Joyce always goes to class on time. She is the only one who is there on the snowy evenings in winter. She is shy and never speaks much during the class. Sometimes she writes down new words and looks them up in the dictionary at home. She likes grammar exercises, but she does not like any questions that ask her for her opinion, whether oral or written.
Cindy likes to practice her English. She finds that in her large class, there is too little opportunity to speak. So she joins a conversation circle where she can speak with other students and a native speaker. She also likes to watch English movies, with the subtitles on. Sometimes she writes down phrases she doesn’t understand and will ask her teacher in the next class.
Likely you have met both kinds of students in your ESL class. Who is likely to make better progress within the same period of time? The answer seems obvious: Cindy. But why?
In the 1970s and 80s researchers began to notice that in the same language classroom, some learners consistently do well and move ahead at a faster pace than others. So they began to conduct surveys to try and find out how these better learners learn. The results show that ‘good language learners’ generally display these characteristics1:
- Constantly looks for patterns in language
- Tries to communicate his/her message, even when s/he is missing some specific language knowledge
- Uses every possible opportunity to practice the language
- Monitors his/her own speech and the speech of others, and learn from mistakes
- Makes good guesses
- Uses context to improve comprehension when reading or listening
- Tries to think of a relationship between the new language and what s/he already knows
- Attends to form and enjoys grammar exercises
- Knows that it is okay to make mistakes; overcomes inhibitions
- Is relaxed and has a positive attitude about learning the language
- Can tolerate ambiguity
- Attends to meaning which includes connotation, context, rules of speaking, interactive cues, and relationship between the participants.
Fostering these attitudes and learning strategies means empowering and equipping the students to take charge of their learning, be more intentional and strategic, and affording them better chances of success. What are some ways, though, to encourage such? I’d like to begin with these suggestions:
- Attend to the affective dimensions of language learning – create a warm and relaxed atmosphere to encourage participation and lower inhibitions; e.g. use games, role plays, or anything that is fun to your students.
- Think about contexts – use contexts to explain meaning and grammar; brainstorm their knowledge of a certain topic; use warm up questions to activate their thinking.
- Encourage right-brain processes – use video and music; teach skimming; facilitate guesswork.
- Draw attention to patterns in grammar.
- Emphasize the importance of language learning outside the class – go on English-speaking ‘field trips’ together; connect students with native speakers; ask students to keep a journal.
There are many more possibilities. Can you add to the list?
Editor’s Note: This article is a re-print from The ESL Link Volume 1.2.
- Adapted from http://sarahnoll.tripod.com/id2.html (accessed on September 12, 2009) ↩︎