Raising Awareness of Strategy Use in Speaking

This research uses Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory and Halliday’s systemic function linguistics to explore raising awareness of strategy use on second language learners’ reported strategy use and oral language production. The study involves two groups of advanced adult ESL learners. The experimental group members received a strategy use awareness-raising session and engaged in task-specific reflection about their strategy use immediately after their weekly speaking activities. The comparison group members did not receive a strategy use awareness-raising session, but engaged in freewheeling reflection immediately after their identical weekly speaking activities. Research findings from the quantitative and qualitative data shed light on the efficacy of heightening learners’ awareness of strategy use through in-class awareness-raising sessions and post-speaking activity strategy-specific reflection. In pedagogical terms, the findings offer instructors important information about language learners' strategic behaviours and about how language-learning classrooms can incorporate reflective practice that enables learners to develop a metacognitive awareness of their ongoing learning.