just as the cardinals’ seals
were, of which I erewhile told you. Then you take what are called the
taselli, or iron implements used for stamping medals, just as in the
case of the pile and torselli you used for stamping coins; only in this
case they are made alike and not dissimilar like the latter. There is a
further difference too, and this you must be careful about; whereas
the latter were made of steel and iron, the former are of well-chosen
steel and four-cornered in shape and the one just like the other. After
you have softened them in the fire in the same way as I showed you
above with coins, you smooth and polish[92] them very carefully with
soft stones and mark out the size of your medal, the beading, the
place for the inscription & so forth, with just such immovable
compasses as you used before.
After this you begin to work with your chisels ever so carefully,
cutting away the steel in order to round off the form of the head in
just such manner as you have it in your gesso model. And in this
manner, little by little, you hollow it out with your tools, but using the
punches[93] as little as possible, because they would harden the steel
and you would not be able to remove it with your cutting tools. This
was the way in which the ancients, with their wonted diligence and
patience, went to work; & in the same way, using the chisels and the
gravers, did they engrave their letters, and thus it comes about that
on no ancient medal have I seen really good letters, though some
are better than others. So much for the methods of the ancients.
Now for another of our practical instances, gentle reader, always as I
have promised you, something from my own hand. It was a medal
for Pope Clement VII., and it had two reverses. On the front was the
head of his Holiness, on the reverse side was the subject of Moses
with his folk in the desert at the time of the scarcity of water. God
comes to their help, bidding Aaron, Moses’ brother, strike the rock
with his staff, from which the living water springs. I made it just full of
camels and horses, and ever so many animals and crowds of
people, and the little legend across it ‘Ut bibat populus.’ An
alternative reverse bore the figure of peace, a lovely maiden with a
torch in her hand burning a pile of weapons, & at the side the temple
of Janus with a Fury bound to it, and the legend around of
‘Claudunter belli portae.’ The dies for these medals I prepared[94] with
the madre, of which I told you above, and the punches, using them
first in the same way as I did with the coins. But I must remind you
how I said that the dies for the coins were not to be worked on with
cutting instruments, gravers and so forth; here, with the medals, the
contrary holds good, & as soon as you have done what you can with
your madre and the various little punches that go with it, you must
needs finish the work ever so carefully with chisels and gravers. The
letters are stamped in with steel punches, just as was the case with
the coins. You must take heed, too, while striking, to fix your die on
to a great block[95] of lead. Some, when they strike coins, have used
hollowed wooden blocks[96] for this purpose, but this will not answer
for medals, as the dies have to be much deeper cut, the relief of the
medal being so much higher. Just in the same way as with the coins
you will do well to make wax impressions from time to time, while
you are cutting, to see how you are getting on. Likewise, before you
temper[97] the die, make a few impressions on lead so as to see how
the whole works together, and to correct any mistakes. When you
are satisfied with the results, set to with the tempering of the dies,
like you did for the coining. Don’t, however, omit to have a pitcher
containing about ten gallons[98] of water. When your die is aglow, grip
it carefully with the tongs & quickly dip it into the water, and not
holding it in one position but stirring it round, always keeping it under
water till it hisses no longer and becomes cold. Then take it out &
polish it up with powdered iron scale just as you did before with the
coins.
FOOTNOTES:
[91] Fuscelletti.
[92] Ispianera’ gli.
[93] Ceselletti da ammaccare.
[94] This might be translated, ‘I sank.’
[95] Tasello.
[96] Ceppi di legno bucati.
[97] Perhaps: ‘harden’ (see pp. 68 & 70). I am indebted to Prof.
Roberts-Austen for the following note: ‘This passage is amplified
in the next chapter where the author treats of the hardening of
medal dies. He has shown that before working on the coin dies he
has made them as soft as possible, but before they could actually
be used for striking coins they would need “hardening” &
“tempering.” Hardening steel is effected by heating it to bright
redness & then quenching it in some fluid which will cool the metal
with more or less rapidity, cold water being usually employed for
this purpose. Hence in this chapter Cellini states that there must
be ten gallons of cold water in which the hot die is quenched, &
kept moving (as in modern practice) until it is cold. “Tempering,”
on the other hand, to which he alludes here, consists in reducing
the hardness of the quenched steel by heating it to a moderate
temperature much below redness. Usually the die would be (in
modern practice) heated until a straw-coloured film forms on its
surface. Probably such a film is contemplated by the author when
he indicates the necessity for removing a film, produced at the
hardening stage, by polishing with fine oxide of iron.’
[98] The barila is about forty pints. Capt. Victor Ward tells me
about twenty Florentine wine flasks.
CHAPTER XVI. HOW THE
BEFORE-MENTIONED MEDALS
ARE STRUCK.
Medals are struck in various ways. I will speak first of the method
called coniare[99] a term derived from this particular method of medal
stamping, and then I’ll go on to the others of which I have also
availed myself.
You make an iron frame[100] about four fingers wide, two fingers thick
and half a cubit long, and the open space within it should be exactly
the size of the dies (taselli) on which your medals are cut in intaglio.
These dies you remember are square, and they have to fit exactly
square and equal into the frame so that they may be in no way
moved in the striking of the medal. Before beginning the actual thing,
it is necessary first to strike a medal of lead of just the size you wish
the gold or silver one to be. You do it in the usual way, taking the
impression of it in caster’s sand—you remember we spoke about it
before—the same that all the founders use for the trappings of
horses, mules, and brass work generally. From this pattern medal
you make your final casting[101] which you carefully clean up,
removing the rough edges[102] with a file, and after that polishing off
all the file marks. This done you place the cast medal between your
dies (taselli). The medal, in that it is already cast into its shape, is
more easily struck, and the dies are for the same reason less used
up in the process of striking. When you have them in the middle of
your frame, & the frame itself fixed firmly upright, push them down
into the frame at one end, leaving a cavity of three fingers’ space
from the edge of it. Into this cavity fix two wedges of iron,[103] or
biette, the thin ends of which are at least half the size of the thick
ends and which in length are about twice the breadth of the frame.
Then when you want to do the striking, set them with their thin ends
over your dies, the point of the one set towards the other.[104] Then
take two stout hammers, and let your apprentice hold one at the
head of one of the wedges, and do you strike with the other hammer
the opposite wedge three or four times, very carefully alternating
your blows first on one wedge, then on the other. The object of this is
as a precaution to prevent the shifting & facilitate the action of your
dies[105] or the pieces of metal that are to form your medals. Then
take your frame, set the head of one of the wedges on a big stone &
strike the other head with a large hammer called in the craft
mazzetta, using both your hands.
This you repeat three or four times, turning the frame round at every
second stroke. This done, take out your medal. If the medal be of
bronze it will have been necessary to soften it first,[106] for that is too
hard a metal to strike straight off without heating; and repeat this
three or four times until you see that the impression is sharp. True it
is I could give you hundreds of little wrinkles yet, but I don’t intend to
do it, because I assume I am speaking to those who have some
knowledge of the art, and for those who haven’t it would be
dreadfully boring to listen. So much for the method of striking medals
that we call coniare.[107]
FOOTNOTES:
[99] La qual dice coniare, as distinct from the method he

describes in Chap. xvii.
[100] Staffa.
[101] In questo modo ti conviene formarla, egittarla agyrreso.
[102] Barette.
[103] Coni di ferro.
[104] Mettile sopra i tuoi taselli le punte dell’una e dell’altra, le
quali si vengano a sopraporre.
[105] Ferri.
[106] This may mean working the bronze hot, but more probably
softening by annealing.
[107] The method described may be illustrated by the following
diagram:
Diagram illustrating the
coniare process of
striking medals
W WEDGE
D DIE
M MEDAL
FRAME IN PART
SECTION.
CHAPTER XVII. ANOTHER WAY OF
STRIKING MEDALS WITH THE
SCREW.
You make an iron frame of similar size & thickness to the one
described above, but of sufficient length to enable it to hold not only
the two dies, taselli, on which the medal is cut, but also the
female[108] screw of bronze. This screw is set beneath the male
screw of iron;[109] one ought really to apply the term screw, vite, to
this male screw only, the female screw being called chiocciola. The
male screw should be three fingers thick and its threads[110] square,
because it is stronger thus than of the usual shape. The frame has to
have a hole in the top of it to admit of the screw passing through it.
When you have placed your dies, taselli, beneath the screw, with the
metal you propose to strike between them, you tighten them up by
the insertion of iron wedges[111] so that they cannot possibly shift. You
will find this necessary owing to the greater size of the bronze screw.
[112]
Then having prepared a piece of beam about two cubits long, or
more, you fix an iron rod of sufficient thickness and of about two
cubits in length to the lower end of it, and it must fit into the beam;[113]
then fix your frame into a cutting in the head of the beam made
exactly to hold it. It is necessary, too, to bind the beam round with
stout iron bands to give it strength at the place where the frame is
set in, and to prevent it from splitting.
Round the head of the screw must then be fitted a stout iron ring with
two loops to it, & these have to be made to hold a long iron rod or
bar,[114] say six cubits in length, so that four men can work at it, and
bring their force to play upon your dies and the medal you are
striking. In this method I struck about one hundred of the medals I
made for Pope Clement; they were done in the purest bronze without
any casting, which, as I told above, is necessary for the process
called coniare. I advise every artist to note well this method of
striking with the screw, for, though it be more expensive, the
impressions are better, and the dies not so soon worn out. Of the
gold and silver medals I struck many straight off without softening?
them first; & as for the cost, perhaps after all it only appears greater,
for whereas in the method of striking with the screw[115] two turns of
the screw will complete the medal, in the method of striking in the
coniare process at least one hundred blows with the stamps are
necessary before you get the desired result.

process of striking
medals with the screw
D. DIE
M. MEDAL
AT ‘A’ WOULD COME
THE FEMALE SCREW,
AND THE WEDGES
WOULD COME AT
THE SIDES OF THE
DIES.
FOOTNOTES:
[108] La vite femmina.

[109] Il mastio di ferro: i.e., so that the male screw can fit into it.
[110] Pani.
[111] Biette.
[112] Gli e di necessita che per la grandezza della chiocciola di
bronzo, la quale ha da essere fatte in modo che la non balli nella
staffa.
[113] A quella si attacca nella testa di sotto un pezza di corrente
... e bisogna che sia commesso in nella testa di sotto nella detta
trave.
[114] Cioè a un lungo corrente. I give on the next page a diagram
of what the upper portion of this machinery was probably like. Or it
may be as Prof. Roberts-Austen shows it in the drawing in his
Cantor Lecture on Alloys, Society of Arts Journal, March-April,
1884.
[115] Colpi di conio.
CHAPTER XVIII. HOW TO WORK IN
LARGE WARE, IN GOLD AND
SILVER AND SUCH LIKE. [116]
First will I speak of the methods I learnt in Rome and then of those
that are used in Paris. Indeed I believe this city of Paris to be the
most wonderful city in the world, and there they practise every
branch of every art. I spent four years of my life there in the service
of the great King Francis, who gave me opportunities of working out
not only in all the arts of which I have been telling you, but also in the
art of sculpture, and of that too I shall speak in its proper place.

process of casting silver
C. CLAMPS
P. PLATE
B. BRICK
FOOTNOTES:
[116] Cellini applies the term ‘grosserie’ to all large ware of

whatever process & as distinguished from ‘minuterie.’
CHAPTER XIX. HOW TO BEGIN
MAKING A VASE.
It is quite wonderful what a variety of different methods there are for
making silver vases. We might here begin with the casting of silver,
and then little by little get on to other subjects. There are three ways
of melting silver so that it shall not burn.[117] In the first you use the
bellows, constructing round their mouth a little brick furnace sufficient
to quite cover the crucible, even to be some four fingers above it;
then rub the crucible all over, inside and out, with olive oil; put the
silver into it & place it on the furnace; you should not have too many
coals aglow at first for fear of cracking the crucible, for that is apt to
happen with the sudden heat, but let it get gradually hotter and
hotter, without touching your bellows, until it is red hot. At this point
you gently start blowing with the bellows. After a while you will see
the silver beginning to float like water; then you strew a handful of
tartar over it, and while it stays a moment so, take a piece of linen
folded four or five times & well soaked in oil, to lay this over the
crucible when you remove it from the coals. Then swiftly take hold of
the crucible with your cramping tongs,[118] a pair of tongs made
specially for catching hold of earthen crucibles, for if you catch hold
of these as you would of iron crucibles you would break them, but
these special tongs support the earthen crucible so that there is no
danger of its breaking. Meanwhile, the moulds for pouring silver in
must be at hand; these are made out of two iron plates of the
requisite size and as occasion shall demand, and beneath[119] them
place a few square rods about the size of your little finger, more or
less, as the work may need. The plates are then bound together with
stout iron clamps, struck with a hammer till they grip the moulds
equally all round. Of these clamps you need six or eight according to
the size of the mould. Then you paint round the junction of the
moulds with liquid clay so as to prevent the silver from coming
through.[120] When your moulds are well warmed, you pour a little oil
into them, and stand them in an earthen pot of spent ashes, or even
on the ground between four bricks, and so pour in your silver.[121]
That is one of the methods of casting.
FOOTNOTES:
[117] Non si riarda.

[118] Imbracciatoie.
[119] ‘Infra’: should perhaps better be ‘between.’
[120] Per cagione che lo argento non versi.
[121] The sketch on p. 79 may be taken as illustrative of the
process.
CHAPTER XX. ANOTHER AND A
BETTER WAY OF CASTING.
The Florentine gold-beaters used to have another way of casting,
which was called casting in the mortar,[122] for so was the furnace
called in which the casting was done. You take a number of bands of
clean iron[123] about half a finger thick and as broad as a thumb, and
weave them into a round shape, about one & one-third cubits high,
sometimes smaller, sometimes larger than this in accordance with
the quantity of the work you have to cast. It must be interlaced into a
domed shape to about two-thirds of its circumference, and from the
iron that remains over you make four legs on which the furnace is to
stand. Note that where these legs commence you must make a
grating, the openings of which are wide enough to allow of one finger
and a half being put through them, this serves as a base for the
furnace. And the furnace itself you construct by means of fashioning
a cake of earth mixed with cloth shearings,[124] the kind of earth that
glass-blowers use for their furnaces. Then you take a terra cotta tile
and lay it on the base of your furnace, and strew a little ash over it.
On this you stand your crucible filled with as much silver as it can
hold, and set to work very carefully, much as you did in the previous
method. You fill the furnace with coal, light it and leave it to get red
by itself, for thus left, the draught will produce a tremendous fire, and
you will cast better so than if you made fire with your bellows. I must
warn you too, to make your crucibles out of clean iron, for
earthenware ones would easily crack; this iron should however be
coated over inside & out with a paste of clean ashes about half a
finger in thickness, which must dry well before the silver is put in.
Some take for this solution clay mixed with cloth parings, & the one
is as good as the other. For the rest you proceed with your casting
just as I showed you above.
FOOTNOTES:
[122] Fondere nel Mortaio: perhaps better, mortar casting.
[123] Lame di ferro stietto.
[124] Cimatura.
CHAPTER XXI. YET ANOTHER
FURNACE. SUCH A ONE AS I
MADE IN THE CASTLE OF ST.
ANGELO AT THE TIME OF THE
SACK OF ROME.
These kinds of furnaces are the best of all. It was dire necessity that
taught me how to make them, because I had absolutely no means at
hand for doing my work. Being in a confined place, where I had to
set about using my wits, I made a virtue of necessity. I broke the
bricks out of a room, & with these bricks I set to work to construct a
furnace in the form of a bake-oven.[125] The bricks were arranged
alternately, so that between every brick was an opening of about two
fingers wide, & as I went on I narrowed them in upwards.[126] When I
had raised it about a cubit’s height from the ground, I constructed[127]
a grating of shovel handles and spears which I broke. And from this
point I continued building the furnace up and round to about one-
and-a-quarter cubit’s height, narrowing it in towards the top. Then I
found an iron ladle which they were by chance using in the kitchen,
& as it was pretty big I caked it round with a paste of ash & pounded
clay,[128] and filled it with as much gold as it would contain, and gave
it the full fire straight off as there was no danger of the crucible
cracking. When the first lot was cast I filled it up again, and so on, till
I had melted up about 100 lbs. of gold. The whole thing went very
easily, and ’tis about the best and simplest method you can employ.
Perhaps you think that I ought to go and give you a diagram of it all
here in my book, but I fancy that anyone who knows anything at all
about the craft of founding will perfectly well understand by
description. So that’s enough for furnaces.
FOOTNOTES:
[125] Fornello a foggia di una meta.

[126] E cosi lo andai ristringendo.
[127] Io lo avevo congegnato drento di modo che.
[128] Terra mescolata.
CHAPTER XXII. HOW TO FASHION
VESSELS OF GOLD AND SILVER,
LIKEWISE FIGURES AND VASES,
& ALL THAT PERTAINS TO THAT
BRANCH OF THE CRAFT CALLED
‘GROSSERIA.’
When the silver is cast in the manner described above, in the first
furnace, it is as well to let it cool on the iron plates above mentioned
because by so doing it contracts better.[129] When it is cold you clean
off the rough edges from around it. This done, you make a
scraper[130] about two-and-a-half fingers broad, & it should be
blunted; to it you attach a stick shaped with two handles, and these
are distant about half a cubit from the point of the scraper. Note that
the scraper should be bent about three fingers,[131] and such as is
used for sgraffito work, graffiare.[132] With this scraper the silver plate
is to be planed, and in this wise: You make your silver plate red hot &
place it on one of the iron plates you used for casting it on; fastening
it on tightly with certain iron tools used for nailing or fastening,[133]
then setting the handle of the scraper to your shoulder with your two
hands to the two handles that you fastened to it, so that it comes to
be in the form of a cross, you pare off the surface of your silver plate
with very firm pressure till it is thoroughly clean.[134]
I won’t omit to tell you of a method I once learnt. Whilst in Paris I
used to work on the largest kind of silver work that the craft admits
of, and the most difficult to boot. I had in my employ many workmen,
and inasmuch as they very gladly learnt from me, so I was not above
learning from them; the plates I planed with such diligence gave
them cause for much marvelling; but, none the less, one charming

Vocabulary Strategy Training To Enhance Second Language Acquisition in English As A Foreign Language 1st Edition Andrés Canga Alonso

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Vocabulary Strategy Training To Enhance Second Language Acquisition in English As A Foreign Language 1st Edition Andrés Canga Alonso

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Vocabulary Strategy Training to

Enhance Second Language Acquisition

Speaking in a Second Language 1st Edition Rosa Alonso

The Cambridge Guide to Learning English as a Second

Researching Creativity in Second Language Acquisition

First Language Bidialectism in Second Language

Teaching and Testing Second Language Pragmatics and

Critical Reflections on Data in Second Language

Reflective Development through the Care Model

Second Language Acquisition of Turkish 1st Edition Ay■e

María Pilar Agustín Llach

By María Pilar Agustín Llach and Andrés Canga Alonso

This book first published 2020

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

ISBN (10): 1-5275-4113-4

Glossary of Terms .................................................................................. 101

Appendix A ............................................................................................ 105

Appendix B............................................................................................. 107

Answer Key ............................................................................................ 111

vocabulary to function in the foreign language is pre-conditional for

1 Multiple choice, synonym, antonym or hyperonym matching, collocations,

learning strategies, which fairly consisted of list-making and short-term

STRATEGIES, SLA, AND VOCABULARY

This first part intends to review the existing literature related to

1.1. Learning strategies and learner autonomy

Learning strategies are operations employed by the learner to aid the

According to this definition, learning strategies allow learners to store

Affective strategies serve to regulate emotions, motivation and

Examples of these strategies are planning, evaluating, obtaining and

a given situation but can be transferred to other situations when relevant

1.2. Strategies and SLA

1. using the senses to understand and remember,

2 Tactic means: “a specific, “ground level” application of a strategy or

metastrategy by a particular learner in a given setting for a certain, real-life

1. activating supportive emotions, beliefs and attitudes, and

Affective language learning strategies are central to SLA because they

place. Strategic competence performs assessment, planning, and execution

A well-developed strategic competence will aid the process of foreign

macro-strategies that emerged in this study provides reassurance that at

1.3. Vocabulary learning strategies

effort to facilitate and maximize this process will be welcomed by teachers

Ma (2009) also proposed a process-oriented classification of vocabulary

1. A new word is encountered through different contexts

1.3.1. Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)

of VLS which, in line with Nations’ (2001) proposal are 1) require

1. Strategies of formal vocabulary learning and practising, used in

Researchers have tackled the examination of strategy use when

Table 1.2. Preference list of vocabulary learning strategies

Vocabulary learning strategy No. of students

to associations or transformation of the new information, or those

(1997) looked at the relationship between, among other variables VLS,

regulation and develop an alternative approach to exploring strategic

- When learning vocabulary, I have special techniques to achieve my

- I have special techniques to keep my concentration focused.

Concerning satiation control, learners are asked to reflect about:

- Once the novelty of learning vocabulary is gone, I easily become

- When I feel stressed about vocabulary learning, I know how to reduce

- When I feel stressed about vocabulary learning, I simply want to give

Finally, regarding environment control, learners have to reflect about their

- When I am studying vocabulary and the learning environment becomes

1.3.2. Vocabulary communication strategies