Types and frequency of use of strategies in the learning of English as a foreign language

Abstract

The use of learning strategies in foreign language teaching, seen as organized and potentially conscious and intentional activities that enable or facilitate communication and learning, has emerged as one of the most important goals for success in mastering a new language. This study describes the typology and frequency of use of strategies in English learning as a foreign language in the Distance University Language Centre of the UNED. Among the conclusions, we can highlight that the arithmetic means are rather close for all the strategies tested, although most students expressed a greater use of metacognitive and cognitive strategies than of the affective and social kind. Conse­quently, these results indicate the need for further promotion of the emotional and social aspects involved in the development of a foreign language through innovative experiences which encourage them using the new technologies as a resource.

Keywords

• estrategias de aprendizaje, enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras, adquisición de lenguas extranjeras