Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language

Strategies in Learning and Using a Second Language provides a wide-ranging account of the strategies people deploy to learn additional languages and to communicate through them. Fully updated, this third edition draws on collaborative insights to address recent developments in artificial intelligence, digital learning, learner engagement, and multilingual education.

The volume combines theory with practical examples and research from a range of educational and multilingual settings. The authors examine how bilingual and multilingual learners choose the language in which they think, how test takers approach different assessment tasks, and how researchers can investigate strategic behavior through interviews, questionnaires, observation, verbal report, digital diaries, and computer-use tracking. It also reviews evidence on strategy instruction and offers detailed guidance on how teachers can help learners identify, practice, evaluate, and transfer strategies. Additionally, chapter-specific glossaries and online support materials encourage a learning experience that readers can personalize according to their proficiency level and individual needs. Building on key concepts, the book shows how strategies operate across the skill areas, such as listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, grammar, translation, and test taking. It demonstrates how strategic behavior is influenced by the learners’ characteristics, motivation, style preferences, and language proficiency level, as well as by the nature of the specific language task and by the language learning and use context.

This book is a valuable resource for students, researchers, teacher educators, and language teachers seeking to understand and support more effective, reflective, and independent language learning.