ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the impact of L2 strategy instruction by reviewing selected studies in the different skill areas, and then focuses on a study conducted at the University of Minnesota involving strategy instruction in speaking. In that study, 55 intermediate L2 learners were either participants in a strategy instruction intervention or were comparison students receiving the regular ten-week language course. The strategy instruction group received metacognitive instruction, focusing on strategy use for oral communication, whereas the control group received only the normal communicative course, with no explicit focus on strategies associated with communication. During the first week of class, all subjects completed the 80-item Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL). The SILL was re-administered to all the subjects at the end of the term. Data obtained from the pre- and posttest speaking task battery were used to determine the extent of student improvement in speaking proficiency. The statistical method used for analyzing the data was analysis of covariance using SPSS.
