Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language

"...this book is best characterised as Cohen's selected highlights of research on language learner strategies. Or, to use Cohen's own words, it is a "salad-bowl" (p. 2) with visible large chunks of vegetables. I would immediately add that it is not just any salad-bowl, it is a bowl of salad with a unique Cohen flavour, with precious ingredients rarely found elsewhere...this book does an excellent job in showcasing the best of what language learner strategies research has to offer today."
- Peter Yongqi GU, Senior Lecturer at the School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language examines what it takes to achieve long-term success in languages beyond the first language. Distinguishing language learning from language-use strategies, Andrew D. Cohen disentangles a morass of terminology to help the reader see what language strategies are and how they can enhance performance. Particular areas of research examined in the book include:
- links between the use of task-specific strategies and language performance
- how multilinguals verbalise their thoughts during language learning and use
- strategies that learners use in test-taking contexts
In this fully revised and substantially rewritten second edition, every chapter has been reworked, with material either updated or replaced. Entirely new material has also been developed based on examples of specific strategies supplied by actual learners, mostly drawn from a website featuring these strategies in the learning of Spanish grammar.

Andrew D. Cohen is a professor in phased retirement with the Program in Second Language Studies at the University of Minnesota. He has conducted research on language learner strategies for over 35 years and has himself studied 11 languages beyond his native English. His recent books include Language Learner Strategies (co-edited with Ernesto Macaro, 2007) and Teaching and Learning Pragmatics (co-authored with Noriko Ishihara, 2010).

1 Introduction 2 Coming to terms with second language learning and language use strategies 3 Methods for investigating language learning and language use strategies 4 The practice of strategy instruction 5 Research on strategy instruction 6 Strategies for choosing the language of thought 7 Strategy use in language assessment 8 Discussion and conclusions References