What makes a good language learner?

Hu Wenzhong(胡文仲 )

Beijing Foreign Studies

University

Nature of this talkThis is not a commercial

promotion.There are no grand promises.What we’re interested in is

the plain truth: how students should learn.

Outline of the talk What contributes to the outcome of

learning a FL What are learning strategies Research on learning strategies A checklist for good language

learners Conclusion

FL

Learner

Teaching

Learning

Environment

Outcome

(Adapted from Naiman et al.)

The learner

Age, personality,

motivation, attitude,

intelligence, language aptitude, past language experience

Teaching

Syllabus,Teaching material,Teaching method,

Activities,Teacher qualifications

Environment

Opportunities forsecond languagecontacts and use

Learning

Unconscious learning

Conscious use of learningstrategies

Age, personality,

motivation, attitude,

intelligence, language aptitude, past

language experience

Syllabus,Teaching material,Teaching method,

ActivitiesTeacher qualifications

Unconscious processesConscious use of learning

strategies

Opportunities forsecond languagecontacts and use

Proficiency in the use

of the language

LEARNER LEARNING

TEACHING

ENVIRONMENT

OUTCOME

(Adapted from Naiman et al.)

Studies have shown that…

other things being equal, learning strategies play a significant role in determining the outcome of learning.

What are learning strategies(学习策略 )

Learning strategies are “learning processes which are consciously selected by the learner.” (Cohen 1990)

“The techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge.” (Rubin 1975)

Measures taken by the learner for effective study (Wen )

In learning vocabulary you could

1.read a dictionary from cover to cover

2.learn vocab through copying word lists

3.learn vocab through memorizing texts

4.learn vocab through extensive reading

Which method do you think is the best?

So this is a talk on

learning how to learn

Background against which learning strategies studies started:

The focus of research has shifted from teaching to learning, from teaching methodology to learning strategy.

How learning strategies studies started

Started in the mid-70s of the last century J. Rubin: “What ‘the good language learner’

can teach us” published in TESOL Quarterly in 1975

N. Naiman et al.:The Good Language Learner published in 1978

Learning strategies have now become an important part of second language acquisition research.

Research in China

Naiman et al’s research

The Adult Interview Study: 34 successful and 2 unsuccessful learners selected for study

The Main Classroom Study: 72 students from 12 classes of Grades 8,10 and 12 of schools in Toronto and other areas; methods used include classroom observation and interview

Final outcome: research report

N. Naiman et al.:

The Good Language Learner

published by the Ontario Institute for

Studies in Education in 1978

Naiman and his colleagues’ conclusion

“The study has shown that some of the existing stereotypes do not apply. For example, some people believe that a good language learner has to be musical, or have a high language aptitude or an exceptionally good memory. The Adult Interview Study indicated that these qualities may not be essential.” (p. 103)

3 case studies conducted by Naiman’s team

In the age group 26-35 Two are females and one male All three are successful language learners. They learned and maintained from 5 to 19

languages including Latin, German, French, Swedish, Polish, Italian, Hebrew,Rumanian, Icelandic, Spanish, Albanian, Greek, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Mohawk, Swahili, Gaelic, Hungarian, Hittite, Japanese and Lithunian.

Ms A’s story

Born in Virginia, USA. Studied German and French at school. Went to France and stayed there for 3 years. Married a French linguist, who was bilingual in

French and German. Spent a total of 2 years in Sweden. Went to Poland for 1 year. Settled in Quebec and spoke French at home.

Ms A’s French learning experience

Saw French movies every day. Read French newspapers and

magazines. Monitored her own pronunciation and

tried hard to perfect it.

Ms A recalled:

“…whatever you pick up, whether it’s one word or two words…use it…even if it is wrong, try it out, it doesn’t matter.”

Ms B’s background

Born in Nova Scotia of Canada Languages spoken at home: English and

Yiddish Languages she studied at school:

German and French Went to Italy for teacher training

Ms B recalled:

“I wasn’t afraid anymore, I generated sentences…if they weren’t correct, people around me told me how to say it. I was on the look-out for clues.”

Ms B’s experience

Ms B pointed out that the immersion into an Italian environment, and therefore the motivation for having to learn to speak the language, were the most significant factors.

Is there something we can learn from Ms A and Ms B?

Perhaps we could learn from them

Their interest in foreign languages Their perseverance Their initiative Their use of the environment Their outgoing personality

Professor Wen’s case study of two of her students

Wang Hong

Li Hua

Professor Wen Qiufang’s research findings

name sex age Eng-lish

(entr.)

Chi-nese

(entr.)

Hours

Per week

CET

Band

4

Wang

Hong

F 19 95 75 20.5 90.5

Li

Hua

F 20 96 75 40 64.25

Wang Hong:

“I’m very active in class because I think this is a good chance to practice speaking. I like to talk with my fellow students and my teachers in English. I also like to talk to myself in English. Sometimes when I work in the kitchen I speak English to myself. “

Li Hua:

“I don’t like to answer questions in class. Sometimes even when I do know the answer, I still feel reluctant to speak. I do not practise outside class because there isn’t such an environment. Occasionally I talk to myself. When I cannot remember an English word I use gestures or simply do not speak at all.”

Wang Hong:

Wang Hong likes to reflect on the strategies she has used. She evaluates her learning. When she could not answer the teacher’s questions fluently or got an unsatisfactory score, she would try to find out why before she went to bed.

Li Hua:

“I’m not clear what strategies I’ve used. I just preview, review, do my homework and memorize new words. That’s all. There’s no strategy to speak of.”

Professor Wen’s book

俞弘：“如果说学习外语和婴儿学话有所不同的话，那就在于我们缺乏语言环境。这一缺陷需要靠广泛的阅读来弥补。普通中学或非英语院系一般没有大量的阅读课，这要求大家在课外增加英语阅读的数量。”“我想，阅读的材料从简单的入手，从自己的熟悉的课题入手，在于‘泛’而不在于‘精’，在于数量而不在于质量。”

吴珺：“那末这种语感如何培养呢？那就得靠平时多花功夫，大量阅读课外书。从二年级开始，我一直不间断地广泛阅读课外书籍，几乎一大半英文名著我都看过，还有许多科幻体裁的通俗作品，另外我也喜欢看《读者文摘》和《时代周刊》。”

What is common to the GLLs

A strong interest in the foreign language

Hard workConstantly checking on one’s own

progress and the strategies used

O’Malley and Chamot’s classification

Learning strategies

meta

metacognitive

cognitive social/affective

Metacognitive strategies(元认知策略 )

Advance organizers Directed attention Selective attention Self- management Advance preparation Self-monitoring Delayed production Self-evaluation

Be a good manager of your studies

You need to be a good planner.You need to use your attention wisely.You need to make preparations

beforehand.You need to monitor your studies.You need to evaluate the methods you

used.

Cognitve strategies(认知策略 )

Repetition Resourcing Translation Grouping Note-taking Deduction Recombination

Cognitive strategies(认知策略 )

Imagery Auditory representation Key word Contextualization Elaboration Transfer Inferencing

Social/affective strategies(社会 /情感策略 )

CooperationQuestion for clarification

Rebecca Oxford’s classification

Direct strategies Memory strategies Cognitive strategies Compensation strategies

Indirect strategies Metacognitive strategies Affective strategies Social strategies

Research findings by Li Jiongying:

“The learning strategies Chinese students most commonly use are memory strategies, cognitive and metacognitive strategies. Next are compensation strategies. The least commonly used strategies are social/affective strategies.” (Li 2003)

A study of the differences between English majors and non-English majors

Subjects:515 non-English majors and 317 English majors at a university in Shandong

Questionnaire consists of two parts: personal information and 47 questions based on Oxford’s questionnaire.

Conducted in May 2002. Scores of each student for the six strategies

and the mean score of English majors and non-English majors worked out.

Differences between English majors and non-English majors

Non-English majors

English majors

m.s. s.d. m.s. s.d.Meta-cognitive 3.03 .73 3.37 .64

Cognitive 2.80 .63 3.17 .50

Memory 3.35 .73 2.94 .51

Social 2.71 .73 3.14 .60

Affective 2.75 .75 2.98 .68Compensation 3.19 .68 3.40 .58

The research shows

Non-English majors use fewer strategies than English majors.

Non-English majors use memory strategies more often than English majors.

Non-English majors need to improve their learning strategies.

Rubin’s list of strategies

The GLL is a willing and accurate guesser. The GLL has a strong drive to communicate. The GLL is not inhibited. The GLL pays attention to form. The GLL practises. The GLL monitors his own speech and the

speech of others. The GLL attends to meaning.

Be a good guesser

Guessing,in a way, is learning. You may make a wrong guess, but you

learn in the process. You don’t make wild guesses. You use your

previous knowledge to make an intelligent guess.

Now look at this sentence:

“I’d like to close tonight with words from the second inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln—a great leader who knew a few things about healing deadly divisions in this land. They are uncannily appropriate tonight.”

Have a strong drive to communicate

Talk to your fellow students, your teachers, your foreign teacher or anyone who wishes to listen to you.

Don’t be afraid of making mistakes. If you have no one to talk to, talk to yourself.

Don’t be shy

Take the initiative to communicate with people.

Don’t worry about your “face”.Learn to speak in public.

Pay attention to both meaning and form

Fluency and accuracy are both important, but at the beginning you should not worry too much about making mistakes.

Practise as much as you can. Watch what you say and write. Be a good

monitor of yourself.

Be a thinking learner

Find strategies suitable for yourself. Constantly reflect on your study and sum

up your experience. Improve your strategies.

Beiwai’s past experience

Oral activities Speaking pairs and small group activities Reading aloud contest English evening Field work Summing up learning methods and

exchange experiences

Now you can ask yourself the following questions:

Do you actively involve yourself in language learning practice?

Do you make guesses when you come up against a new language item?

Do you try to sum up rules yourself? Do you make conscious efforts to overcome

your shyness? Do you seek opportunities to communicate

with others in English?

Ask yourself the following questions:

Do you monitor your writing and speaking? Do you often use a dictionary and sometimes a

grammar book? Do you sometimes sit down and reflect on your

learning experience? Are you worried when there’s something you

don’t understand? Are you afraid of making mistakes?

If your answers to the first eight questions are all positive and

your answers to the last two are in the negative, I’m sure you’re a

good language learner.

Thank you.