EFL learners from three language institutes in Brazil answered the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning--SILL--to self-report how they go about learning English. They emerged as balanced users of various strategies with a tendency to use metacognitive and social strategies to learn the language. This tendency, further reinforced by factor analysis, may derive from the need to cope with the demands of the Brazilian foreign language environment, as well as from learning patterns determined by the base-learning culture. Realistic language practice was the factor that influenced learners' answers to the self-reported questionnaire the most. Implications that are particularly relevant to EFL contexts include training learners in those strategies they report using with low frequency to provide them with a larger repertoire of tools in learning how to learn a language. (Contains 5 tables.)