Situated Strategy Use in Cooperative Le...

Forty years after the first mention of language learning strategies, the study at hand takes a fresh and untraditional approach towards the analysis of learning strategies. Instead of eliciting general trends from a large sample size, it conducts an in-depth investigation of the learning strategies applied by five EFL learners in cooperative open learning situations. A careful selection of an appropriate research environment and a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods foster a holistic perception of strategic learning situations. Learners as the agents of purposeful strategy application are at the centre of strategic learning and surrounded by a multitude of factors that influence them. These factors belong to a flexible and dynamic construct. They are engaged in continuous interaction with each other and the learner at the core of the intricate system to varying degrees. The current study examines single learning situations in depth in an effort to comprehend the mindboggling complexity that underlies strategic behaviour in language learners.