A review of the literature on strategies used by students to learn a second language suggests that the research can offer important insights into teaching learners who do not naturally arrive at successful learning strategies. Raising students' consciousness to the options for language learning is seen as crucial. It is also proposed that learner training involves a shift from the view that the teacher and the method are responsible for learner success to a perspective that focuses on the learner's ultimate responsibility for a successful learning experience. Examples of strategies used successfully for attending, speaking, vocabulary learning, reading, and writing are cited as evidence that research has just begun to identify what learners actually do during the learning process. It is concluded that it is not yet clear how generalizable such strategies are in the face of individual student differences, nor how learners should be trained to learn. (MSE)