Communication strategies for developing the learner’s autonomy

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPING THE LEARNER’S AUTONOMY

Abstract

The main aim of any student who learns a foreign language is ultimately to be able to communicate with people speaking that language. The paper presents some of the difficulties the learners encounter in a foreign language. The teacher has to use different types of communication strategies and encourage the sense of responsibility on the part of the learners who understand the strategies they employ in acquiring the language skills. The learners need adequate opportunities to put the new language into practice in a free context, and to take more risks in dealing with it. They should become active, confident, proficient and autonomous communicators

1. Introduction

Communication strategies and the learner’s autonomy have become themes of great interest at national and international conferences and in professional journals for a couple of years. We all need either to express our feelings, ideas and opinions or to share all these with people around us. All these express our natural need to communicate. In this respect learning a new language means to be able to communicate with people speaking that language. As teachers, we have both the duty and the responsibility to guide our students in the learning process to develop their communication strategies to become proficient communicators. It is also extremely important to encourage a sense of responsibility on the part of the learners and to implement teaching-learning activities to build up the learners’ autonomy. The learners need to be able to take control over their own learning, to learn independently without neglecting the teacher’s impact on their development towards autonomy.

2. Learning strategies

Strategies are plans of actions to achieve a long-term goal. The concept of learning strategies is a more general term than that of study skills used in the research studies and related to the foreign language teaching. The origin of the word strategy is to be found in the Greek word “ strategia” which means “generalship” (where “stratos” means “army” and “ago” means “leading”).
Many researchers have defined the concept of learning strategies from different points of view. Language learning strategies can be defined as choices the learners consciously make to manage their learning. Rebecca Oxford defined learning strategies as: “operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information.” The definition is further expanded and includes: “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferrable to new situations” (Oxford, 1990, p. 8). As the definition clearly expresses the learning strategies are actions assumed by the learner. His role in the process of learning is of maximum importance. The learner becomes responsible of the strategies used, of the concrete activities practiced, in the learning situations, and of the risks taking to transfer the learning strategies to new situations with other learning tasks.

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