This volume—the latest in a flurry of recent book-length treatments of second-language (L2) strategies research (e.g., Cohen & Macaro, Reference Cohen and Macaro2007; Pavičić Takač, 2008; Wakamoto, Reference Wakamoto2009)—provides the first comprehensive overview of the many issues found at the intersection of strategies and (broadly defined) independent language learning. This collection of chapters focuses especially on distance learning (e.g., online courses like those taught at Open University by 10 of the book’s 21 contributors), a topic that is timely yet that has been largely ignored in the strategies literature as well as in the field of SLA more generally.
The 16 chapters in this book cover a wide range of topics related to L2 strategies and SLA, taking on unapologetically distinct theoretical and practical perspectives. In Part 1, chapters 1–3 describe key constructs and models of L2 strategy use in an attempt to “clear the theoretical ground” (p. 37) and lay a solid foundation for the remainder of the book. Brief forays are also made into more practical matters, but these are inserted almost more as asides to the more theoretical and research-oriented objectives. Part 2 describes strategies across different skills (e.g., reading, writing, vocabulary) for independent language learners. Chapters in this section, although informative and especially useful for those less familiar with L2 research, might have benefited from greater economy in covering the more general histories and backgrounds of research on different skills, opting instead to devote greater attention (and pages) to research on yet unresolved and underresearched topics. The final section, Part 3, discusses a set of unique and highly specialized issues (e.g., affect and strategies, self-correction and strategies, tandem learning). Although some readers may question the choice of subject matter in this section and argue for or against the inclusion of particular topics, the six chapters of this section constitute an asset to the domain of strategies research for making significant and original inroads into relatively uncharted territory and for raising many questions about the distinctive situation of independent language learners.
In addition to a diverse account of the literature, the 16 chapters in this book contain numerous direct and indirect indications of areas in which further research is needed: the relationship between feedback and strategy development and between affect and strategy use, studies of autonomy in non-Western countries, and the use of social and affective strategies by language learners in online environments. Many departures from the norm—namely, emphasis on qualitative research methods and reference to the relevance of sociocultural theory to the use and development of L2 strategies—are also welcome. Nevertheless, there are also several discussions and reviews of basic L2 strategy research repeated throughout the book. Among these occasionally inconsistent and conflicting redundancies that most often involve terminology (but also occur with strategy classification schemes—mentioned in almost every chapter—and methods of strategy instruction), however, there is an unintentional but valuable irony: “Definitional fuzziness” (Tseng, Dörnyei, & Schmitt, Reference Tseng, Dörnyei and Schmitt2006, p. 79) has long since been one of the major problems of L2 strategies research. In addition to highlighting an issue that has obstructed progress in this area and even cast doubt on its legitimacy (see Gao, Reference Gao2007), the editorial decision to allow certain discussions and themes to overlap enables individual chapters to be read as stand-alone articles, making them more accessible and convenient for researchers and for assigned course readings.
In short, this book succeeds in making a strong case for greater research on strategies in independent language learning contexts. Although in their efforts, the contributors appear to have occasionally sacrificed depth for breadth, the individual and collective contributions to this volume make it clear that this area is both a theoretically relevant and practically worthwhile pursuit for the greater SLA community.
