ePhyLi digital tools improve student-teachers' physical literacy knowledge: evaluation of usability, user experience, and learning outcomes.

Since pioneering work on “the good language learner,” research on language learning strategies has developed into a sustained line of inquiry and continues to attract renewed scholarly attention in contemporary applied linguistics (; ; ). Researchers have examined both the strategies themselves and the factors associated with their adoption (e.g., ; ; ; ). The scholarly interest of Rubin in “the good language learner” emerges from the realization that the strategies that characterize skilled language learners (and the strategies they employ) can provide insights into assisting those who possess lower proficiency. During subsequent efforts to define and classify these techniques of effective language learners, researchers mostly approached strategy as a single-function construct. They assigned one strategy to only one category (e.g., ; ; ; for an early review, see ). However, this manner of researching language learning strategies has resulted in findings that some critics describe as vague and ambiguous (e.g., ; ; ; ). In response to this concern, argues that a binary, overly simplistic categories approach is not only impractical but also unrealistic. She points to the multifaceted and complex nature of this area of inquiry and states that “strategy categories are not rigid but are instead flexible and permeable” (p. 141). Disagreement over classification is almost always unavoidable, as Oxford noted in the 1990s. Indeed, subsequent studies (e.g., ; ; ; ) have supported this perspective by employing the () of . encourages scholars to explore language learning strategies in creative ways and advocates for a more dynamic viewpoint. She stresses the significance of acknowledging the fluidity and adaptability of strategies in different contexts and functions. This perspective allows strategies to adopt various roles that align with real-world situations and objectives. From a psychometric perspective, this adaptability permits a single strategy to be included in more than one category, which can be conceptualized as a strategy “cross-loading” on multiple factors (e.g., ; ; ; ; ; ; ). For example, one item from the () reads: “I ask English speakers to correct me when I talk.” Although it is theoretically categorized as a social strategy, it can also function as a compensation strategy because learners employ it to address limited language proficiency. The flexibility proposal of Oxford regarding strategy classification challenges many empirical findings that have traditionally sought to identify fixed strategies for language learners. Rather than treating strategies as possessing a unitary role, it is crucial to identify strategies that demonstrate flexibility and can serve multiple roles. When these strategies are recognized, learners can develop a more effective approach to strategy use and self-regulated learning, since they can modify their strategies for various contexts and purposes. Although strategy role flexibility theory is theoretically promising, its measurement implications require further empirical examination. The primary purpose of the present study was therefore to cross-culturally validate
- (—) Student Form with college EFL learners in Taiwan. Because the - was developed with school-aged English as a second language (ESL) learners in the United States, its reliability, validity, and factor structure cannot be assumed to generalize directly to college learners in an EFL context. As a secondary purpose, the study examined whether selected, theory-guided cross-loadings provided psychometric evidence consistent with Oxford's claim that some strategies may serve more than one function. The development of the - was not treated as a separate, independent aim, but as the outcome of this cross-cultural validation and model refinement process. Accordingly, the study addressed three related questions: First, whether the six-factor structure of the - could be retained for Taiwanese college EFL learners; second, what theoretically and statistically justified modifications were needed to obtain an acceptable measurement model; and third, whether the resulting cross-loading pattern was consistent with, but not definitive proof of, strategy role flexibility.