Improving Oral Proficiency Through Strategy Training: Focus on Language Testing, Learners' Corpus and Cognition

The purpose of this book is to establish the foundation for a practical EFL programme based on strategy training in tertiary education sectors. We can see current patterns of oral communication strategy (OCS) usage, how far these strategies can be explicitly taught, and the extent to which strategy use can lead to improvements in oral communication ability. The effects of the strategy training are assessed by multiple data collection methods: the participants' pre- and post oral communication tests, corpus data from the tests, self-reported strategy use as determined by a questionnaire focusing on OCS usage, and retrospective protocol data for their task performance. The multiple data analysis of the study in Japanese context indicates that learners' success is due to an increased general awareness of OCSs, and the use of specific OCSs, such as maintenance of fluency, and negotiation of meaning to solve interactional difficulties. We can evaluate the robustness of these findings and consider their implications for EFL programmes.