Gao, Xuesong (Andy) <br/><br/>
Strategic Language Learning :  the Roles of Agency and Context / 
Xuesong (Andy) Gao. 
 - 1st ed. 
 - Toronto :  Multilingual Matters,  2010. 
 - xi, 179 p. :  ill. ;  21 cm. 
 - Second Language Acquisition.  1754-2642 .
<br/><br/> Volume 49 in the Second Language Acquisition series.  
<br/><br/>Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-176) and index. About the Author: "Xuesong (Andy) Gao is an assistant professor at the Department of English, Hong Kong Institute of Education. His research interests include language learning strategy, learners' learning narratives and teacher development. He has published over twenty journal articles and book chapters in these areas." (Book Cover) 
<br/><br/>"This monograph reports on a longitudinal inquiry into mainland Chinese undergraduates’ language learning experiences in an English medium university in a multilingual setting with a focus on their strategic language learning efforts. This book examines the issue as to what extent language learners’ strategic learning efforts depend on their ‘choice’, if ‘the element of choice’ is the defining characteristic of language learners’ strategic learning behaviour. The inquiry, using a qualitative and ethnographic research approach, reveals dynamic interaction between learners’ agency and contextual conditions underlying the participants’ strategic learning process. Such understanding informs pedagogical efforts to foster individual learners’ capacity for strategic learning and their capacities in opening up and sustaining a social learning space for exercising their strategic learning capacity or utilizing their strategic learning knowledge. In this engaging study combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches, Gao makes extensive use of a sociocultural research perspective to investigate second-language learner strategies. With theoretically-grounded rigor, he demonstrates how contextual realities (such as the threat of a given exam) mediate the language learning and use strategies of college students. A highlight of the study is his comparison of the same learners’ strategies and discourse about their experiences in studying in mainland China and then at an English-medium university in Hong Kong. What lends credibility to the study is that the author himself experienced challenges similar to those of his subjects, and that he was a participant observer by rooming for a year in a student dorm with one of his subjects.- Andrew Cohen, Second Language Studies, University of Minnesota, USA TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. Introduction<br/>  Overview of the Inquiry<br/>  Methodological Approach<br/>  Enhancing Trustworthiness<br/>  Organization of the Book 2. Towards a Sociocultural Perspective on Strategic Learning<br/>  LLS Research: A Brief Review<br/>  The Shifting Language Learning Research Landscape<br/>  Sociocultural Perspectives and LLS Research<br/>  Sociocultural Perspectives in Language Learning Research<br/>  Sociocultural Perspectives and Empirical LLS Research<br/>  Criticisms of Sociocultural LLS Research<br/>  Structure and Agency in LLS Research<br/>  Conclusion 3. Mainland Chinese Students' Migration to Hong Kong  Education on the Chinese Mainland<br/>  Learning of English on the Chinese Mainland<br/>  Mainland Chinese Students in Hong Kong<br/>  Conclusion 4. On the Chinese Mainland<br/>  Study in Phase 1 (August - September 2004)<br/>  Participants' Strategy Use on the Chinese Mainland<br/>  Discourses about Learning English<br/>  Mediating Agents<br/>  Cultural Artefacts (Examinations)<br/>  Agency in the Participants' Strategy Use<br/>  Mediation of Contextual Conditions<br/>  An Understanding of the Participants' Emerging Strategy Use<br/>  Conclusion 5. Learning English in Hong Kong<br/>  Hong Kong for Mainland Chinese Students<br/>  The Study (Phase 3, April - July 2006)<br/>  Participants' Strategy Use<br/>  Participants' Discourses of Learning English<br/>  Contextual Mediation on the Participants' Strategy Use<br/>  Overall Learning Progress<br/>  Enhanced Agency<br/>  Contextual Mediation<br/>  Conclusion 6. Four Case Studies<br/>  The Longitudinal Follow-Up Study (September 2004 to July 2006)<br/>  Liu<br/>  Zhixuan<br/>  Yu<br/>  Mengshi<br/>  Context and Agency in the Participants' Narratives<br/>  Conclusion 7. Agency and Context in Strategic Learning<br/>  Overall Findings<br/>  Agency, Context and Strategic Learning<br/>  Recommendations<br/>  Further Research<br/>  Conclusion Appendix 1: Interview Guide for the Arriving Mainland Chinese Undergraduates Appendix 2: The Exit Interview Guide for Mainland Chinese Undergraduates 
<br/><br/><label>ISBN: </label>9781847692436 (pbk) 
<br/><br/><label>ISSN: </label>1754-2642 
<br/><br/><label>LCCN: </label>2009052775 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>English language--Study and teaching (Higher)--Chinese speakers.<br/>English language--Study and teaching (Higher)--China.<br/>Second language acquisition--Methodology.<br/>English language--Acquisition--Methodology.