This volume is an in-depth, longitudinal study of a group of mainland Chinese undergraduates’ language learning experiences at an English-medium university in Hong Kong, with a special focus on their strategic language learning efforts. Gao’s study, which uses a qualitative and ethnographic research approach, attempts to explore the changes in the participants’ language learning strategy (LLS) use during their stay in Hong Kong and seeks to provide answers to the central research questions of to what extent language learners’ strategic learning efforts depend on their agency and of how their LLS use interacts with context realities.
The book is organized into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the study and explains its methodological approach. It is followed by chapter 2, which reviews research on LLS use and introduces the research framework which guides the inquiry—namely, a sociocultural perspective to LLS research. Chapter 3 sets the scene for the main study by describing the contextual conditions of mainland China and Hong Kong.
Chapter 4 presents findings about the research participants’ strategy use and their language learning experiences on mainland Chinese and analyses how their strategic learning efforts were mediated by contextual factors. In particular, Gao examines the dominant societal and traditional discourses in the participants’ motivational discourse about learning English and the mediation of cultural artifacts, such as high-stakes examinations, in their strategy use. This shows that each participant’s unique learning experiences were mediated by a particular set of individual social agents in their respective settings, such as the participants’ families, English teachers, and peer interaction. In chapter 5, the author looks at the participants’ shifting strategy use in learning English after their arrival in Hong Kong. He identifies shifting discourses about learning English among the participants’ shifting strategy use and points to the mediation of learning contexts on their strategy use and underlying processes. Gao observes that the participants were exposed to the mediation of societal discourses in Hong Kong, which emphasize the instrumental value of language learning, and that the rich material resources in the new learning contexts facilitated changes in the participants’ learning efforts and learning discourses. Chapter 6 goes on to present four longitudinal case studies of participants’ experiential accounts of learning English in Hong Kong. In particular, Gao highlights the strategic responses the participants gave to the benefits and constraints that they experienced while learning English in Hong Kong. Gao argues that contextual and institutional realities play an important role in mediating each case study participant’s experiences of language learning and strategy use in Hong Kong. Gao also suggests that the differences in the participants’ LLSs may be indicative of the role of agency in each participant’s learning. It is important to note that this chapter argues convincingly for the dynamic interaction between learners’ agency and contextual conditions in the participants’ strategic learning process, which is the central argument of the book.
In chapter 7, Gao summarizes the contributions that his study makes to LLS research and discusses the implications of the study for research and pedagogy. He argues that learning contexts can be seen to mediate the participants’ strategy use in learning English and the learning discourses underlying their strategy use. He also emphasizes the importance of learner agency in the participants’ LLS use, suggesting that learners’ strategy use is closely related to their exercise of power: the will and capacity to act otherwise. In closing, Gao calls for the need to open up and sustain a social learning space for language learners to exercise their strategic learning capacity and utilize their strategic learning knowledge.
Overall, Gao’s book is a timely and valuable addition to the growing body of research on SLA from a sociocultural perspective. This book in particular makes an important contribution to understanding the interaction between learner agency and social context in mediating the process of language learning. A particular strength of the book is that it is written in a clear and accessible manner throughout. In view of the rich and insightful analyses of the data and the use of a rigorous theoretical framework, it is clearly a book that deserves to be widely read and it is highly recommended to researchers in the areas of language learning, language learning strategy, sociocultural theory, and learners’ learning narratives.
