In this keynote speech, I will look at the strategies used by successful language learners. I will first of all recount a personal experience that I had many years ago which convinced me of the value of strategies. After this I will look at research evidence regarding learning strategies (including my own), thenI will go on to consider definition (as actions chosen by learners for the purpose of learning). Following this, I will talk about the use of literature as a strategy for learning language and consider individual differences which may affect strategy use (especially age, gender, and motivation). I will conclude this talk by discussing the issue of the spiral (rather than linear) development of strategy use (the “Tornado Effect”). 

Dr Carol Griffiths has been a teacher, manager and teacher trainer of ELT for many years. She has taught in many places around the world, including New Zealand, Indonesia, Japan, China, North Korea, Turkey and UK. She has also presented at numerous conferences and published widely, including her books Lessons from Good Language Learners and The Strategy Factor in Successful Language Learning. Learner issues, teacher education and support, teacher burnout, individual differences, the mature language learner, the Intake Hypothesis, language learning strategies, language issues, action research, the Tornado Hypothesis, English as a medium of instruction (EMI) and using literature to teach language are her major areas of research interest.