A Holistic System of English Learning Strategies Grounded on Successful EFL Learners

This study investigated successful EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students’ learning strategies in Chinese universities and explored the classification system of English learning strategies, to guide EFL students how to learn English. A total of 24 successful English majors and non-English majors in Chinese universities were interviewed about their English learning strategies and experiences, which were coded in three stages with the grounded theory approach. About 767 items of specific strategies were identified and merged into 66 open codes which constructed four categories: self-management, cognitive, affective, and resource-using strategies. Furthermore, the core of successful English learners’ strategies was generalized: to comprehend and learn English comprehensively in whole contexts, briefly, holistic learning. This idea coincides with the global precedence effect.


Introduction
With the acceleration of the world globalization, English, as a lingua franca, has been playing an increasingly important role in international communication.English is a required course in China.How to learn English well?This question is often asked by Chinese students.Learning methods have long been studied in China.The concept of learning strategy appeared in the Western language study literature from the 1970s.Oxford (2017) defined L2 learning strategies as ''complex, dynamic thoughts and actions, selected and used by learners with some degree of consciousness in specific contexts in order to regulate multiple aspects of themselves (such as cognitive, emotional, and social) for the purpose of (a) accomplishing language tasks; (b) improving language performance or use; and/or (c) enhancing long-term proficiency' ' (p. 48).Language learning strategies are learning methods about how to learn a language on the whole or how to accomplish a particular language task.This study focuses on the former, that is, the general approaches to and basic ways of learning English.
Many studies have demonstrated a significant positive correlation between learning strategy use and language proficiency (for instance, Green & Oxford, 1995;Kyungsim & Leavell, 2006;Park, 1997).Therefore, the learning strategy is an important factor to influence language proficiency.It is of both practical and theoretical significance to summarize successful English learners' strategies and construct a theory of English learning strategies grounded on them.

Good Language Learner's Strategies
The study of language learning strategies started from Rubin's (1975) and Stern's (1975) concept of the good language learner.With the intention of teaching successful learners' strategies to the unsuccessful, Rubin (1975) summarized seven characteristics of good language learners mainly through observation.Gan et al. (2004) found that successful English learners reported more English learning activities and deeper strategies usage than the unsuccessful students such as reinforcing vocabulary through regular reading, learning systematically, and previewing lessons actively.
Although the study of language learning strategies began with summarizing the characteristics of good language learners, previous classifications of language learning strategies were rarely based on successful learners' strategies.In view of Chinese students' need for systematic and specific English learning strategies, this study attempts to summarize successful English learners' strategies in Chinese universities, so as to provide English learners with systematic learning strategies for reference.

Classification of Language Learning Strategies
The language learning strategy classification is a crucial part of its theoretical building.Based on the level or type of information processing, O' Malley and Chamot (1990) differentiated second language learning strategies into three categories: metacognitive, cognitive, and social/ affective strategies.Following Rubin's (1981) dichotomy of direct and indirect strategies, Oxford (1990) further subdivided learning strategies into six categories: memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social.To eliminate overlap, Oxford (2011) refined the categories into four: cognitive, affective, sociocultural-interactive, and metastrategies.Recognizing that strategies are complex and play multiple roles for specific learners in different contexts, Oxford (2017) used strategy roles instead of categories.Although a strategy may have different functions, nonetheless, its nature seems specific.Take Oxford's example, the strategy of ''analyzing'' is generally put in the cognitive category but can also be adopted to analyze one's feelings.Here the purpose of analyzing is to regulate one's emotions, but the mental process of analyzing is in essence cognitive.Actually, people often use rational cognition to regulate their emotions.Pintrich and Garcia (1991) suggested a strategy trichotomy: cognitive, metacognitive, and resource management.Previous strategy classifications were mostly based on theoretical presuppositions or experience summaries, so it is needed to categorize English learning strategies from successful EFL learners by the grounded theory method.

Strategy Research Methodology
The Likert-scale type questionnaire has been commonly used in strategy research, but it has been widely debated (for instance, Nunan, 1992;Oxford, 2011;Reid, 1990).For example, Jamieson (2004) argued that it is not appropriate to analyze ordinal data of Likert scales with parametric statistical tests.Increasingly, qualitative research methods such as interview and analytical methods such as the grounded theory approach are advocated to complement and triangulate quantitative research.Oxford et al. (2014) applied the grounded theory approach to analyzing six experts' metaphors on language learning strategies and their research experience and formed an overarching theme ''the urgent necessity of understanding learning strategies and using appropriate theories to explain them' '(p. 11).So it is significant for the present study to adopt the grounded theory method to summarize English learning strategies and explain them with interdisciplinary theories.
Grounded theory is a qualitative research method developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967) with the aim of constructing a theory grounded on data by constant comparison.Narrative data are coded by grounded theory generally through three stages: to identify concepts in open coding, to link categories in axial coding, and to integrate categories into a theory in selective coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).
In China, studies on foreign language learning strategies are mostly quantitative research about specific strategies, and the qualitative research of integrated strategies is rare, let alone the construction of strategy theories with the grounded theory approach.Qualitative research like grounded theory is suitable for overall and deep inquiry, to make up for simplification and abstraction of quantitative research.Therefore, this study collected data with interviews, used the grounded theory approach to conduct qualitative analysis, and summarized the effective learning strategies of successful English learners in Chinese universities, based on which a taxonomy of English learning strategies would be developed.

Participants
The criteria to select successful English learners take into account both their English performance (excellent at national English tests) and application abilities (won the second prize or above at the provincial level in national English contests).College English Test (CET) usually for non-English majors and Test for English Majors (TEM) are both national English tests in China, mainly testing English listening, reading, writing, and translating skills.National English contests such as those in speaking and writing mainly examine English application abilities.12 successful English majors and 12 successful non-English majors were interviewed with their voluntary participation, including 23 undergraduates and a postgraduate (considering that she is excellent at English, and to investigate whether her learning strategies contain new information beyond undergraduates').23 successful English learners were chosen from a key university, ranking 13th among over 2,600 universities in mainland China according to Times Higher Education (September 5th, 2017), to avoid the factor of gift that may have contributed to the students' success in English from a dozen top universities, and to ensure that the interviewees are really successful EFL learners so that their experience can provide common college students with learning strategies for reference.Of course, it was convenient to interview the students in the researchers' university so that the quality of the interview could be guaranteed.A successful English learner was singled out from another university (ranking above 100th among over 2,600 universities in mainland China), who ranked No. 1 among a total of 123 senior undergraduates in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, to investigate whether the student's learning strategies from another university include new information beyond the key university students'.As a result, the postgraduate and the undergraduate from another university reported few new strategies beyond the undergraduates from the key university, indicating that the information interviewed was enough.Of the 24 successful English learners, 19 students won better than the second prizes at the provincial level in national English contests.Among the 19 students who provided their grades of College English Test band 4 (CET-4), 14 students scored above 590 points in the total of 710 (above the 90th percentile).Among 12 English majors, 10 students provided grades of Test for English Majors grade 4 (TEM-4), of whom 7 were excellent (above 80 points in the total of 100), and 3 were good (70-79 points).Nine students took international English proficiency tests and provided their scores: two achieved 8 points in IELTS; five got 7.5; one got 7; and one achieved 117 points in TOFEL.All the participants speak Chinese as their first language and learn English as a foreign language.They haven't been trained previously on learning strategies.

Method
This study was approved by Soochow University.Successful English learners' strategies were collected by interview.The interviews were conducted in Chinese in view of a full understanding and expressions.The interview outline was designed by the two researchers and revised after the pre-study.Instructions explained that this study was to summarize successful English learners' strategies and experience and that their materials are strictly confidential.With the interviewee's consent, the interview was recorded.Each successful English learner was interviewed for about an hour.The interview included about ten questions, for example ''how do you learn English?''''what specific English learning strategies do you use?'' ''what are your suggestions for learning English?''

Data Analysis
Within three days after each interview, the first researcher transcribed the recording of the interview and marked the key points of the interviewee's learning strategies whose key words were put in the following parentheses.According to the key words, the interviewee's English learning strategies were tentatively grouped at the end of the transcript.Then the transcript was emailed to its interviewee to check whether the strategy key words marked in the transcript conform with their meanings and whether they agree with the researcher's preliminary classification of their English learning strategies.22 of the 24 interviewees returned their feedback, of whom 10 students slightly supplemented, modified, or annotated their transcripts and one made a few changes to the researcher's tentative categorization of his English learning strategies.
There are a total of 79,398 words in the revised version of 24 transcripts of the interviews according to the interviewees' feedback, which were put in the qualitative analysis software NVivo 8.0.Without preconceptions, their English learning strategies were coded bottom-up in three stages, whose frequency was counted.The two researchers made constant comparison between the data and the codes.

Results
A total of 767 items of English learning strategies were preliminarily identified, then merged, and condensed into 66 open codes, which formed four types of axial codes: self-management, cognitive, affective, and resource-using strategies.

Self-Management Strategies
As shown in Table 1, eight open codes (learning awareness, planning, time management, attention, autonomous learning, methodological awareness, process management, evaluation, and adjustment) can be grouped into an axial code: self-management strategies.Self-management strategies coordinate the entire learning process by planning, monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment.
Of self-management strategies, learning awareness is the key, since it is the first step to cause learning action.Just like Interviewee LJM's answer to ''the most important factor for learning English well,'' ''the most important factor to win the championship is the willingness to win it.That I really want to learn English well is the most important reason why I can learn it well.''The importance of planning lies in its goal-oriented stimulus, as Drucker (2011) proposed the principle of management by objectives.Once you have planned your learning goals, you need to arrange time for study (time management).When learning, you should pay attention and concentrate.Attention is particularly important in today's information age.In the interviews of English learning strategies, autonomous learning was mentioned by the most people (12) for the most times (32) in selfmanagement strategies, of which 9 students mentioned for 16 times that ''English has become a necessary part in life,'' indicating the important role of autonomous learning habit in their success in English learning.To get into the habit of autonomous learning, metacognitive learning awareness and process management are needed.Methodological awareness is necessary in the process of autonomous learning.The learner should not only work hard but also study wisely as a thinker.He/she can adjust his/her learning plan accordingly by evaluating the effect of his/her learning strategies and checking the progress of his/her targets (evaluation and adjustment).Evaluation and adjustment were only mentioned by two students for seven times, implying that even successful learners lack reflection.In fact, Zengzi (a disciple of Confucius) set an example in self-reflection for us long before-''I daily examine myself once and again: .whether I may have not reviewed and mastered the instructions from my teacher?''By self-reflection, we can improve learning and ourselves as well.

Cognitive Strategies
A total of 44 open codes about specific learning methods can be categorized as cognitive strategies.Strategies in this category are numerous and appear scattered, so they are further summed up as eight subcategories: extensive learning, intensive learning, ingenious learning, integrated learning, immersive learning, chunk learning, combination of learning and using, and preview and review, as shown in Table 2.

SAGE Open
English words are used when seeing Chinese subtitles'' with deep processing rather than simply stay in the pursuit of the plot, showing ''ingenious learning.''By ''combination of listening and writing'' (e.g., ''dictation of VOA or BBC news'') the learners not only practice listening skills, but also consolidate word spelling, and they understand the meaning and usage of words in sentence contexts, which can be called ''integrated learning.''English writing is a comprehensive skill, involving the application of vocabulary, grammar, and discourse knowledge.''Reading model essays before writing'' to learn their discourse organization and writing skills and ''consulting the dictionary while writing'' to look up the meaning and usage of words in order to select appropriate words for writing, taken together, belong to the ''integrated learning'' subcategory.
''Reading original literature to appreciate native English'' and ''immersive learning'' (e.g., ''thinking in English'') mean learning English by immersion in the real English environment, which can be summarized as the ''immersive learning'' subcategory.For example, a successful English learner admitted that she got immersed in English and absorbed knowledge once she devoted herself to English learning.Most successful learners emphasized the importance of ''preview before class'' such as ''looking up new words in the dictionary'' and ''reading texts.''More interviewees mentioned review work such as ''reviewing the mistakes in exam papers.''Among cognitive strategies, five subcategories of ''extensive learning,'' ''intensive learning,'' ''ingenious learning,'' ''integrated learning,'' and ''immersive learning'' range hierarchically from ordinary to advanced.Taking time to learn more is an ordinary level, but may remain extensive learning without deep understanding.Only through ''intensive learning'' like elaboration and repetition can internalization take place.''Ingenious learning'' is more sophisticated, not simple repetition, but looking for laws and following scientific methods.''Integrated learning'' is a holistic approach.''Immersive learning'' is a state of implicit acquisition that integrates the learner and language contexts.Of course, cognitive strategies can also be divided into subcategories of listening, speaking, reading, writing, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary.However, they are also difficult to separate, but are learned comprehensively in holistic contexts.

Affective Strategies
As some successful English learners pointed out that English learning is a long process, demanding long-term efforts, cognitive strategies are not enough, and the support of affective strategies is needed.As shown in Table 3, staying active and enterprising, keeping motivated, cultivating interest, and enjoying learning can be classified as the axial code ''affective strategies,'' which support perseverance in English learning.
Active and enterprising learning attitude is the foundation of success in English learning.Although learning motivation is different from learning strategies, ''creating the motivation to learn English'' is an essential part of affective strategies.''Cultivating interest in learning English'' was most frequently mentioned (16 people for 35 times) among affective strategies.Enjoying learning and cultivating interest are closely related, but their focuses are different: Enjoying learning emphasizes ''enjoying the learning process.''

Resource-Using Strategies
Making use of teaching materials and instruction, the Internet resources, information technology, and interpersonal resources can be summarized as resource-using strategies (see Table 4).In today's era with rich information resources and developed intelligent technology, English learning should also keep pace with the times, making full use of mobile Internet, smart phones, global interpersonal opportunities, to make English learning more convenient and more interesting.Of course, the successful learners also cherish school education resources like the traditional instruction and teaching materials, as evidenced by the most frequent reference (16 people for 33 times) to ''taking English classes conscientiously'' among the open codes of resource-using strategies.

Selective Coding
The above-mentioned four axial codes (i.e., self-management, cognitive, affective, and resource-using strategies) then constitute the selective code, of course, the theme of English learning strategies.But what makes more sense is whether the core of successful English learners' strategies can be abstracted?According to the principle of selective coding, the most dominant core can be extracted from the discovered conceptual categories.As shown in Table 2, all the eight subcategories in cognitive strategies, namely, extensive learning, intensive learning, ingenious learning, integrated learning, immersive learning, chunk learning, combination of learning and using, and preview and review, can be generalized as ''holistic learning''-to comprehend and learn English comprehensively in whole contexts.
Firstly, of course ''integrated learning'' is similar to the notion of ''holistic learning.''Learners can understand, memorize, and use English phrases, sentences, and even paragraphs as a whole by ''chunk learning,'' which is more efficient.''Immersive learning'' means personal integration into the whole context of English in the original, even forgetting the mother tongue and thinking in English.''Combination of learning and using'' implies learning English in using, which is also a holistic learning.Secondly, ''extensive learning'' materials are also whole discourses.By ''intensive learning,'' learners not only use whole discourses as the materials, but also master good words and expressions there, and improve listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.For example, some successful English learners mentioned an intensive reading strategy: ''reading the text and looking up the new words in the dictionary, underlining them and taking them down in the vocabulary notebook, reviewing the new words twice and using them in writing and speaking,'' which is also holistic learning-by reading the text, students not only practice reading comprehension skills but also acquire words in the context, which can be applied to writing and speaking.Finally, in ''ingenious learning,'' when ''learning the Internet open classes or Ted speeches'' or ''watching English movies,'' learners understand their content in the whole context.''Understanding English grammar combined with sentences'' implies understanding grammar in the sentence context.Through ''memorizing words by associating them with their contexts and known words,'' or ''putting new words into sentences related to personal experience,'' learners understand and memorize words by linking their contexts.In the ''preview and review'' subcategory, previewing the text before class aims at understanding its main idea, and then reviewing the text after class aims at mastering useful words and expressions there.
Many successful English learners not only ''watch English movies or dramas to understand the Western culture and feel native English,'' but also ''watch videos to practice English listening,'' ''read after them to practice English speaking,'' ''repeatedly watch classic movies or dramas,'' ''imitate practical expressions from English dramas,'' ''check new words frequently heard from English movies or dramas,'' ''note down classic expressions from them,'' ''apply the good expressions to writing,'' either ''download movies or dramas only with English captions,'' or ''check how well the Chinese subtitles translate while watching English movies,'' and then ''find the original English literature of good movies to read.''It can be seen that by watching English movies or television series, learners can not only practice English listening and speaking skills, but also imitate the pronunciation, expand their vocabulary, accumulate good expressions for writing, and practice translating skills.Moreover, watching movies inspires the interest to ''find the original English literature of good movies to read,'' and then learners can practice reading comprehension, meanwhile check their listening comprehension when watching movies, review new words and expressions, and understand the grammar.Furthermore, successful English learners think that ''watching the Internet open classes or Ted speeches is more thoughtful than American dramas,'' from which they can not only ''listen to English speeches, and imitate and recite good paragraphs in them,'' ''take down Ted words and expressions,'' but also ''accumulate Ted views,'' and ''sum up Ted speech writing skills.''Thus, the core of successful English learners' strategies can be abstracted as ''to comprehend and learn English comprehensively in whole contexts,'' simply, ''holistic learning.''Not only are most cognitive strategies used for a comprehensive learning of the whole material, but the four categories of English learning strategies are all closely linked within themselves and between them, integrated into a whole.In self-management strategies, the Zha and Liu learner first plans the goal with learning awareness, then arranges the time, pays attention, learns autonomously, conducts process management with methodological awareness, evaluates learning progress, adjusts the learning strategies and plans, to manage the entire learning process.Cognitive strategies range from preview to review, from extensive learning to intensive learning to ingenious learning, from chunk learning to combination of learning and using, from integrated learning to immersive learning.English learning, as a long process, needs the support of affective strategies: staying active and enterprising, keeping motivated, cultivating interest, and enjoying the learning process.In the information age, English learning should also keep pace with the times to use teaching materials and instruction, the Internet, information technology, and interpersonal resources so as to make English learning more convenient, efficient and interesting.The four dimensions of English learning strategies also constitute a system: cognitive and affective strategies arouse human cognitive and emotional systems respectively.Self-management strategies manage the personal part of learning, while resource-using strategies use the external resources to promote self-learning.

Features of This Study
Cohen (2011) pointed out that strategies are neutral, not good, or bad.However, those English learning strategies which follow human cognitive and learning principles or conform to English language characteristics and rules must be more effective than the opposite.For example, spelling a word according to its pronunciation and acquiring the word meaning according to its root and affixes, which follow the English language characteristics and rules, are more effective than the mechanical rote.
Memorizing new words by associating them with their contexts and known words or by putting new words into sentences related to personal experience, which conforms with human cognitive and learning principles, is more effective than reciting words in isolation.The learning strategies of successful English learners are an important factor for their success in English.This study explored the categories of learning strategies based on successful English learners' strategies, which can better assess the efficiency of learners' English learning strategies, better predict their effectiveness of English learning, and provide them with inspiration and reference on learning methods.
Not taking preconceptions or presuppositions, this study explored the categories of English learning strategies from bottom to top by three-stage coding of grounded theory.The part of the result similar to previous classic strategy classifications verified their rationality while the different part is the new discovery, which is a kind of supplement and improvement to previous studies.Compared with other three strategy taxonomies, this study adopted some similar terms to name strategy dimensions, but their content is not the same (see Table 5).Self-management strategies, although similar to metacognitive strategies, are more comprehensive and easier for common Chinese students to understand.Selfmanagement strategies can not only manage cognitive strategies as metacognitive strategies do, but also coordinate emotions.This study condensed hundreds of specific learning strategies into eight subcategories of cognitive strategies, which are both comprehensive and specific.Resource-using strategies here (focusing on external resources and thus different from self-management strategies) differ from Pintrich and Garcia's (1991) resource management strategies (i.e., managing time, effort, and learning environment) which overlapped with their metacognitive strategies and cover a wider range than social strategies.More importantly, this study attempted to abstract the core of successful English learners' strategies as ''to comprehend and learn English comprehensively in whole contexts, that is, holistic learning,'' thus to find the key to learning strategies of successful English learners from their numerous strategies.

Theoretical Underpinnings
Theoretical underpinnings for the English learning strategies summarized in this study can be found in psychology and linguistics.Taking for example the eight subcategories of cognitive strategies and the core of successful English learners' strategies, the following will provide interdisciplinary explanation from psychological and linguistic theories.Students'''preview before class'' can prime their prior knowledge to understand the new knowledge, which is also a priming for listening in class, making it easy to understand the teacher's lecture.
Listening to the teacher's lecture in class becomes a review for preview before class.''Review after class,'' by repetition, lets acquired information keep from the shortterm to long-term memory.''Intensive learning'' deepens understanding and memory of new knowledge through elaboration.In ''ingenious learning,'' for example, by ''putting new words into sentences related to personal experience,'' the learner can remember them more deeply because things relevant with oneself are paid more attention to.For ''chunk learning,'' such as ''summarizing phrases and sentence patterns,'' instead of reciting words or grammar in isolation, Miller (1956) revealed that short-term memory capacity is 7 6 2 chunks so that smaller units (such as words) can be organized into meaningful and larger chunks (such as phrases, sentences) to increase the amount of stored information.By chunking, cognitive load can be eased and the speed and automation of identification and utilization of language can be accelerated.''Immersive learning,'' such as ''reading original literature to appreciate native English'' and ''thinking in English,'' implies devotion to the content of the book, not aware of oneself or the world, like ''flow,'' the optimal experience when a person falls absorbed in challenging activities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).''Holistic learning'' shares the advantage of the global precedence effect in perceptual processing or the contextual effects in language processing.Navon (1977) discovered that the processing of global features takes precedence over the analysis of local features in visual perception-the global precedence effect.Auble and Franks (1983) held that sentence comprehension stems from the combination of sentence bottom-up processing with top-down processing of schema activation.Foss and Speer (1991) argued that the contextual effects (the sentence or text context promotes recognition of words or understanding of sentences in it) do not originate entirely from the semantic activation mechanism, but rather from the semantic integration of the sentence or text.''Immersive learning'' is also an important second or foreign language teaching method in linguistics.Immersive teaching method suggests using second language to teach second language and even other courses, so that students are immersed in the second language teaching environment.''Extensive learning'' conforms to the large input principle in second language acquisition.Swain (1985) put forward the output hypothesis that speaking and writing activities to use language are the necessary components of the second language learning process.Swain (1995) pointed out that the output activities of target language can make second language learners notice their own language problems, test their assumptions about the target language and reflect on others' or their own output language, thus promoting second language acquisition.Therefore, ''combination of learning and using'' is equally important, to promote learning with using from input to output of the foreign language.

Reliability and Validity
This research cared about its quality.Interviews were all conducted by the first researcher and recorded through the whole process.The transcript and preliminarily grouped strategies were emailed to its interviewee for review and assessment.''Do the strategy key words in the parentheses in the transcript conform with your meanings?Please use numbers 0 (completely inconsistent) to 10 (fully consistent) to score!''Its average score of 22 respondents is 9.55.''Does the tentative grouping of your English learning strategies reflect your learning activities?Please use numbers 0 (completely inconsistent) to 10 (fully consistent) to score!''Its average score of 22 respondents is 9.68.The two researchers repeatedly compared, discussed, and improved their coding and classification.
During the pre-study, the two researchers selected 16 transcripts of interviews with good English learners from the 38 interviewees who were mainly first-year postgraduates.The core of their English learning strategies was coded by grounded theory as ''listening more, speaking more, reading more, writing more, reciting more, and comprehending and learning English in real contexts'' (Zha & Liu, 2016).The core of successful English learners' strategies the present study abstracted (i.e., ''to comprehend and learn English comprehensively in whole contexts, briefly, holistic learning'') verified the last half the above pre-study generalized (i.e., ''comprehending and learning English in real contexts''), while the first half ''listening more, speaking more, reading more, writing more, and reciting more'' also appeared in the subcategory of cognitive strategies ''extensive learning'' in the present study.

Limitations and Future Directions
This study is robust in reliability verified with its prestudy and validity reviewed by interviewees and underpinned by psychological and linguistic theories.Of course, participants would better be extended to more areas in China and even to other foreign language contexts for broader application.Furthermore, to justify the significant effect of successful learners' strategies, a controlled comparison with less successful students' strategies is needed just as experimental research does.Quantitative research is needed to triangulate it.

Conclusion
Based on interviews with successful English learners in Chinese universities, this study conducted a three-stage coding of the interview transcripts by the grounded theory approach to classify English learning strategies into four categories: self-management, cognitive, affective, and resource-using strategies.A distinction is made between self-management strategies (internal management of learning) and resource-using strategies (using external resources for self-learning).
The basic strategies of self-management, cognitive, affective, and resource-using strategies are learning awareness, integrated learning, cultivating interest, making use of teaching materials and instruction respectively.Of cognitive strategies, extensive learning, intensive learning, ingenious learning, integrated learning, and immersive learning range hierarchically from ordinary to advanced.
The core of successful English learners' strategies was generalized as ''to comprehend and learn English comprehensively in whole contexts, briefly, holistic learning.''The results provide significant inspiration and reference for English teaching and autonomous learning.

Table 5 .
A Comparison of This Study and Other Three Strategy Classification Systems.