ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses attention on multiple approaches to gathering data on language learner strategies and especially on those approaches that do not seem to be used in studies frequently appearing in the major journals. It provides an in-depth discussion of one of the six approaches, namely, verbal report. The chapter starts by contrasting the three forms of verbal report self-revelation, self-observation, and self-report. It is about the choices the researcher makes in trying to collect data on language learning and use strategies. Observational methods rely on participant or nonparticipant observers to produce the data whether based on structured observation schedules, on ethnographic field notes, or as a result of other methods. Recollective studies involve thinking back to some prior language experience and attempting to reconstruct what it was like from the perspective of the present time. Such studies constitute a distinct method of strategy assessment. Every assessment method offers unique advantages as well as disadvantages.
