STRATEGY
A technique adopted (a) in order to solve an immediate or long term problem or (b) in order to achieve learning. In the context of language acquisition and use, it is important to distinguish two types:
& Communication strategies (see separate entry): techniques for overcoming obstacles to communication. Example: an aphasia patient suffering from vocabulary loss, a dyslexia sufferer, a child in the process of acquiring its first language or a foreign language learner might find it difficult to retrieve a certain word and might substitute an approximate alternative. Some commentators include communication strategies in a wider category of strategies of use. This also embraces retrieval strategies (ways of locating linguistic information in long-term memory), rehearsal strategies (mental dialogues in preparation for real life encounters) and cover strategies (ways of concealing a lack of linguistic or general knowledge, perhaps by resorting to formulaic utterances).
&Learning strategies: techniques for committing linguistic information to memory. Example: the aphasic or L2 learner might form an association between a problematic word and a more familiar one that is similar in form. They might link PAIR with pear, and fix the connection in memory by forming a mental image of two pears. The aim would be to ensure that the difficult word was retrieved more easily in future.
There has been discussion as to the extent to which strategies are conscious and/or available to report. It has not been helped by the tendency of some commentators to conflate the two strategy types. One solution is to view learning strategies as often more intentional than communication strategies, given that the latter often represent an unpremeditated response to an immediate problem of communication.
See also: Communication strategy
Further reading: Cohen (1998); Faerch and Kasper (1983); Kasper and Kellerman (1997); O’Malley and Chamot (1990)
