Learner Training: Developing Autonomy And Self-awareness

Educator Monthly EF’S NEWSLETTER FOR TEACHERS

Issue 6

www.ef.com/teacher

This month, EF Educator Monthly is turning its attention to learner training; techniques to develop students’ awareness of how they learn. When learning L2 in an L1 environment, students have no choice but to be proactive about their studies as practice opportunities will rarely come their way. Becoming part of the syllabus, understanding what works for them (and what doesn’t), and thinking about language itself, are all ways in which students can maximise their potential. The EF Educator Monthly is designed by and for teachers; if you have any suggestions for content or themes for future newsletters, contact the editor [email protected].

Learner Training: developing autonomy and self-awareness The overall aim of learner training is to encourage students’ awareness of learning strategies so that they become more effective and autonomous language learners. The following are a number of learner-training techniques that you can incorporate in your classroom to encourage your students to become more independent learners.     

Learners’ goals Syllabus negotiation Thinking about learning Thinking about language Correction and assessment

Learners’ goals Students learn more when their own personal objectives and ways of working are taken into account. You can support students by letting them choose personal goals to work toward. Encourage them to reflect on those goals, discuss them with the rest of the class, and adapt them if necessary.

 I’m going to write down at least two example sentences for each new vocabulary word.  I’m going to work on improving my pronunciation of /T/. Make sure that goals set at the start of a term are reassessed periodically through open discussion. If goals have been met, or were unrealistic, encourage students to rewrite them. Syllabus negotiation At the start of the course, go through the syllabus and/or the plan of the course book with the class. Explain which items are non-negotiable and why. Allow students to vote on which negotiable items they want to do. It is best to start off with limited syllabus-negotiation and expand it as the group becomes more cohesive. Later on in the course, give students the opportunity to choose alternative tasks and ways of working that address the same objectives on the syllabus. Students play a part in the decision-making process and the syllabus will better reflect their attitudes, beliefs and interests. Thinking about learning

Chris Flint Editor London, UK

Reflections When doing any activity, get students to ask themselves these types of questions and share their responses:

In this issue:
Learner Training: developing autonomy and self-awareness
Teacher Tidbits

Diary entries One way of getting students to set and track their goals is to ask them to record them in their diaries. Their goals should be specific, measurable, achievable and realistic. For example:  I’m going to record my new vocabulary in my Study Guide.

 Before you begin, determine what your personal objectives are and how they can be reached by this activity.  How did you remember and learn the vocabulary? Was it useful to recognize the words in the text?  Were you able to reach your objectives in this activity in the class or in another outside the class? If you were, in what way? If not, why not? Did you achieve other objectives that you hadn’t planned to? Many course books have these types of activities built-in.

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EF Educator Monthly – Issue 6

Learner Training: developing autonomy and self-awareness (cont’d) Portfolios Students collate their course work in a portfolio which allows both teacher and students to see what has been achieved and to reflect on the learning process. As part of a final assessment, ask students to select a certain number of pieces to include in their final portfolio and ask them to say why those pieces were selected for grading. Resources outside of class Be sure that students are fully aware of all of the resources that are available to them outside of class, as well as inside, such as textbooks, authentic materials, media, computers and the Internet. Provide them with a list of web sites where they can practice or do L2 research. When assigning activities allow students to choose the resources that they feel are most appropriate for the tasks.

Correction and assessment

Teacher Tidbits Self-correction Encourage students to keep a record of their own errors and the corrected sentences in their diaries. Peer-correction After completing writing assignments, ask students in pairs to edit each other’s work and advise each other on corrections.

Thinking about language Discovering patterns Guide students to discover, record and compare patterns in the language. Eliciting grammar rules from students can help to foster a sense of independence. For example:  Did you find any language patterns in your questions and answers?  If so, record what they were and compare them to your earlier list(s) from this unit.  Why do you think those patterns are used here? Negotiating meaning Allow students to understand new vocabulary through negotiated or shared meaning. For example, when studying a topic such as, Heroes, Idols and Legends,  Allow students to discuss the meaning of the words in small groups and agree upon a definition (without help from the teacher or a dictionary).  Get them to share their opinions with the rest of the class.  Record their collaborative definitions on the board. This will help students to develop a belief in their own ability to guess meaning and negotiate in the target language. It also frees the teacher and the dictionary from being the sole authority on the language. Authentic activities and materials Devise open-ended activities around authentic materials that offer students the opportunity to bring their own background, experiences, opinions, and interpersonal skills to the activities. Using authentic materials will not only expose learners to the real structure of the target language, but to the socio-cultural aspects of language as well.

Self-assessment After completing activities, or at the end of the term, get students to answer questions on how they think they performed in the activity or during the term. Compare and discuss the student’s responses with your own assessment.

Turning the tables You can increase your students’ engagement with their learning materials and/or course book by getting them to design their own exercises. At first, they are testing themselves—asking what would be appropriate to review and how to phrase the questions—and then their class colleagues. This practice is appropriate at any level and often provides students with a concrete reason for reproducing examples of language items for their notebooks. Usually, it’s most helpful to get students mimicking the exact exercise structure that appears in their learning materials/course book—the focus is then on the teaching aim rather than the skill of materials design. Examples might include simple cloze exercises for checking recent vocabulary, error correction for grammar and key word transformations, for the more advanced students.

Peer-assessment When doing an activity, such as giving presentations, allow students to work together to develop the set of criteria for a successful presentation. Then, as a student gives his or her presentation, the rest of the students mark him or her based on the criteria that they have established. Conclusion Learner autonomy is grounded in co-operation and collaboration, formed through syllabus negotiation, given room to grow in activity design, and guided by learner training. By incorporating as many of these techniques as possible into your classroom, you will increase students’ language use, start them on the road to greater self-awareness in language learning and help them to become better, more effective communicators.

Kristine Pack Professional Development Coordinator EF ILS

Naturally, you will need to check the integrity of exercises before sharing them with the class, but asking students to analysis the learning process can be a lesson for you too and quite revealing of what your students have understood from your efforts. Page 2 of 2