•WARM-UP: A MULTIPLICITY OF TEACHER ROLES•GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNERS•MINI-PRESENTATIONS: STEVICK’S GLLS•THE LEARNER•FIRST AND SECOND LA•LEARNING STYLES/STRATEGIES•PERSONALITY/SOCIOCULTURAL FACTORS•MOTIVATION/NEEDS

The learner

Warm-up: Harmer Chapter 6 Describing Teachers

How comfortable are you with each of the following teacher roles: controller, prompter, participant, resource, tutor, organizer (p.111), performer, visual aid, language model, provider of input?

Do you agree that…? (number 1-18, label T/F/?, discuss differences)

1. Language must be taught.2. Language is learned largely

through intuition.3. Input must be sequenced and

carefully controlled.4. People with high IQs are good LLs.5. The earlier an L2 is introduced, the

greater the likelihood of success in learning.

6. Children learn L quickly and can become fluent in 6 months to a year.

7. Adults learn just as fast as children.8. Learners’ errors should be

corrected as soon as they are made in order to prevent the formation of bad habits.

9. Attitude affects learning; motivated students learn more quickly.

10.Learners can experience interference from their L1.

11.Literacy in L1 affects ability to learn L2.

12.No L2 can ever be as fluent as an L1.

13.It is impossible to improve one’s pronunciation.

14.L is learned through pattern repetition.

15.L is learned through memorizing vocabulary and analyzing grammar.

16.L is learned through communicating in the language.

17.There is a difference between how we learn our NL and our L2.

18.Certain personality types have an advantage in LL.

Good Language Learners

Are you a good language learner? Do you know any good language learners? Brainstorm: What makes a good language learner?

Good Language Learners (Rubin, 1975, cited in Gnida, 2012b)

Good guessers Driven to communicate and learn from communication Somewhat uninhibited and willing to look foolish (?) Concerned with form, patterns Concerned with meaning, function, intention, and intelligibility Willing to practice Constantly monitoring speech, processing information, and

learning from own mistakes Deliberate in their use of strategies, as opposed to

making sporadic or desperate use (Reiss, 1985).

“If we could teach their secrets to our students, I thought, then everyone else could become as successful as the people I had talked with.” (Stevick, 1989, p.xi)

Mini- Presentations

Stevick: “If you are a language teacher, the experience of working through this book will make you better acquainted with the language learner in yourself. Then you will be more clearly aware of the preferences and prejudices that you bring to your work. The experience may also make some of your students’ differences from you seem less strange. It may even make strangeness itself less threatening” (p. xiii).

Which good language learner did you read about in Stevick’s book? Intuitive: Ann-Norwegian Formal: Bert-Chinese Informal: Carla – Portuguese &

German Imaginative: Derick – German,

Russian, Finnish Active: Ed – Korean, Rumanian,

Swahili Deliberate: Frieda – Arabic,

Hebrew Self-aware: Gwen - Japanese

# off to form groups with others who read about different learners.

Mini- Presentations

Stevick: “If you are a language teacher, the experience of working through this book will make you better acquainted with the language learner in yourself. Then you will be more clearly aware of the preferences and prejudices that you bring to your work. The experience may also make some of your students’ differences from you seem less strange. It may even make strangeness itself less threatening” (p. xiii).

Take turns profiling your learners for the group. What strategies worked for your learner?

Then discuss How are you like or

different from the “good learners” profiled by Stevick? Which do you identify with the most? Which are very different from you?

What are some implications for you as language teachers?

GLL: Stevick (1989, cited in Gnida, 2012b)

It was the diversity in how the good language learners went about learning language that was the “most significant lesson to be learned” (p. xii)

His GLLs each made deliberate use of strategies geared to their own learning styles and situations. They were quite aware of why they were doing what they were

doing: planned their learning, designed their own learning tools, and accepted responsibility for how things turned out.

GLL’s (Gnida, 2012b, p.93)

Research has demonstrated that successful language learners

Make use of “conscious, tailored combinations of strategies” in an “orchestrated fashion” (Oxford, 1994, p.1).

Tend to be autonomous in their learning. Are self-directed, take responsibility for their

own learning, and have a selection of strategies that they can draw upon (Allwright, 1990; cited in Oxford, 2011a, p.173).

Harmer Chapter 5: Understanding Learners

Age (kids, teens, adults)

Learner DifferencesLanguage LevelsMotivation

What are the differences between first and second language

acquisition?

Similarities/Differences in...

overall successdegree of proficiency

expectedfossilizationrole of intuitions

regarding accuracy of utterances

need for formal learning

effect of personality, motivation, attitudes

necessity of correction, amount of exposure

received – modified input, caretaker talk, foreigner talk

developmental errors (overgeneralizations, simplification) versus interference errors

cognition differencesstrategies

What can we learn from first language acquisition?

Teaching Adults vs Children

Does age affect language learning?Are children better language learners than

adults?

Critical period hypothesis:

There is a time in human development before which language can be acquired more easily (i.e., before puberty) and beyond which language acquisition becomes more difficult – cognitive, affective, psychomotor considerations.

Differences in Cognitive development

An Adult advantage…Ability to learn and retain vocabularySuperior intellectDeductive/abstract processes…can figure out

linguistic rules…Metalinguistic awarenessAbility to focus…attention spanBackground knowledgeExperience base

Differences in exposure to L2

Opportunities to learn/use the L2Comprehensible input (i + 1) – and how

contextualized the language isWhether they are allowed a silent period

Differences in affective factors

Self-confidence, ego identity, motivationExpectationsAwareness of needsNeed for autonomyAttitudesFlexibility/rigidity

When teaching kids…

Less emphasis on explaining grammar rules, analysis

Don’t try to teach vocabulary and structures that kids their age wouldn’t be using.

Mirror an immersion setting…don’t so much focus on the language, but use the language to teach and communicate.

Other?

Six Factors that affect LEARNING

1. Learning styles

Analytic Global

Learning preferences

Intuitive/randomSensory/sequential

Sensory preferences:VisualAuditoryKinestheticTactile Tolerance for

ambiguity:OpenClosed

2. Learning Strategies:

Memory CognitiveCompensationMetacognitiveAffectiveSocial

**Good Language Learner (GLL) studies

3. Personality factors

AnxietyExtroversionSelf-esteemEmpathyRisk-takingInhibition

4. Sociocultural factors

Attitudes towards the target culture/languageSocial distanceAcculturation

5. Motivation

Integrative vs. instrumentalIntrinsic vs. extrinsic

6. Needs

Objective needs: diagnosed on basis of analysis of personal data,

information about language use and ability (proficiency exams)

Subjective needs: wants, desires, expectations, psychological

manifestations of a lack (less easily determined)

Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs.png

Needs Assessment Tools

1. The ESL Literacy Network (oral interview questions, p.9-14) http://www.esl-literacy.com/sites/default/files/Classroom%20Needs%20Assessment%20Tool.pdf

2. Can-Do checklists for your learner’s level and CLB descriptors for your learner’s level (see links previous slide)

3. For sample class questionnaires, pictorial needs assessment, see CLB 2000: A Guide for Implementation (p.35–43): http://www.language.ca/index.cfm?Voir=sections&Id=17358&M=4038&Repertoire_No=2137991327

4. CAELA Practitioner Toolkit: Working with Adult English Language Learners: http://www.cal.org/caela/tools/program_development/prac_toolkit.html

5. Routes and Connections Learner Community Knowledge and skills checklists (p.11-19) http://eslruralroutes.norquest.ca/getattachment/Resources/Content/Roots-Connection-Toolkit/NorQuest_Toolkit.pdf.aspx

Needs Assessment Tools: EWP

1. Essential skills profiles related to the occupations of your learners: http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/es_all-eng.do

2. NOC for specific information about learners’ jobs. www30.hrsdc.gc.ca/NOC/English/NOC/2006/IndexOfTitles.aspx

3. Printed materials from the workplace (site plans, brochures, safety manuals, payroll slips, forms, procedures, instructions, emails, etc.)

4. Interviews with employers, other employees, and your learners to gather information about communication, pronunciation, safety, and culture needs. For interview tools, see:

Common Ground: How-To Guide for Employers (available through the Resources page of the ESL Rural Routes website: www.norquest.ca/ruralroutes)

Analyzing Language Demands of Occupations: A Guidebook (esp. pp. 78–85) www.hammondassociatesinc.com/pdfs/Analyzing-Language-Demands.pdf

EWP Resources:1. Common Ground: English in the Workplace Training and Facilitator manuals

(Rural Routes website). Nine modules each cover a safety topic, a pronunciation issue, intercultural awareness, idioms, and conversation management. Includes resources for food processing, food services, hospitality, and manufacturing.

2. Online Workplace Integration Language Resources (OWLS) for videos, pragmatics, and intercultural communication: http://www.norquest.ca/norquest-centres/centre-for-intercultural-education/projects/completed-projects/online-workplace-integration-language-resources-%28o.aspx

Language assessment tools

In Canada, your learners will usually come with a CLB level. If not, the following may be useful:

1. CLB-OnlineSelfAssessment (listening/reading): http://www.clb-osa.ca/home

2. Can-Do checklists: http://www.language.ca/index.cfm?Voir=sections&Id=17369&M=4038&Repertoire_No=2137991327

3. The CLB document: http://www.language.ca/index.cfm?Voir=sections&Id=17355&M=4038&Repertoire_No=2137991327

4. Routes and Connections Pre- and Post- Language Assessment tool (p.7-8) http://eslruralroutes.norquest.ca/getattachment/Resources/Content/Roots-Connection-Toolkit/NorQuest_Toolkit.pdf.aspx

5. ERPAC Learner Profiles (p.24-31) http://eslruralroutes.norquest.ca/getattachment/Resources/Content/ESL-Resource-Package/ERPAC-via-NorQuest-College.pdf.aspx

6. LISTN: Classroom Assessment Toolkit: http://www.listn.info/site/resources/linc-assessment/classroom-assessment-toolkit

Brainstorm & DiscussBrainstorm for information that EFL

teachers would find useful to have about their students.

How could you go about identifying this information?

How would this information influence the development of an EFL course?

What could you do on the first day to get to know your students?

References

Brown, H.D. [1994]. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Regents.

Ellis, R. [1994]. The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gnida, S. (2012). Literature Summary: Autonomous learning strategies. In Kaskens, A., Light, J., & Peters, C. (2012). Moving professional learning to classroom practice: An instructor handbook, Chapter 4. Toronto, ON: Toronto Catholic District School Board.

Lightbown, P.M., & Spada, N. (1993). How Languages are Learned. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Oxford, R.L. (1989). Language Learning Stragegies. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.

Scarcella, R.C., & Oxford, R.L. (1992). The Tapestry of Language Learning. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.