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Introduction
Over the last years, the role and importance of language learning strategies has been
debating for different authors. That is why, This study draws on research conducted by the
importance of strategies at the moment of teaching, but also at the moment of learning a
language, in this case English. In this chapter you will see the evidence of these investigation
and the different opinions about this controversial topic that have been discussed for many year,
as teachers from 21th century is very important to know how we can teach strategies and the
influence that those have in the learner in the learning process.
English as a foreign language or as a second language
Its is very important to highlight the importance in discovering the difference between
this two perspectives of teaching a language. In order to have a clear perception of these
topics, Paul Christopherson(1960) gives a clear view of the difference by saying In the
personal attitude and in the use that is made of the language. A foreign language is used for
the purpose of absorbing the culture of another nation; A second language is used as an
alternative way of expressing the culture of ones own. The last explanation gives a general
idea of what the difference is about; However, it doesnt give us a clear view, in which we can
related these two topic to the learning process, but he helps us to understand in a better way
these topic. According to Marckwardt (1963) beliefs English as a foreign language is taught as
a school subject or at an adult level solely for the purpose of giving the student a foreign
language competence which he may use in one of several ways- to read literature, to read
technical words, to listen to the radio, to understand dialogues on movies, to use language for
communication possibly with transient English or Americans. It is a second language when
English becomes a language of instructions in the schools, as in the Philippines, or a lingua
franca between speakers of widely divergent language, as in India. Richard and Tai (1978)
point out that in Singapore, English has never been considered as a foreign language because
of its status as an official language, as an important language of education, a dominant working
language, a lingua franca, and a language for the expression of national identity. Richard also
provides an example by explaining that Indians see English as a language of India and the
Japanese as the language of the British or the Americans, but that the EFL textbooks are about
life and customs in Britain or the USA, whereas the ESL textbooks are about life and people in
the students own country. So according to the point of view of the last authors is that, EFL is
taught is countries in which that language is not spoken frequently, like in the case of Chile.
However, the English language will be considered as an ESL if it was taught in India, since it is
regarded as a second language or in country in which the use is very common.
Styles
To continue with, its very important to provide a definition for a learning style, since its
not considered the same as learning strategies. For Rebecca Oxford (1989), learning styles are
the general approaches that students use in order to learn a language, such as: global or
analytic, auditory or visual. Furthermore, the author (1989) completes her definition of this topic
by using citations of other authors, like: Dunn & Griggs(1988), who suggest Learning style is the
biologically and developmentally imposed set of characteristics that make the same teaching
method wonderful for some and terrible for others. The consensus view seems to be that
learning styles are associated to the biological development of the student (in this case);
However, along other lines, Am J Pham(2009) adds that characteristic cognitive, effective, and
psychosocial behaviors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive,
interact with, and respond to the learning environment. As you can observe, this author
suggests a cognitive factor instead of a biological one, but Pham and Oxford join an idea when
they say that this process is in favor of the learning. On the other hand, Ehrman (1996) gives a
clear example of how learning style can affect the way of learning a language, by saying
Learning styles are not dichotomous (black or white, present or absent). Learning styles
generally operate on a continuum or on multiple, intersecting continua. For example, a person
might be more extroverted than introverted, or more closure-oriented than open, or equally
visual and auditory but with lesser kinesthetic and tactile involvement. Few if any people could
be classified as having all or nothing in any of these categories.
Another important factor that we cannot avoid, its that there are different types of
learning style, in which by the help of Oxford we will clarify most of them. Ehrman and Oxford
(1990) cited 9 major style dimensions relevant to L2 learning, but we will mentions some of
them, such as: Sensory Preferences, Personality Types and Desired Degree of Generality.
Sensory Preferences: According to the authors (previously mentioned before), this type of style
is divided into four areas, such as: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Tactile; Moreover, Sensory
preferences refer to the physical, perceptual learning channels with which the student is the
most comfortable. Visual students like to read and obtain a great deal from visual stimulation.
For them, lectures, conversations, and oral directions without any visual backup can be very
confusing. In contrast, auditory students are comfortable without visual input and therefore enjoy
and profit from unembellished lectures, conversations, and oral directions. They are excited by
classroom interactions in role-plays and similar activities. They sometimes, however, have
difficulty with written work. Kinesthetic and tactile students like lots of movement and enjoy
working with tangible objects, collages, and flashcards. Sitting at a desk for very long is not for
them; they prefer to have frequent breaks and move around the room.
On the other side, Personality Types ( also called Psychological type) if based on four strands:
extraverted vs. introverted; intuitive-random vs. sensing-sequential; thinking vs. feeling; and
closure-oriented/judging vs. open/perceiving. The authors explain how different type of
psychological characteristics can affect the learning process of the students.
In the Desired Degree of Generality, we found the classification of two types of students,
in which Oxford name them as Holistic students and Analytic students. Holistic Students, as
Oxford suggests are like socially interactive, communicative events in which they can
emphasize the main idea and avoid analysis of grammatical minutiae. They are comfortable
even when not having all the information and they feel free to guess from the context on the
other hand Analytic students; according to Oxford Analytic students tend to concentrate on
grammatical details and often avoid more free-flowing communicative activities. Because of
their concern for precision, analytic learners typically do not take the risks necessary for
guessing from the context unless they are fairly sure of the accuracy of their guesses. in simple
words we have a student who focus mainly in the big picture or idea (Holistic) while there is a
type of learner that focus in the details of the information.
Strategies in learning
On the other hand, Oxford (1992/1993) gives us a suitable explanation for Learning
strategies, she suggests Specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques that students (often
intentionally) use to improve their progress in developing L2 skills. These strategies can
facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new language. Strategies are tools
for the self-directed involvement necessary for developing communicative ability. This author
refers to strategies as something essential in learning. Brown (1991) and Cohen (2000) add
Learning Strategies do not operate by themselves, but rather directly tied to learners
underlying learning style and other personality- related variables in the learner. What we can
assume about those term is that they are directly related with the person who is in the learning
process and they can help you to incorporate the new input that you are receiving. Oxford
(1990) suggests; A strategy is useful if the following conditions are present:
(a) the strategy relates well to the L2 task
(b) the strategy fits the particular students learning style preferences to one degree or another
(c)the student employs the strategy effectively and links it with other relevant strategies.
Strategies that fulfill these conditions make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more
self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation. What we can make us to
reflect on that is how a strategy can be very useful and it allows us to transfer our knowledge
into another context or situation. What is more, Allwright (1990) and Little (1991) claim that
Learning strategies can also enable students to become more independent, autonomous,
lifelong learners. Among other things , it indicates us that the use of strategies will be always
an advantage not only in our academic life but also in life as human being.
Besides, the use of a strategy is usually related with the style preference as Ehrman &
Oxford (1989) convey, when left to their own devices and if not encouraged by the teacher or
forced by the lesson to use a certain set of strategies, students typically use learning strategies
that reflect their basic learning style. Some of the authors related to learning strategies claims
that they are intentionally, also the strategy that the student will choose would depend of the
style. When the learner consciously choose a strategy that fits his or her learning style, these
strategies become useful to manage the learning.
On the other side, according to Pressley & Associates (1990) convey, In subject areas
outside of L2 learning, the use of learning strategies is demonstrably related to student
achievement and proficiency. Which means that every student practice her or her own strategy
according to the management of the language the he or she has. Zimmerman and Pons (1986)
suggest, it is not surprising that students who frequently employ learning strategies enjoy a high
level of self-efficacy, i.e., a perception of being effective as learners. Students who have a
frequent use of strategies in learning are more productive than the ones that dont use
strategies at the moment of getting the language.
Finally, Strategies can be classified into six type:
cognitive: facilitate the learner the use of language material in direct ways.
metacognitive: are used to manage the learning process overall.
memory-related it allows learner to join one L2 item or concept with another but it does
not implicate a deep understanding.
compensatory: the learner substitute elements for the own language and make up the
missing knowledge.
affective: we use this strategies to reduce the level of anxiety and to feel more
comfortable at the moment of performed.
social: to learn a language implies communication with other people, it is the moment
when social strategies play an important role.
LLP
Backgrounds
Marcos Monsalve Gutirrez was born on March 3rd, 1993 in Curanilahue. He is twentyone years old and he is the oldest of one sister and brother. His family is composed by
three members and now he lives in Concepcin with his girlfriend. Marcos studied at
liceo Mariano Latorre, in which the English is a compulsory subject since 1 grade
(primary school).
Tape
The student was asked to give information using can and cannot for the others classmates to be
able to guess the occupation or job
(Doctor)
Marco: I can help the people when they get sick
Marco: I cannot be distracted
(Dancer)
Marco: I can dance when the womens are look at me
Marco: I cannot work during the day only the night
Rubric
Very
Good
Task Coherence
Vocabulary, Pronunciation and Fluency
Evidence of understanding about the topic
Participation of all Ss in the group
Performance
Adequate
Weak
No evidence
Analysis
As we could observe, the students has a problem related to the pluralization of nouns,
he said I can dance when the /wm.ns/, instead of saying I can dance when women are .
This is a very common mistake related to grammar, we strongly believe in the idea that this
confusion is related to the fact that there is not a deep understanding of the changes that some
nouns have when they are pluralized.
Evaluation
As a solution we could practice plural nouns again in class and asks students for
verification, if they can explain when the noun changes, then we could see if the topic is really
internalized in the student, also if they can use that in another situation.
Procedures
Preparation
-To introduced the topic, teacher asks Ss to think about their dreamed job when they were
children
- Teacher asks students to write down their doubts that could come during the lesson about
the topic, then the teacher will answer them at the end of the class
Presentation
Practice
T asks Ss to think about the typical concerns that affect you choice at the moment of
choosing a job
T asks them how they help to solve these issues
T gives Ss some materials to prepare a conceptual map, in which there must be the types
of changes that a nouns suffers at the moment of pluralize them.
Evaluation
T asks them for a self-evaluation and at the end of answering that, they will have to
discuss their answers with their partners.
Yes
No
Expansion
How will students transfer the strategy to other tasks and situations?
T explains Ss that this type of strategy could be applied in other subjects such as history.
T asks Ss to discuss about another subject where they can use the strategy.
References