A look at learning strategies employed by outstanding English learners: a systematic literature review

Despite a myriad of studies on language learning strategies (LLS), most of them explored LLS used by English learners with general or various language proficiency. To fill this gap, the current study adopts a systematic literature review (SLR) approach to explore LLS employed by successful English learners. This study analysed research articles published from 2000 to 2023 in journals in the field of social sciences. The findings indicated that outstanding English learners tend to choose metacognitive strategies other than other LLS classification. Furthermore, this SLR study showed that most research on LLS revealed a tendency to sample students in higher education contexts. Therefore, future studies should address this gap by exploring LLS used by good language learners from various contexts. Methodologically, a majority of those previous studies have been conducted using exclusively quantitative methods. Thus future research should fill this gap by conducting more mixed-method studies.