As stated in the introductory chapter, this chapter describes and justifies the theoretical perspective that has informed the inquiry. The particular theoretical perspective draws on sociocultural language learning research, which utilizes a variety of approaches to learning, sharing an emphasis on the importance of social, political and cultural processes in mediating learners' cognitive and metacognitive processes (Sealey & Carter, 2004; Thorne, 2005; Zuengler & Miller, 2006). In doing so, I relate the need to have a sociocultural perspective in LLS research to the shifting paradigms in language learning research. In the following sections, I give a short account of LLS research, including the dominant theories, major research methods and problems in the field. Then I go on to explain what the adopted theoretical framework, developed from sociocultural perspectives on language learning, can contribute to LLS research. As language learners' strategy use is seen as resulting from the interaction between agency and contextual conditions in this new perspective, this chapter also examines a variety of positions that can be adopted in the debate of agency and context to inform research on learners' strategic learning efforts.

LLS Research: A Brief Review

In the last three decades, LLS has generated a mass of research from language learning specialists, driven by the assumption that language learning success is at least partially or potentially related to strategy use (Anderson, 2005; Chamot, 2001, 2004; Cohen, 1998; Ellis, 1994, 2004; Griffiths, 2004; Hurd & Lewis, 2008; Macaro, 2006; Oxford, 1989, 1993, 1996; Zhang, 2003). Given the size of the existing LLS research, I do not intend this section to be a comprehensive review but endeavour to highlight as concisely as possible the issues and tensions relevant to this particular study (for comprehensive reviews, see Anderson, 2005; Cohen & Macaro, 2007; McDonough, 1999; Oxford & Crookall, 1989).