The strategy in the lesson we have just observed is an example of what Chamot and
O’Malley (1994) call metacognitive strategies, strategies that are used to plan,
monitor, and evaluate a learning task. Other examples of metacognitive strategies
include arranging the conditions that help one learn (What conditions help you learn
best?), setting long and short-term goals (What do you want to learn?), and checking
one’s comprehension during listening or reading (What have you understood?).
Chamot and O’Malley identify two other categories. One is cognitive strategies,
which involve learners interacting and manipulating what is to be learned. Examples
include replaying a word or phrase mentally to ‘listen’ to it again, outlining and
summarizing what has been learned from reading or listening, and using keywords
(remembering a new target language word by associating it with a familiar word or by
creating a visual image of it). The other category is social/affective strategies where
learners interact with other persons or ‘use affective control to assist learning.’
Examples include creating situations to practice the target language with others, using
self-talk, where one thinks positively and talks oneself through a difficult task, and
cooperating or working with others to share information, obtain feedback, and
complete a task. This last strategy, cooperation, gives us a convenient bridge to the
next topic.
Cooperative Learning
Cooperative learning (sometimes called collaborative learning) essentially involves
students learning from each other in groups. But it is not the group configuration that
makes cooperative learning distinctive; it is the way that students and teachers work
together that is important. As we have just seen, with learning strategy training, the
teacher helps students learn how to learn more effectively. In cooperative learning,
teachers teach students collaborative or social skills so that they can work together
more effectively. Indeed, cooperation is not only a way of learning, but also a theme
to be communicated about and studied (Jacobs 1998). Let us see how this is
accomplished.