Article for NOP TIK No.

13 (2005) Written by: Elizabeth Moreno Gloggner

Learner preferences and the teaching program

Introduction This article deals with the discussion of differences in approach and learning styles and the possibility to accommodate all these differences in the group program. One way of dealing with it is giving the learners a more active role, making them aware of how to work more independently from the teacher and having them become involved in the learning process in order to exploit and benefit from their own learning styles.

However, as Williams and Burden (1977:147) recognize, traditionally, curricula have tended to concentrate on imparting knowledge and skills, and have neglected the teaching of how to learn . Therefore, institutions have to provide the right conditions to foster a change in the curriculum in order to incorporate into them more structured opportunities for all students to reflect and discuss about their learning in their classrooms. Additionally, teacher systematic training is vital as a redefinition of teachers attitudes and roles would be required.

The learner, the teacher, the program, the institution and the concept of autonomy will be considered in this article as they are all key elements in the discussion of incorporating the learning preferences of students into the program.

Language learning styles and preferences: Richards and Lockhart (1994:59) refer to learning styles as cognitive ones; they state differences in people s cognitive styles reflect the different ways people respond to learning situations. Preferences range from a wide spectrum of issues in the class, from classroom management (group/pair /individual work), to pace and content of the lesson, from correction of errors to outside classroom tasks, the way learners expect to be taught and tested, the role students expect the teachers to take and their own role as students, etc. Preferences also deal with the students beliefs about learning and teaching and their expectations in general.

Information on students preferred styles of learning is significant for teachers as it can help them know many aspects of their students behaviors, attitudes and ways of learning, what kind of changes or adaptations would need to be made with particular groups of people, what kind of connections will need to be built between their expectations and the teacher s ones, the approach the teacher might take concerning methodology and management, etc.

When dealing with individual differences one must consider the concepts of field independence versus field dependence as cognitive abilities because they reflect the learning styles and preferences of the learners. According to Skehan (1989:111) fielddependent individuals are thought to be outgoing and will be more inclined to interpersonal situations, wanting contact with other people, and engaging in verbal interaction with them, whereas field-independent learners are more impersonal and detached , they are more object-oriented and have more analytic and cognitive restructuring capabilities.

But is it possible for a teacher to consider if not all, most of her/his learners preferred ways of learning a foreign language and to incorporate those styles into the everyday lessons? To answer this we need to discuss the following elements:

The learners

Learners have individual senses of need that most likely do not coincide with those of their classmates or the teacher. Some students want to practice speaking and listening more than any other activity while others want to study more grammar rules, some learners are visual types, whereas others are auditory, some members of the group are intuitive language learners while others are analytic. Every individual student perceives learning in distinct forms. Some learners would expect the teacher to stand in front of the class and answer all their questions while some others would rather work cooperatively most of the time and not be corrected directly. Some students love to learn songs and learn as casual as possible while others really dislike playing games and reject role-plays. The need for students to feel comfortable in the classroom is vital as it would probably enhance their motivation positively and thus show progress and achievement, which is one of the main goals of learning.

However, there could be as many preferences and styles as individuals in any classroom, and learners need to cope and interact with all their classmates and the teacher as well, as they are members of a social world.

The teacher As teachers we cannot select our students according to our styles of teaching, we have them in the classrooms as they come and as they learn best. We cannot change them and make them fit neatly into the program, the evaluation framework and teaching activities. Once teachers start getting to know their students, they face the dilemma of trying to adapt the activities and materials to suit most of their students preferences or keep going as the program and materials were planned and ignore to certain extent what some students are asking for, overtly or implicitly, in the lessons. Teachers realize that they cannot satisfy every single student with their preferred way of learning, even though they might want to or have the energy to do so. Every term or every new course with a new group of students, teachers are confronted with this predicament. .

However, teachers might decide to ignore the individual differences of their learners and continue with their syllabus without recognizing them because of unclear correlations and evidence of their link to successful learning or because these differences and styles are so many in one class that it would be impossible for any teacher to please every one of them with a certain material or activity.

A teacher has two choices: 1) she/he might be in the position to decide on her/his own what to do in her/his class, or 2) might have the opportunity to discuss these issues at formal meetings with their institution s representatives, colleagues and probably the curriculum design committee.

If a teacher decides to work out his/her program by himself/herself he would probably have to consider a myriad of activities, project works, materials and methods of achieving a language task to try to cover the most outstanding or major styles and preferences in every group. At least she/he would have to be dynamic and have a good repertoire of tasks and classroom management skills. The teacher would spend a few classes at the beginning of each course to work explicitly in learner training, in making

her/his students aware of learning to learn . Hadfield (1992) suggests a series of tasks to promote, among others, awareness of cooperation, group strategies and good learning atmosphere in L2 classes. Furthermore, the teacher would have to open spaces in her/his program for students to discuss how to organize their learning outside the classroom according to their preferences, and motivate them to carry out activities or project works according to their interests and proficiency levels and to even, probably, experiment with alternative styles.

On the other hand, if choice number two is possible and if certain institutional or group action is plausible in order to take into account the learners too, then the school might foster certain changes in the curriculum. That is, if data on learners preferences were going to be taken into account in the syllabus, changes (from the traditional ways of teaching) would need to take place in everyday practice. For example, some institutions already have self-access facilities for the student community, and that could be taken as part of the redesign of the program. Teachers would probably need to design or adapt material from other sources, implying, among other things, many more working hours, a greater amount of preparation, collaborative work and thus, more effort and energy into their workloads. It would depend on the teacher s compromise to her/his beliefs and profession. However, anxiety would be the first teacher human reaction to a new teaching perspective spectrum as their roles would definitely widen and switch. Teachers would need preparation, training to adjust to their roles, to support their students in their preparation for learner training. Counselor, guide, mediator, adviser, etc. would be more demanding roles for the teacher. They would need to belong to a new group of teachers who know how to train more independent learners and how to create activities and materials for them.

Certainly, some teachers could argue it is not their function to be jugglers in the class, so we need to acknowledge the fact that they could show teacher resistance attitudes to new roles. For example, regarding the use of self-access facilities, some teachers feel that the time spent in SAC1 could be more productively spent in class, as most students do not apparently benefit directly, and no immediate and obvious improvement can be

SAC= Self-Access Centre

shown from their time there. Probably these teachers really believe that what is taught by them in class is learned by their students.

The program: A learning-Centred 2Curriculum could be considered if the institution would foster changes to enable the individual to pursue his/her interests in the way that is most productive. Exercises and activities can combine the collective and the individual. A learning-centred curriculum encourages learners to recognize and be aware of their own preferences and gives teachers a role to assist them in developing their abilities to foster acquisition more effectively. Once the preferences have been identified, there is a possibility of grouping certain preferences according to their abilities or skills (e.g. I like to learn by conversations, I like to learn English words by hearing them, I like to learn by watching T.V, etc versus I like to read newspapers, I like to learn English words by seeing them, I like to learn by reading, etc) or to ways of receiving feedback and instruction (e.g. I like the teacher to tell me all my mistakes and I like the teacher to explain everything to us versus I like the teacher to let me find my mistakes and I like the teacher to give us problems to work on), so that teachers can handle content as well as learning process according to what the average, or most students report preferring , otherwise the idea of matching activities with every style could be unthinkable. Also more flexibility for evaluation could be allowed in the program. Besides, a series of workshops to develop different language abilities or learning how to learn awareness rising could be offered by the institution apart from the classes, so students could have the opportunity to decide when and to what extent they would like to work on their preferred activities.

The institutions It would result less likely and costly for a small language school to consider directly different methods, resources and materials for different preferences, however, in larger higher institutions where there is the possibility for self-access facilities, materials, personnel and adult students, it could be, to certain extent, the right place to start promoting student independence in the long-run. The institutions need to provide the
2

A learning-centred classroom carries learners toward the ability to make critical pedagogical decisions by systematically training them in the skills they need to make such decisions. It focuses on language content as well as on the learning process . (Nunan, 1995:134)

appropriate and systematic training program for their staff, especially in our culture where traditionally everything concerned with education has been top-down. Besides, student s preparation should be built into the learning program, not implemented as something supplementary just at the beginning of courses or sporadically discussed in special occasions However, if no formal changes to the curriculum were to be taken, support from the institution to teachers trying out new ideas by themselves will definitely be needed.

b) Autonomy

If learners want to be taken into account as individuals, with certain preferred ways of learning styles, they would need to take more responsibility for their own learning as it would be impossible for teachers to match each learner s way of learning best. The learner needs to get involved in the process and this is where the other teachers roles emerge. Teachers could encourage their learners to take the most out of their styles if open discussions and types of activities done in lessons promote reflection and less teacher-dependency.

Students might not necessarily be responsible for what they learn, as most students do not know the language as a subject, they have to rely on the teachers expertise, would need to consult them on different routes to get to the language objectives in the curriculum, but they could decide on topics, areas of interests to discuss in the lessons, ways to develop skills, they could decide on which route to take and the materials to use after class or in the SAC. Furthermore, learners could be involved in setting their shortterm goals and could set themselves their own challenges.

However, the learner would need to be prepared to accept that responsibility as it implies much more work from him/her. Not every student is likely to accept or to want to work without the total direction of a teacher, there might be degrees of independence in a continuum where only the learner him/herself can decide to what extent they want to work at their own pace and style.

Learner training towards independence is a complicated task for everyone involved. It could probably be done up to a certain extent as some teachers themselves might not

know how to handle autonomy in their teaching situations. It is a process, it needs experience from the teacher and from the institution to guide learners, little by little to reach a certain degree of learning autonomy, especially in contexts where traditionally only paternalistic and authoritarian education has been the norm.

Conclusion

There is little likelihood to offer a curriculum to suit every learning style in the classroom. Therefore, what could be offered instead is a more flexible classroom setting that allows opportunities to more individual freedom and provides more exploratory materials and tasks, as well as different classroom organizations.

In order to do that, a more sensitive approach to the students as individuals and to the way they learn is critical. From knowing how students learn best, from increasing their involvement all throughout the learning process, teachers would be in a position to understand them and provide them with different learning opportunities in their classes.

A reorientation of teachers roles would be necessary and that could not be plausible without systematic training and consistent forums for discussion. Institutions should be the ones who should encourage, via their staff and curricula, teaching that also takes into account the way people learn.

REFERENCES Hadfield, Jill. (1992). Classroom Dynamics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nunan, David. (1995). Closing the Gap between learning and instruction. TESOL. Quarterly. 29/1, pp. 133-155 Richards, Jack; Charles, Lockhart. (1994). Reflective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Skehan, Peter. (1989).Individual Differences in Second-Language Learning. London: Edward Arnold. Williams, Marion; Robert, Burden. (1997). Psychology for Language Teachers.Cambridge: C.U.P.