Teaching Language Learning Strategies

 A number of studies have tried to identify what good language learners do. And what cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies they employ in order to be successful. While not every strategy is expected to be successful for every student, helping language learners know what strategies are likely to be more successful can be an extremely liberating process and give students motivation to take more risk. Good language learners predict. Good language learners will often guess or be invited to guess what the topic will be about. Students who are good at picking up on social and contextual clues often become better language learners. Use selective attention. Good language learners often pay attention to only a particular aspect of a lesson. They will decide, in advance, to ignore distracting information and pay attention only to what they believe is important. Prepare, learners who prepare in advance often do better. 

For example, a learner who writes down notes about what he or she wants to say, generally will excel over a student who imply tries to speak with no preparation. Look ridiculous, learners who are willing to look foolish often make better language students, they don't worry about what they look like. They focus on the task and try to accomplish it. Practice, learners who practice are better able to master the skill of language. Practice should be at the core of any real language class. 

Monitor, monitoring refers to correction of your own speech for accuracy and pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and appropriateness. A learner who pays attention to both form and meaning is often the best language learner. Ask questions, and encourage learners to ask questions. Learners who learn to ask questions to those around them and get answers to those questions are more likely to be successful. Encourage students to take notes, learners who write down what they hear and discuss are more likely to remember and better able to retain. Use imagery. This will help students relate information. Learners who relate new information to a visualization often perform better, especially at recall. Find an answer in multiple ways. Doing this by listening to different students answers will make students understand that good language learners are able to find answers form dictionaries, teachers, students and other sources. They don't get information from just one source. 

Teach students to use physical response. Good language learners can relate information such as new vocabulary to a physical action. And this helps deepen memory. Play, good language learners practice reordering a meaningful sentence by using words in a new way. They play with language. Now, did you notice that as we went through these strategies, that some of the good language learner strategies are similar to good teacher strategies. Even if your learners never actively learn any of these strategies you can still encourage the use of them within your classroom. Help students predict, ask questions use imagery and play.

Learners need to know not just what to learn, but how to learn. And as a language teachers, we play a serious role in helping give them correct strategies. A teacher is a trail guide, helping learners along a path with obstacles and choices. A teacher help learners  avoid pitfalls and discover strategies that they should use instead.

Research has shown that language learners who use these strategies are more likely to acquire a foreign language. Oxford (1990) states that language learning strategies (LLS) allow learners to become more self-directed and expand the role of language teachers. She states that LLS are flexible, problem oriented, and not just cognitive in nature. She concludes that LLS can be taught, and they are influenced by a variety of factors.

Lessard-Clouston (1997) states that training students to use LLS can help them become better language learners and suggests a three-step approach.

Step 1: Study your teaching context to determine which LLS should be taught. Gather information about your students, such as their goals and motivations, and observe which LLS they are already using. This information can be gathered through informal observation, interviews, questionnaires or surveys. Look through available teaching materials to determine if LLS training is already incorporated into the lessons. Finally, analyze your own teaching methods and styles to determine which LLS you are already modeling, and how you are modeling them – implicitly, explicitly, or both?

Step 2: Focus on LLS in your teaching. After determining which LLS are the most relevant to your learners, your materials and your own teaching style, incorporate them into your lessons. Give students clear examples of how LLS can be used to improve their language skills. Give students opportunities to use and develop these LLS so they can use them independently both in and out of the classroom. (Remember the focused and diffuse modes of learning and the 80/20 rule.)

Step 3: Reflect on the use of LLS. As a purposeful teacher, reflect on your own use of LLS and the effectiveness of the LLS training and practice you provided in your lessons. Encourage students to reflect on their use of LLS to determine which ones are more useful to them.

Language learning is an individualized process, and learners need a variety of LLS in order to successfully acquire a foreign language. As teachers we are not only responsible for teaching our learners what to learn, but also how to learn. Training students on the use of LLS allows them to take responsibility for their own learning and become autonomous, independent communicators.

References:

Lessard-Clouston, Michael. "Language Learning Strategies: An Overview for L2 Teachers." Essays in Languages and Literatures. 8. December (1997): Web

Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. New York: Newbury House.