Do Language Learning Strategies Need to Be Self‐Directed? Disentangling Strategies From Self‐Regulated Learning

W hile language learning strategies generally appeal to teachers' intuition about how best to teach languages, the existence of them is difficult to define "at the rigorous scientific level" (D ornyei & Ryan, 2015, p. 144).The lack of a "tight definition" (D ornyei, 2005, p. 188) has generated criticism of the concept, both from field outsiders (e.g.Bialystok, 1983;Ellis, 1994) and field insiders (e.g.Macaro, 2006).This article will posit that movements to implicitly or explicitly link strategies with constructs related to self-directedness (e.g., self-regulation, agency, and autonomy), continue to muddy definitions.The article further posits a need to disentangle the concept of self-directed learning from definitions of language learning strategies in order to theorize their relationship more precisely.We will begin by reviewing the concept of language learning strategies and highlighting the main grounds for definitional criticisms.We will then discuss how the inclusion of self-regulation and other related concepts of self-directedness have crept into the discourse of strategy research.The amalgamation of learning strategies and self-regulation with no opt-out for supplementary forms of language learning strategies (e.g., other-regulated strategies) can be seen in many recent definitions-examples of which are provided in the following section.We will argue that language learning strategies can exist independent from selfdirectedness in contexts where learners cannot, have not, or have not yet, adapted to self-regulatory, agentic, and/or autonomous behavior.Drawing on Deci and Ryan's (2002) Self-determination Continuum, we introduce our Regulated Language Learning Strategies Continuum to suggest how self-regulation theoretically relates to strategic behavior, but can be conceptually separated in its definitions.