Cognitive Study On Strategies Employed By Ineffective Language Learners

The author aims at elaborating the ineffective mental process of the ILL by linking it to language learning strategies, with the sincere hope to shed some lights on second language teaching theoretically and practically.Learners involved in SLA (Second Language Acquisition), including ELLs (Effective Language Learners) and ILLs (Ineffective Language Learners), have been found to vary considerably in strategy use. However, studies by far are apparently inclined to the former ones while the latter are still kept in the shade, deserving more attention. This perspective hence is settled down as a point of penetration to the inherent language acquisition device of the ILL.Compared with general linguistics, coglinguistics distinguishes itself by treating cognition and learning in the context of the larger and more experimental body of theory and research that has evolved ,in cognitive psychology. Impressed by this strong point, the author brings all the research in the thesis into the cognitive framework, which is developed on the ground of information processing so that individuals are said to process information and learning strategies are viewed as complex cognitive skills that enhance comprehension, learning or retention of information. Within this context, learning strategies are classified into metacognitive strategy, cognitive strategy and social/affective strategy, while metacognitive strategies are higher order executive skills. Besides, all of them can be performed in a progression through three stages of learning - cognitive stage, associative stage and autonomous stage.Guided by the impressive theory, an account of the mental process of the ILL is offered by the way of case study so that the awareness can help them become more effective and independent. According to the characteristics of language learning, the author highlights a quantitative description of thestrategies employed by ineffective listeners, readers, communicators, writers, vocabulary-learners respectively, together with the theoretical explanation.From the studies, conclusions are tentatively drawn from two aspects. One of them can be found in quantitative analyses, which set the combination of effective strategies ILLs lack and need training. Meanwhile, the other qualitative analyses expound the features of ILL's mental processing system, which attribute the inefficiency to their weak memory structure, reliance on the data-driven approach and blocked channel for information processing. Finally, a cognitive model of strategy instruction is recommended for pedagogical purpose.