Understanding changes in Chinese students’ uses of learning strategies in China and Britain: A socio-cultural re-interpretation

This paper reports a re-interpretation of the data from an inquiry exploring changes in 14 Chinese learners’ uses of language learning strategies after they moved from mainland China to Britain. Using a socio-cultural theoretical framework, the analysis of the learners’ experiential narratives lends tentative support to the postulation that the popular language learning discourses, assessment methods, and influential agents had been influencing the learners’ frequency and choices of strategy use in China but their mobilizing forces disappeared or were undermined in Britain and hence lost their past mediation effects on the learners’ strategy use. While the current inquiry recommends more language learning support to these learners at their receiving institutions, it also shows that the socio-cultural approach can help to develop a deeper understanding of language learners and their strategy use. More learning strategy research grounded in this approach should be done to provide insights into the influences of learning environment on strategy use over time.