Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language

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.

Strategies in Learning and Using a Second language will be an invaluable resource for language teachers and researchers, as well as for administrators of second language programmes and for students of applied linguistics.

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).