Language learning strategy research and modern foreign language teaching and learning in England

Abstract

This paper addresses language learner strategy research. It arises from two sources: firstly, an individual background in research and writing about Language Learning Strategy research in the context of Modern Foreign Language Learning and Teaching in the UK over the past decades; secondly, a newly constituted British based interest group dedicated to this area of applied linguistics - UK Project on Language Learner Strategies (UKPOLLS). The aim of this SIG paper is to introduce and present the group and its interests. I shall begin by sketching out the international background of Language Learner Strategy research in the context of its implied relevancy to modern foreign language learning and teaching in the UK. I shall refer to a developing tradition of concern with language teaching methodology and why language learner strategy research has been of particular interest to this group of researchers. Various empirical studies arising from the work of UKPOLLS will be referred to with the aim of setting an agenda of issues, practical implications and current research preoccupations. The paper also considers the impact of language learning strategy research on language policy in the UK; in particular, the case of the Key Stage 3 strategy for secondary schools MFLs teaching will be addressed in terms of its theoretical rationale, its place in a broader language curriculum, and its eventual implementation. My aim is two-fold: to establish and explain the interests of UKPOLLS, its research activity, and it future aims in terms of language policy reform in the UK; and to define a particular UK-based character of this area of research in terms of contextual issues and methodology.

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ORCID for Michael Grenfell: orcid.org/0000-0002-2038-0317

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