A01 cohe4573 01 se fm. Qxd

performing the speech acts. For instance, at the moment that you as an L2
speaker are planning your request for directions to the airport, you would
presumably use planning, one of the metacognitive strategies (along with
monitoring and evaluating). The moment that you shift the focus so that it is
on the language material to use in the request (e.g., appropriate vocabulary,
verb forms, or sentence structure), the need would now be for cognitive
strategies to help you retrieve and produce these words and forms. The
speaker may, of course, return to the use of metacognitive strategies this
time using the strategy of monitoring, in order to check for how the selection
of material is going. The request would involve social strategies when your
focus shifts to whom you will choose to ask for directions and how you will
3
Cohen (2007b).
4
Rubin (1975); see also Griffiths (2008).
5
For example, Cohen and Weaver (2006).
6
For example, Vandergrift (2003).
7
For example, Cohen et al. (1998); Grenfell and Harris (1999); Harris and Grenfell
(2008); Macaro (2001).

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S T R A T E G I E S F O R L E A R N I N G A N D P E R F O R M I N G S P E E C H A C T S
2 2 9
go about asking this person (depending on the age, gender, and presumed
social status of the listener). Then, if you chose to avoid the possible anxiety
associated with asking directions from a stranger in your L2, but rather fol-
low a map exclusively, this would constitute an affective strategy.
Now that we have looked at language learner strategies in general, let us
take a look at a suggested taxonomy of strategies intended specifically for
the learning and performance of L2 speech acts.
A taxonomy of learner strategies for acquiring
speech acts
The strategies in this taxonomy are drawn from a larger and more detailed
taxonomy appearing in the literature.
8
Sources for strategies in this taxonomy
include the general learner strategy literature, the speech act literature 
(as illustrated in Chapter 4), and insights from recent strategy research 
conducted to enhance college students’ learning of Japanese L2 speech acts
through a strategies-based online curriculum
9
(see also Chapter 11) and
from a language and culture study abroad project.
10
While explicit strategy
instruction has been found to benefit language development in general,
11
its
application to the learning and use of speech acts at present is still limited.
One recent application was in an investigation of speech acts strategy 
intervention for study-abroad students in Spanish- and French-speaking
countries.
12
This taxonomy constitutes a hypothesized list. While there is a good
likelihood that these strategies contribute to enhancing learners’ pragmatic
ability, there is as yet no certainty based on empirical evidence. The tax-
onomy includes (1) strategies for the initial learning of speech acts, (2) strat-
egies for using the speech act material that has already been learned to some
extent, and (3) learners’ strategies for planning, monitoring, and evaluating
their pragmatic strategy choices (the metacognitive strategies mentioned
above).
Note that some of these strategies, if phrased in an age-appropriate 
manner, could be performed effectively by young learners. For example,
they could perform a simple survey with competent speakers of the language
and report their findings back to class. This could really help to bring the
language alive for these young learners.
8
Cohen (2005).
9
Cohen and Ishihara (2005).
10
Cohen et al. (2005); Paige et al. (2004).
11
See, for example, Cohen et al. (1998); Dörnyei (1995); Nakatani (2005).
12
Cohen and Shively (2007).

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