REVIEWS 619

Andrew D. Cohen and Ernesto Macaro: LANGUAGE LEARNER

STRATEGIES: THIRTY YEARS OF RESEARCH AND PRACTICE. Oxford
University Press, 2007.

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The long journey of 30 years of research on language learner strategies (LLSs)
requires a non-parochial, thorough, critical, and self-reflective mission in the
form of a presentable publication by specialists in the field. Edited by two
leading experts in the field, A. D. Cohen and E. Macaro, Language Learner
Strategies has fulfilled such a mission extremely well. It is a timely publication
which will help many of us who are interested in understanding how language
learning happens; it will also help those who criticize LLS research to abandon
qualms about how LLS research is conducted, and how the data are analyzed,
interpreted, and documented. The 12 chapters in this book are anchored in
two parts. Lucidly and succinctly, they address the various concerns of the
field.
Part One addresses issues, theories, and frameworks of LLS research and
includes seven chapters. Chapter 1, ‘Claims and Critiques’ by Greenfell and
Macaro, is a very endeavouring move in making explicit issues and criticisms
that are levelled at LLS research. It traces the historical development of the
concept of LLS through the pioneering work of J. Rubin, H. Stern, N. Naiman,
and colleagues. It also highlights four key areas that were specifically addressed
by the research community of 23 scholars from around the world who met at
Oxford University in 2004. The chapter sets the stage very well for Part One,
which was designed to provide the history and background to the field.
Cohen’s Chapter 2, ‘Coming to Terms with Language Learner Strategies’,
reports empirical findings from a survey of work done by leading LLS experts
and researchers on various aspects of LLS, including key definitions and future
directions. Since the book as a whole is a collection of surveys in the field of the
last 30 years, it can be quite tedious, but Cohen’s chapter complements this
with a fresh perspective.
Despite other scholars’ reminders that the socio-cultural and the psycho-
logical perspectives are ‘incommensurable’ (Zuengler and Miller 2006: 35),
that they inhabit ‘parallel worlds’ (Zuengler and Miller 2006: 50), and that
the ontological and epistemological underpinnings are ‘incorrectable’
(Canagaraja 2006: 28) in the field of Studies of Second Language Aquisition
(SLA) and Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL),
Oxford and Schramm argue in Chapter 3 that, instead of separating the ‘two
worlds’, LLS researchers should take stock of their strengths and join forces to
move the field forward, as they have already done (Oxford 2003). They con-
tend that the ongoing psychological/socio-cultural paradigm war is unneces-
sary and denies us opportunities for synergy that might lead to more powerful
and useful theory and research on LLS. Takeuchi et al.’s Chapter 4 reviews
research on LLS along the line mentioned above, taking into consideration
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both modifiable and non-modifiable variables such as age, gender, career ori-
entation, and personality. White et al.’s Chapter 5 reflects on the research
methods employed in LLS research, it explores methodological choices in
new learning environments. Oxford et al.’s Chapter 6 highlights the negligence
of L2 grammar learning strategies, while Chapter 7 by Rubin et al. reports on

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intervention studies in the use of strategies by young and adult language
learners.
The multifaceted and controversial history of LLS is reflected meticulously
in the five chapters of Part Two. In it, the LLS research literature as applied to
specific learning tasks and skills is reviewed systematically and critically.
In Chapter 8, Macaro et al. identify three important themes in research on
listening strategies. In the next four chapters (Chapters 9–12), Erler and
Finkbeiner, Kakatani and Goh, Manchon et al., and Nyikos and Fan review
research on reading strategies, oral communication strategies, writing strate-
gies, and vocabulary strategies, respectively.
The editors’ last section, ‘Conclusion: LLS and the Future: Resolving the
Issues’, highlights many of the key areas presented in the book. The editors
themselves become quite modest and occasionally prissy when restating their
claims about the innovative nature of the book on the basis of two fundamen-
tal re-conceptualizations of what their edited book can offer the readers
(p. 275). Guided by self-reflection, they conclude the book with four major
themes that are believed to be essential for the sustainable development of the
field: ‘LLS and the Future’, ‘LLS as a Community of Practice’, ‘The Unit of
Analysis and Its Relationship to Learning Success’, and ‘An Agenda for
Further Research’. What is most important to anyone who is concerned
about the future development of LLS research as an intellectual inquiry is
the editors’ efforts to come to terms with ‘units of analysis’. One of the
major criticisms levelled against LLS research has been the absence of a con-
sistent unit of analysis. The editors are candid about the challenges of provid-
ing a uniform definition for ‘strategies’ and of what exactly is entailed in such a
definition, especially since researchers are divided over this. They conclude
that there is a general consensus that strategies are environment- and/or
task-dependent and that future work should take an inclusive approach by
adopting a ‘small strategy within a larger framework’—conceptualization
(Macaro 2006). The tricky and fundamental issue of how to deal with
the unit of analysis is treated in greater detail, when the editors propose a
list of 10 ‘next issues’ (p. 279). They range from the role of the teacher
to the relationship between learners’ strategy choice and learning style
preferences.
In the spirit of openness to critique, self-reflection and re-appraisal instead of
taking a ‘parochial protectionism’ (p. 276), Cohen and Macaro, in their intro-
ductory and concluding sections, present succinctly what has been achieved in
the book. They invite the readers to ‘judge whether the book represents a
coherent auto-critique and theoretical synthesis that points the way to the
future of LLS research’ (p. 5). Upon reading the book, I have to salute the
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editors on their success in accomplishing such a formidable task, which builds

on their previous work (e.g. Cohen 1998). With the fundamental goal of
improving the teaching and learning of second languages, LLS research is
known to have made great strides forward in the past 30 years, and with
a major purpose of critiquing, reflecting on, and re-appraising the field, the

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edited book has achieved its objective of providing a unique and timely
re-examination of key issues surrounding this body of research. Just as the
book cover says, Language Learner Strategies offers ‘an invaluable overview of
what is known from empirical research about listening, reading, speaking,
writing, vocabulary, and grammar strategies, and proposes a clear and focused
research agenda for the next decades’.
Although I am fully aware of the challenges, it is a pity that much of the
research reviewed in the book is restricted to contexts other than Asia, which
houses the largest number of foreign language learners. It is especially the case
for China, where millions of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners
struggle for success and the LLS research literature has amassed in the last
two decades. If more studies documented in Asian languages had been
reviewed, the book would have represented the field truly proportionately.
Notwithstanding the minor imperfections, taken as a whole, Language
Learner Strategies is really a positive response to criticisms of LLS research.
In this connection, many of the chapters further the editors’ mission to estab-
lish future-oriented goals in the areas of conceptual, theoretical, and method-
ological rigour. Interested readers who are looking for guides and inspirations
can easily access this information. They can also find a close link between the
past and the future in the book, as intended by the editors. The book can be
said to have marked the end of an exploratory era and ushered in a new era of
theoretical depth, empirical rigour, and practical utility. It offers its readers a
monumental collection of work, with contributions by experts in the field who
reflect on 30 years of LLS research and practice. It seeks to chart a clear direc-
tion not only for those of us in the field but also for those newcomers who,
inspired by LLS research, aspire to innovate language teaching and to optimize
student learning. I am ready to recommend this book to academics, research-
ers, and graduate students who are interested in helping students to improve
performance in second/foreign language learning.

Reviewed by Lawrence Jun Zhang

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
doi:10.1093/applin/amp050 Advance Access published on 30 November 2009

REFERENCES
Canagarajah, S. 2006. ‘TESOL at forty: What are
the issues?’ TESOL Quarterly 40/1: 9–34.
Cohen, A. D. 1998. Strategies in Learning and
Using a Second Language. Longman.
Macaro, E. 2006. ‘Strategies for language learn-
ing and language use: Revising the theoretical
framework,’ Modern Language Journal 90/3:
320–37.
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Oxford, R. 2003. ‘Toward a more systematic Zuengler, J. and E. R. Miller. 2006. ‘Cognitive
model of L2 learner autonomy,’ and sociocultural perspectives: Two parallel
in D. Palfreyman and R. C. Smith (eds): SLA worlds?,’ TESOL Quarterly 40/1: 35–58.
Learner Autonomy across Cultures. Palgrave,
pp. 75–91.

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