Being able to speak a foreign language fluently can seem daunting to students introduced to a completely new language.
Employing metacognitive, cognitive or social and effective learning strategies often bring out effective positive results when trying to pick up a second/third language.
Metacognitive strategy refers to when students are aware of their own thinking and learning and can plan, monitor and evaluate what they learn. Inference is a common metacognitive strategy. Students make use of context clues present in the language to decipher difficult sentences.
Vocabulary learning exercises, completing exercises and working towards task completion all fall under the aegis of cognitive strategy. Students typically already have a basic hold on the language and are progressing towards metacognitive learning.
If students mostly interact with teachers and are unable to tackle solo assignments, they are said to be using social and effective strategies. Typically beginner language learners figure among these students who still rely on techniques such as repetition and translating to memorize new words and phrases.
Teachers ensure their students become effective language learners by pushing them towards using metacognitive learning strategies. If the teachers themselves don’t have a grasp on these strategies, it may pose difficulties in language acquisition for the students.