UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL
DE GOIÁS
FACULDADE DE LETRAS
DEPARTAMENTO DE
LÍNGUAS E LITERATURAS ESTRANGEIRAS
GOIÂNIA
NOVEMBRO/2007
IMPROVING SPEAKING SKILL THROUGH THE USE OF
AFFECTIVE STRATEGIES
Final written report submitted by Dayane Rita da Silveira to Professor Alexandre Badim as partial requirement for a degree in EFL teaching.
Letras – Licenciatura
em Inglês.
For God – who took my
life into His hands and turned it all around and made me find the strength I
have never had.
Acknoledgements
I am
especially grateful to my mother – Gercina – who constantly encouraged me
during the time I was writing this work. I also
would like to give special thanks for my father – Célio – and for my brother –
Charles.
Abstract
This paper aims to emphasize the importance of
language learning strategies in foreign language learning and teaching. It
summarizes the background of language learning strategies, defines the concept
of it, and outlines the taxonomy of language learning strategies proposed by
several researchers. It also takes into account affective aspects that can
interfere in language learning process and how affective strategies can help to
overcome some of these problems.
Key words: strategies and affective.
Resumo
Este trabalho tem por objetivo
enfatizar a importância das estratégias de aprendizagem no ensino e
aprendizagem de língua estrangeira. Essa pesquisa fornece um histórico dos
estudos sobre estratégias de aprendizagem, resumindo-as e delineando a taxonomia
dos tipos de estratégias de aprendizagem proposta por diferentes pesquisadores.
Este trabalho leva em conta aspectos afetivos que podem influenciar o processo
de aprendizagem de uma língua estrangeira e como as estratégias afetivas podem
ajudar a superar alguns desses problemas.
Palavras-chave: estratégias e
afetividade.
Table of contents
1. Introduction
2. Reviewed literature
2.1 Language learning strategies
2.2 Speaking skill
2.3 The importance of interaction in language learning
2.4 Oral activities in language
learning classroom
2.4.1 Types of oral
activities
2.5 Developmental stages of speaking
2.6 Reasons that make students stop
speaking in language classroom
being
ridiculed by classmates
2.6.2 Teachers’
intolerance of silence
2.6.3 The unequal
opportunities teachers give to each student to speak
2.6.4 Difficult
teachers’ language input
3. Learning strategies
3.1 Definition
3.2 The importance of language
learning strategies
3.3 Taxonomy of language learning
strategies
3.3.1 Rubin’s
classification
Learning strategies
Communication strategies
Social strategies
3.3.2 Chamot and
O’Malley’s classification
3.3.3 Stern’s
classification
Management and planning
strategies
Cognitive strategies
Communicative-Experimental
strategies
Interpersonal strategies
Affective strategies
3.3.4 Oxford ’s classification
→ Direct strategies
Memory strategies
Cognitive strategies
Compensation strategies 2
→ Indirect strategies 3
Metacognitive strategies
Social strategies
4. Affective strategies
4.1 Lowering your anxiet
4.1.1 Using progressive
relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation
4.1.2 Using music
4.1.3 Using laughter
4.2 Encourage yourself
4.2.1 Making positive
statements
4.2.2 Taking risks
wisely
4.2.3 Rewarding yourself
4.3 Taking your emotional
temperature
4.3.1 Listening to your
body
4.3.2 Using checklist
4.3.3 Writing a language
learning diary
4.3.4 Discussing your
feelings with someone else
4.4 Applying affective strategies to
speaking skill
4.4.1 Creating a
language learning notebook
4.4.2 Setting goals and
objectives
4.4.3 Gauging your skill
progress
4.4.4 Relaxing
4.4.5 Calming down
through meditation and music
4.4.6 Praise be!
.4.7 Assessing your
emotions
.4.8 Stress checking
4.4.9 Keeping a diary
5. Affectivity: what is it?
5.1 Critical period
5.2 Neurological considerations
5.3 Psychomotor considerations
5.4 Cognitive considerations
5.5 Affective considerations
6. Personality factors that affect language learning success
6.1 Self-esteem
6.2 Inhibition
6.3 Risk-taking
6.4 Anxiety
6.5 Attitude
7. Final considerations
References
- Introduction
When we are learning
English as a foreign language, some difficulties are often presented. There are
many problems that have to be overcome to make learning more efficient. It is important to say that learning is different from acquisition. In this work the term learning is very important because we
are going to talk about the process of gaining knowledge by studying. According
to Oxford (1990, p.4):
Learning is conscious knowledge of rules, does not
typically lead to conversational fluency, and is derived from formal
instruction. Acquisition, on the
other hand, occurs unconsciously and spontaneously, does lead to conversational
fluency, and arise from naturalistic language use.
Learning a new language
necessarily involves developing some abilities that are called skills. According to the Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary (2005, p.1431) skill
means “the ability to do something well” or “a particular ability or type of
ability”. In the language learning process we have four skills: listening,
speaking, reading and writing. The skills are commonly divided into two groups:
the receptive skills (listening and reading) and the productive skills
(speaking and writing). However, according to Fries (1945), Stern (1970), and
Celce-Murcia and McIntosh (1989) to be successful in language learning, skills
must be sequenced and the receptive skills should be first. Then, this is the
traditional order that the skills must be presented –listening, reading,
speaking and writing.
Speaking is the
productive skill in the oral communication and, like any other skills, it is
more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing
words. Since learning to speak in a foreign language is a complex skill and I
am a modern language student and a foreign language teacher as well, I am
worried about this skill as that a good command of oral communication
proficiency is essential in foreign language learning and teaching.
In order to help
students develop the skills, there are some strategies they can choose which
can play an important role in learning a language. Strategies are very
important to language learning “because they are tools for active,
self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative
competence” (Oxford, 1990:1).
According to Oxford
(1990), learning strategies can be divided into two groups: direct strategies
and indirect strategies. These two classes are subdivided into six groups:
memory, cognitive and compensation (under the direct class); metacognitive, affective
and social (under the indirect class). Direct strategies work with the language
itself and indirect strategies work with “metacognitive strategies for
coordinating the learning process, affective strategies for regulating
emotions, and social strategies for learning with others” (Oxford, 1990:5).
Speaking is considered a
complex skill and requires more than just a correct way of pronouncing words. As
a language learner, I still have some problems when I have to speak and it has
reflected in me as a teacher as well. Sometimes I can organize the structure in
my mind, I know the words I have to use, and I really have enough knowledge to
enter in an oral communication but most of the time it has been very hard to
me. It was easy to see that my problem is not really related to the knowledge
of the language itself.
According to Brown (1993:61),
“human beings are emotional creatures” and for this reason “we are influenced
by our emotions”. When we are learning a foreign language, as in any other
situation, we are also influenced by emotions. Likewise, Oxford (1990) suggests
that language leaning is an emotional and interpersonal process as well as a
cognitive and metacognitive affair. She states that many researchers have not
paid enough attention to this, and, for this reason, I decide to focus this
work in her theory. Then, in this research I decided to work on speaking skills
trying to investigate how the problems related to the emotional side can affect
the process of learning a language and I also will present some strategies
which can help face some of these problems.
I intend to show that
speaking goes beyond just pronouncing words and try to present some suggestions
to help students developing the speaking skill through the use of learning strategies.
I also intend to find a way to create a good atmosphere in learning a language
through the use of “affective strategies”.
My intention is to
investigate how affective aspect can affect language learning. I will describe
and try to understand some of these feelings related to the language learning
process and search for some strategies that will be useful to solve some
problems related to the emotional side of the language learning process.
In this work, first of
all, I will take a look at the four language skills, showing how they are
divided and special attention will be paid to speaking skills showing what the
aspects are involved in this ability. Related to this topic, there will be a
brief description of the importance of interaction in language learning and
some oral activities which can take place in the language learning classroom.
Then, some of the most common reasons that make students not want to
participate in language learning classroom using the target language will be
presented.
After that, some
definitions of language learning strategies will be reported and why they are
important for the language learning process. Following this, there is a brief
description of language learning strategies’ taxonomy. Some of the most
important researchers in the history of leaning strategies: Rubin (1987),
Chamot and O’Malley (1990), Oxford
(1990) and Stern (1992) will be presented.
As the intention of this
work is to focus on affective strategies,
there will be a quick look on Oxford ’s
(1990) direct strategies and a more
detailed look on indirect strategies
focusing on a special set: affective strategies. Following this, there is a
deeper look at affective strategies and a study on how they can cooperate to the
success of language learners.
Then, some personality
factors related to language learning – anxiety, attitude, self-esteem amongst
others – will be discussed, and how they can affect this process. The last part
will be a personal view, which shows how this work contributed to me as a
foreign language learner and teacher.
- Reviewed literature
2.1
Language learning skills
Learning a new language
necessarily involves developing some modalities that are called skills. According to Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary (2005: 1431), skill
means “the ability to do something well” or “a particular type of ability”. The
language learning process involves four skills: listening, speaking, reading
and writing. These skills are commonly related to each other by two parameters:
the mode of communication (oral or written), and the direction of communication
(receiving or producing the message). We may represent the relationship among
them in the following chart:
|
The skills are divided into receptive
(listening and reading) and productive (speaking and writing). It is similar to
a small child development. First the child listens, and then he speaks, which
means that understanding always precedes production. According to Fries (1945),
Stern and Celce-Murcia (1970), and McIntosh (1989), to be successful in
language learning, skills must be sequenced, and the receptive skills should be
first. Stern (1970, apud Brown 1994:49) states that “a small child listen and
speaks and no one would dream of making him read or write. Reading and writing
are advanced stages in language development. Then, the natural order for first
and second language learning is listening, speaking, reading and writing”.
2.2
Speaking skill
Speaking is one of the
productive skills and like any other skill is more complicated than it seems
because it involves more than just pronouncing words. Speaking is very
important because it seems to be the most handy and immediate form of
communication. Moreover, oral communication provides the base for growth in
reading and writing. Through the oral language skill we can express our
feelings, thoughts, and ideas. Because of the fact that speaking is a
productive skill there is a receptive skill involved in this process –
listening. Let’s work a little on it.
The classroom should be
a place where the use of spoken language is sensitively supported and where
active listening is developed and valued. Talk enables students to make
connections between what they know and what they are learning, and listening
helps them to acquire knowledge and explore ideas. You can learn a lot through
listening and in school it should be a prime source of information.
Listening is a complex
process in which listeners interact with a speaker in order to construct
meaning, within a context. Understanding oral language is essential to the
learning process and to extend listener abilities it is necessary the use of
some strategies, as well as in any other skill. In order to make listening
skill more effective, listening activities are commonly structured in the
following way: pre-listening (students should be prepared for what they are
about to hear because it helps to produce interest and motivate them),
listening (during listening students verify and revise their predictions), and
post-listening (following up activities that clarify and extend students
listening comprehension and give students opportunity to connect what they have
heard to their own ideas and experiences).
While you are learning a
foreign language, listening is very important because it helps students to
acquire knowledge and explore ideas. According to Cook (1996), the listening
process is part of the speaker’s use of language and it is necessary to take
into consideration three elements that are part of this process: access to
vocabulary, parsing, and memory processes. First, in order to comprehend a
sentence you have to work out what the words mean (access to vocabulary); then,
the mind works out the grammatical structure and meaning of a sentence it hears
(parsing); and then, the comprehension depends on the storing and processing of
information buy the mind (memory processes). In order to reach a productive
skill in the language learning process – in this case speaking – it is necessary
to go through all these elements above, which are part of the receptive skill –
listening. By the time that a listener’s mind passes through all these steps –
access to vocabulary, parsing, and memory processes – the learner becomes able
to go to the speaking skill.
When someone becomes a
language learner, he is attempting to communicate through a language that is
not his own. It is considerable to say that the process of learning a new
language is different from the one of children learning a first language where
mental and social development go step by step as a natural process. We can say
that talking in language classroom involves two important functions: the social
(students’ oral language skills develop in conjunction with their expanding social
awareness) and the intellectual (extension of the knowledge of the language).
As a social function, talk helps students adjust to ideas and reformulate these
ideas to facilitate students understanding. Students share information and
ideas with listeners through speaking. Talk is also used to form relationships
through language. As an intellectual function, talk shapes students’
perceptions of the world and represents these perceptions as knowledge and it
increases students’ critical thinking abilities and retention. We can see that
both social and intellectual functions take place in classroom. Sometimes this
talking occur without teachers’ interference, spontaneously, but in general it
requires planning. It is important to say that confidence (when there is a
relationship of mutual trust) and enthusiasm (when students have frequent
opportunities to talk) are critical factors in oral language development, and
because of the fact that much oral language is immediate, it involves taking
risks.
2.3
The importance of interaction in language learning classroom
According to Brown
(1994), interaction is the exchange
of thoughts, feelings and ideas between two or more people, which result in a
mutual understanding. Mackey and Pica (1998, apud Gontijo, 2004) imply that
interaction provides the environment where the learning takes place. Rivers
(1987, apud Gontijo, 2004) proposes that the most important aspect of
interactions is the exchange of information. Through the interaction students
may develop the language in which they are exposed to (input), and the language they are supposed to produce (output).
However, Scarcella and
Oxford (1992) go beyond saying that only to provide a comprehensible input (language that the learners read
and listen) and encourage the students to produce the language (oral and
written production) are not the only factors that make the learning process
easy. Despite of these two factors – comprehensible input and encouragement to produce the language – it is also
extremely important the attendance teacher provides in the interactive
environment. Let’s see some types of oral activities that can be developed in the
language leaning classroom.
2.4
Oral activities in language learning classroom
Scarcella and Oxford
(1992) highlight that it is difficult to segregate the four language learning
skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – and yet keep a satisfactory
level of communication in language learning classroom. However, language
learning teachers must provide opportunities to make the oral production happen
in the language learning classroom, in order to make learners practice the
target language.
2.4.1
Types of oral activities
Doff (1988, apud
Gontijo, 2004) divides oral activities in two types: controlled communicative activities and free communicative activities. The first one does not give
opportunities for learners to add information; it provides limited options
(e.g. information gap, pair activities, and exchange personal information). On
the other hand, the second one stimulates the learner to contribute and add
information freely (e.g. role plays, and pair and group work).
Prabhu (1987, apud
Gontijo, 2004) divides the communicative activities in three parts, in which
the term gap is common in all of
them: information-gap, reasoning-gap, and opinion-gap. Information-gap
is commonly pair work, in which learners exchange information: one learner has
one part of some information and the other one has another part of the
information. Reasoning-gap is a kind
of activity in which learners intend to discover new information from the ones
that they have already achieved through deduction, inference, perception, and
reasoning. In opinion-gap activities
students presents their position, feelings attitudes. It is a very rich
exercise since there are a variety of different opinions.
Ellis and Nobuyoshi
(1993, apud Gontijo, 2004) stress that communicative activities help learners
in their fluency and correction since it allows them to
activate their linguistic knowledge and use it spontaneously into conversation
and also help them to control their own linguistic knowledge. The authors
classified the communication activities into two distinct types: focused communication tasks and unfocussed communication tasks. The focused communication tasks have as
their aim to focus on some linguistic topic. On the other hand, the unfocused communication tasks have no
effort in emphasize specific topics of the language.
2.5
Developmental stages of speaking
As students become more
proficient they should be able to develop some abilities such as social
interaction (interact socially - use
appropriate language and ideas; ask questions and clarify understandings;
produce emotional responses; and be sensitive to other’s point of view), develop self-awareness (examine and
explore personal points of view; determine what it is they need to know; and
find effective ways of supporting their own opinions), and inform (use key language patterns; appropriate intonation; reflect
if the language is appropriate to the listeners; and determine the type of
presentations necessary in order for the listener to benefit and learn).
It is relevant to say
that fluency and effectiveness in speaking takes time because it develops
gradually. The following chart describes the developmental stages of speaking,
from dependence to independence:
Developmental Stages of Speaking:
From Dependence to Independence
|
|
Stage 1
Novice Speaker (unskilled, needs encouragement) |
|
Stage 2
Transitional Speaker (self-involved, becoming more confident) |
|
Stage 3
Willing Speaker (peer-involved, achieving self-assurance) |
|
Stage 4
Independent Speaker (autonomous speaker, assuming leadership roles) |
|
Source: Speaking and Listening: Instructional
Philosophy and Teaching Suggestions. Available in: http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/mla/speak.html
2.6
Reasons that make students stop speaking in
language classroom
There are many reasons
that cause silence in class and a very important discussion is how to make
students talk in the target language in the classroom. According to Beebe
(1983, apud Bailey and Nunan, 1996) “getting students to respond in the
classroom is a problem that most ESL teachers face”. Sometimes the teachers
repeat a question many times but no student volunteer to answer teachers’
questions.
Swain (1985, apud Bailey
and Nunan, 1996) states that “when students produce the language that they are
studying, they are testing out the hypothesis which they have formed about the
language”. It is a very important affair and has to be discussed because when
students participate in class they are “actively involved in the negotiation of
comprehensible input and the formulation of comprehensible output, which are
essential to language acquisition”. Moreover, contributions from students help
to create the content of the lesson.
In the following part, some
of the most common reasons that make students not want to talk in class will be
presented:
2.6.1
The students low English proficiency
or fear of making mistakes and being ridiculed by classmates
When students’ language
proficiency is not good enough to express their ideas clearly in the target
language during group discussion or when there is a lack of knowledge, students
may feel a lack of confidence and fear of making mistakes, which can make them
not want to speak in class because they are afraid of giving a wrong answer, or
even more, being laughed at. It is important to say that lack of confidence is a
strong reason that makes students not wanting to say anything. Moreover, there are students that are too shy
to participate even though they have enough knowledge for it. And when they
take the risk to say something, it is in a very soft way, almost inaudible to
the teacher, and even more to the whole class.
In these cases, we tend
to say that it is students fault, but Tsui (1996, apud Bailey and Nunan, 1996)
states that “students’ fear of making mistakes and been negatively evaluated
can be teacher-induced”. He suggests that teachers with unrealistic
expectations tend to inhibit students participation because they feel they can
not measure up the teacher’s expectations. Teachers have to be worried about it
and try to be realistic, gentle and encourage students to speak as much as
possible. It is also important to be clear in the teachers mind that language
proficiency is not the only factor that contributes to the students not wanting
to participate in class.
2.6.2
Teachers’ intolerance of silence
It is easy to see many
teachers that seem to dislike or feel afraid of silence in class. They are
afraid that students chat during lessons or they believe that time is too
precious. When silence happens these teachers feel impatient and tend to take
some “bad” attitudes: give the chance to other students, or repeat or modify
the question. I called these “bad” attitudes because the teacher does not give
time for the students to respond and for students who are still learning the
target language it is often impossible to produce an immediate response to the
teacher’s question. Teachers put a great pressure on students to come up with
an answer that they are not able to because of the pressure, which tends to
frighten them, stop them thinking and suppress their wish to answer. Sometimes,
students need time to process the question and formulate an answer.
Some teachers also
believe that when silence occurs in class, it means that they are not making
the lesson productive enough for students to learn, and worst, they believe
that if they do not speak a lot they are failing as a teacher. It is important
to analyze teachers’ and students’ amount of talking because an effective
teaching does not mean that the teacher should be able to solicit immediate
responses from the students, nor that teacher should be talking all the time:
when there is more teacher talk, there will be less student participation,
resulting in long silence in the classroom that will induce teacher to talk
even more.
2.6.3
The unequal opportunities teachers
give to each student to speak
Teachers that can not
stand silence in class tend to ask brighter students from whom they are sure of
getting an answer and do not ask for some other students in order to avoid not
getting responses. It is dangerous because sometimes the teacher does not even
give a chance to other students and they tend to do not want to respond because
they are often ignored by the teacher. Teachers who turn to another student for a
response or who answer the question themselves if they do not get an immediate
response may be damaging the student’s self-esteem. Reasons for this attitude
may be the necessity teachers have of feeling good about their teaching
(teachers’ need to feel successful); avoid silence or waste time because asking
questions to brighter students means get a correct answer or, at least, an
answer.
Teachers have to worry
about it because when this unequal opportunities happen in a classroom, the
weak and shy students feel ignored and the more they feel neglected, the less
they contribute to the class, and this lack of participation is not only
students fault, but sometimes caused by the teachers.
2.6.4
Difficult teachers’ language input
There are many cases in which teachers’
questions or instructions can be vague or difficult to understand, which means
that, what is asked is not clear enough to students’ comprehension – incomprehensible input. Sometimes
students want to participate, but they can not because sometimes teachers’
questions are confusing, unclear, or not simple or specific enough for our
comprehension.
It is a serious problem
in language learning classroom because this incomprehension results in silence
by the students, and when the students are silent the teacher has no way of
knowing what the problem is.
Here we analyzed some of
the most common reasons that cause students’ lack of speaking in language
learning classroom. However, there are some strategies that help to overcoming
some of the difficulties related to speaking in class and this is going to be
shown in the following part.
- Learning strategies
3.1 Definition
The term language
learning strategies has been defined by many researchers. According to Faerch
Claus and Casper
(1983, apud Hismanoglu, 2000), language learning strategies “are attempts to
develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language”. In
this conception, the learner uses the strategies in order to learn the target
language.
Weinstein and Mayer
(1986, apud Chamot and O’Malley, 1990) state that language learning strategies
can “affect the learner’s motivational or affective state, or the way in which
the learner selects, acquires, organizes or integrates new knowledge”. Wenden
and Rubin (1987, apud Hismanoglu, 2000:1) define learning strategies as “…any
sets of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learners during learning
so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember new information.”
Chamot and O’Malley
(1990:1) define learning strategies as “special ways of processing information
that enhance comprehension, learning, or retention of the information”. Oxford
(1990:7) says that to understand learning strategies is necessary to go back to
ancient Greek term strategy, which
means “the art of war”. In this context, strategy
would be the good management of troops, ships etc. through the use of planning.
So, Oxford
(1990:8) defines learning strategies as “operations employed by the learner to
aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information”. She extends
this definitions saying that learning strategies “are specific actions taken by
the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more
self-directed, more effective, and transferable to new situations.”
Richards and Platt
(1992, apud Hismanoglu, 2000:1) state that learning strategies are “intentional
behavior and thoughts used by learners during learning so as to better help
them understand, learn, or remember new information”. According to Stern (1992,
apud Hismanoglu, 2000:1), “the concept of learning strategy is dependent on the
assumption that learners consciously engage in activities to achieve certain
goals and learning strategies can be regarded as broadly conceived intentional
directions and learning techniques.”
According to Cohen
(1998, apud Gomes, 2003), learning strategies are learning process selected
consciously by the learner in order to improve the learning. Leaver (1998, apud
Gomes, 2003) stresses that learning strategies are specific techniques chosen
in order to help the learner acquire a new information.
All language learning
strategies are used either consciously or unconsciously by the learners when
processing new information and performing tasks in the language classroom.
Using language learning strategies is inescapable, since, according to
Hismanoglu (2000:2), language classroom “is like a problem-solving environment
in which learners are likely to face new input and difficult tasks given by
their instructors, learners’ attempts to find the quickest or easiest way to do
what is required”.
3.2 The importance of language
learning strategies
The amount of
information to be processed by language learners is high and learners can use
different language learning strategies in performing the tasks and processing
the new input they face. Language learning strategies help to solve problems
encountered during the process of language learning. In other words, Hismanoglu
(2000:5) says that language learning strategies, while unconsciously used in
some cases, “give language teachers valuable clues about how their students
assess the situation, plan, select appropriate skills so as to understand,
learn, or remember new input presented in the language classroom”.
According to Chamot and
O’Malley (1994, apud Gomes, 2003), learning strategies are important for four
reasons: 1) are dynamic processes; 2) relate the new information with the
previous knowledge, which help to increase the learning; 3) can be learned and
become abilities; 4) and, can be used in a range of similar activities.
Likewise, Oxford
(1990:1) states that language learning strategies are “especially important for
language learning because they are tools for active, self-directed involvement,
which is essential for developing communicative competence”. Moreover, she
suggests that language learning strategies “encourage greater overall
self-direction for learners. Self-direction is particularly important for
language learners, because they will not always have the teacher around to
guide them as they use the language outside the classroom”.
Hismanoglu (2000:6) stresses
that “besides developing the communicative competence of the students, teachers
who train their students to use language learning strategies can help them
become better language learners”. According to Fedderholdt (1997, apud
Hismanoglu, 2000), the language learner capable of using a wide variety of
language learning strategies appropriately can improve his language skill in a
better way.
Oxford (1990:9) provides
us some characteristics of language learning strategies showing why it is too
important:
Table 1.1 Features of Language
Learning Strategies
Language Learning Strategies
1. Contribute to the main goal, communicative
competence.
2. Allow learners to become more self-directed.
3. Expand the role of teachers.
4. Are problem-oriented.
5. Are specific actions taken by the learner.
6. Involve many aspects of the learner, not
just the cognitive.
7. Support learning both directly and indirectly.
8. Are not always observable.
9. Are often conscious.
10. Can be taught.
11. Are flexible.
12. Are influenced by a variety of
factors.
Language learning
strategies, in Oxford’s (1990) conception, stimulate the development of
communicative competence.
It is important to say that using the same
good language strategies does not guarantee that bad language learners will
also become successful in language learning strategies since other factors also
play role in success.
3.3 Taxonomy of language
learning strategies
Language learning
strategies have been classified by many scholars such as Rubin (1987), Chamot
and O”Malley (1990), Oxford
(1990), Stern (1992) amongst others. The categorizations made by these
researchers are more or less the same, without any radical changes. Let’s take
a look on it.
3.3.1
Rubin’s classification
Rubin (1987, apud
Hismanoglu, 2000), who pioneered most of the work in the field of strategies,
makes distinction between strategies that contribute directly and indirectly to
language learning. According to him, there are three types of strategies used
by learners that contribute directly or indirectly to language learning. They
are:
• Learning strategies
• Communication
strategies
• Social strategies.
Learning strategies
Learning strategies are
divided into cognitive learning
strategies and metacognitive learning
strategies.
Cognitive learning
strategies refer to the steps or operations used in learning that require
direct analysis, transformation, or synthesis of learning materials. Rubin
(1987) identified six main cognitive learning strategies contributing directly
to language learning:
•
Clarification/Verification
• Guessing/Inductive
inference
• Deductive Reasoning
• Practice
• Memorization
• Monitoring
Metacognitive learning
strategies are used to oversee, regulate or self-direct language learning. It
involves various processes such as:
• Planning
• Prioritizing
• Setting goals
• Self-management
Communication strategies
Communication strategies
are less directly related to language learning. The focus of these strategies
is on the process of participating in a conversation or clarifying what the
speaker intended. Hismanoglu (2000:3) defines Rubin’s (1987) communication
strategies as “strategies used by speakers when faced with some difficulty due
to the fact that their communication ends outrun their communication means or
when confronted with misunderstanding by a co-speaker”.
Social strategies
Social strategies are
those activities learners have opportunities to be exposed to the target
language and practice their knowledge. These strategies contribute indirectly
to learning since they do not lead directly to the obtaining, storing, and
retrieving the language.
3.3.2
Chamot and O’Malley’s classification
According to Chamot and
O’Malley (1990), learning strategies are differentiated into three categories
depending on the level or type of processing involved. They classified learning
strategies into:
• Metacognitive
strategies
• Cognitive strategies
• Social/affective
strategies
Metacognitive strategies
require planning for learning, thinking about the learning process and it is
taking place, monitoring of one’s production or comprehension, and evaluating
learning after an activity is completed. Cognitive strategies are more limited
to specific learning tasks and they involve more direct manipulation of the
learning material itself. Socio-affective strategies are related with
social-mediating activity and transacting with others. Chamot and O’Malley’s
(1990:46) classification take into consideration mental process and they
summarize these strategies in the following table:
Generic strategy
classification
|
Representative
strategies
|
Definitions
|
Metacognitive strategies
|
Selective attention
|
Focusing on special aspects of learning
tasks, as in planning to listen for key words or phrases.
|
Planning
|
Planning for the organization of either
writing or spoken discourse.
|
|
Monitoring
|
Reviewing attention to a task, comprehension
of information that should be remembered, or production while it is
occurring.
|
|
Evaluation
|
Checking comprehension after completion of a
receptive language activity, or evaluating language production after it has
taken place.
|
|
Cognitive strategies
|
Rehearsal
|
Repeating the names of items or objects to be
remembered.
|
Organization
|
Grouping and classifying words, terminology,
or concepts according to their semantic or syntactic attributes.
|
|
Inferencing
|
Using information in the text to guess
meaning of new linguistic items, predict outcomes, or completing missing
parts.
|
|
Summarizing
|
Intermittently synthesizing what one has
heard to ensure the information has been retained.
|
|
Deducing
|
Applying rules to the understanding of
language.
|
|
Imagery
|
Using visual images (either generated or
actual) to understand and remember new verbal information.
|
|
Transfer
|
Using know linguistic information to
facilitate a new learning task.
|
|
Elaboration
|
Linking ideas contained in new information,
or integrating new ideas with known information.
|
|
Social/affective strategies
|
Cooperation
|
Working with peers to solve a problem, pool
information, check notes, or get feedback on a learning activity.
|
Questioning for clarification
|
Eliciting from a teacher or peer additional
explanation, rephrasing, or examples.
|
|
Self-task
|
Using mental redirection of thinking to
assure oneself that learning activity will be successful to reduce anxiety
about a task.
|
3.3.3
Stern’s classification
According to Stern
(1992, apud Hismanoglu, 2000), there are five main language leaning strategies.
They are:
• Management and
Planning Strategies
• Cognitive Strategies
• Communicative –
Experimental Strategies
• Interpersonal
Strategies
• Affective Strategies
Management and planning strategies
These strategies are
related with the learners’ intention to direct their own learning. In these
strategies learner must: decide what commitment to make language learning; set
him reasonable goals; decide on an appropriate methodology; select appropriate
resources, and monitor progress; and evaluate his achievement in the light of
previously determined goals and expectations.
Cognitive strategies
Stern’s (1992) cognitive
strategies are the same as Rubin’s (1987, apud Hismanoglu, 2000).
Communicative – Experimental Strategies
The communicative or experimental
strategies are techniques used by learners to keep a conversation. The purpose
of using these techniques is to avoid interrupting the communication. These
strategies are:
• Circumlocution
• Gesturing
• Paraphrase
• Asking for repetition
and explanation
Interpersonal strategies
These strategies help
learners monitor their own development and evaluate their own performance. Some
of these strategies would be:
• Contact with native
speakers
• Cooperate with native
speakers
It is very important for
learners to become acquainted with the target culture.
Affective strategies
Since learning a
language involves not just the language itself, it is important to consider the
affective side of the learning process. Language learning can be frustrating in
some cases and good language learners should be conscious of these emotional
problems. Affective strategies help learners to create associations of positive
affect towards the foreign language and its speakers as well as towards the
learning activities involved. These types of strategies can help students to
face up to emotional difficulties and help them to overcome some of these
difficulties.
3.3.4
Oxford’s classification
According
to Oxford
(1990:1), language learning strategies “are steps taken by students to enhance
their own learning” and they are important because they are “tools for active,
self-directed involvement, which is essential for developing communicative
competence”. Since language learning strategies are “tools”, they are used
because there is a “problem to solve, a task to accomplish, an objective to
meet, or a goal to attain.”
In Oxford’s taxonomy (1990)
strategies are divided into two major classes: direct and indirect. These two
classes are subdivided into a total of six groups: memory (those used for
storage of information), cognitive (mental strategies learners use to make
sense of their learning), and compensation (help learners to overcome knowledge
gaps to continue the communication) under the direct class; metacognitive (help
learners to regulate their learning), affective (concerned with the learners’
emotional requirements), and social (lead to increase interaction with the
target language) under the indirect class. The following diagram shows an
overview of the Oxford’s (1990:16) Strategy System:
The author says that direct strategies and indirect strategies support
each other, and the six strategy groups (three direct and three indirect)
interact with and help each other. To understand what it means, Oxford (1990:14) considered
an analogy from the theater. She
suggests that the first class, direct strategies (for dealing with the new
language), is like the Performer in a
stage play “working with the language itself in a variety of specific tasks and
situations. The Performer works closely with the Director for the best possible
outcome”. The second class, indirect
strategies (for general management of learning), is like the Director of the play, which serves to
lot of functions, like organizing, guiding, checking, correcting, coaching,
encouraging and cheering the Performer
“as well as ensuring that the Performer works cooperatively with other actors
in the play. The Director is an internal
guide and support to the Performer” and the functions of both the Director and the Performer “become part of the learner, as he or she accepts
increased responsibility for learning.”
The following figure represents the relationship between direct and
indirect strategies and among the six strategy groups:
|
|||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
→ Direct
strategies
Oxford’s
(1990) direct strategies are those that directly involve the target language.
All direct strategies (memory, cognitive, and compensations) require mental
processing of the language.
Direct
strategies work with the language itself. The direct class is composed of memory strategies for remembering and
retrieving new information; cognitive
strategies for understanding and producing the language; and compensation strategies for using the language
despite knowledge gaps.
Memory strategies
Memory
strategies, sometimes called mnemonics, involve simple principles, such as
arranging things in order, making associations, and reviewing; and help
learners store and retrieve new information. These type of strategies fall into
four sets: creating mental linkages, applying images and sounds, reviewing well, and employing actions.
•
Creating Mental Linkages
-
Grouping:
classifying and reclassifying language material into meaningful units.
-
Associating/Elaborating:
relating new information to concepts already in memory, or relating one piece
of information to another to create associations in memory.
-
Placing
new words into a context: placing a word or phrase in a meaningful sentence
conversations, or story in order to remember it.
•
Applying images and sounds
-
Using
imagery: relating new language information to concepts in memory by means of
meaningful visual imagery.
-
Semantic
mapping: making an arrangement of words into a picture.
-
Using
keywords: remembering a new word by using auditory – identify a familiar word
in one’s own language that sounds like the new word – and visual links –
generate an image of some relationship between the new word and a familiar one.
-
Representing
sounds in memory: remembering new language information according to its sound.
•
Reviewing well
-
Structured
reviewing: reviewing in carefully spaced intervals, at first close together and
then more widely spaced apart. Target language information must be reviewed in
order to be remembered.
•
Employing action
-
Using
physical response or sensation: physically acting out a new expression, or
meaningfully relating a new expression to a physical feeling or sensation.
-
Using
mechanical techniques: using creative techniques, especially involving moving
or changing something which is concrete in order to remember new target
language information.
Cognitive strategies
Cognitive
strategies are the most popular ones among language learners since they are (as
any other type of strategy) essential in learning a new language. There are four
sets of cognitive strategies:
•
Practicing
-
Repeating:
saying or doing something over and over in order to fix in mind.
-
Formally
practicing with sounds and writing systems: practicing sounds in a variety of
ways, or practicing the new writing system of the target language.
-
Recognizing
and using formulas and patterns: being aware of and/or using routine formulas.
-
Recombining:
combining known elements in new ways to produce a longer sequence, as in
linking one phrase with another in a whole sentence.
-
Practicing
naturalistically: practicing the new language in natural, realistic setting.
•
Receiving and sending messages
-
Getting
the idea quickly: using skimming to determine the main ideas or scanning to
find specific details of interest.
-
Using
resources for receiving and sending messages: using print or nonprint resources
to understand incoming messages or produce outgoing messages.
•
Analyzing and reasoning: understanding the meaning of a new expression or
creating a new expression.
-
Reasoning
deductively: using general rules and applying them to new target language
situations.
-
Analyzing
expressions: determining the meaning of a new expression by breaking it down
into parts.
-
Analyzing
contrastively: comparing elements of the new language with elements of one’s
own language to determine similarities and differences.
-
Translating:
converting a target language expression into the native language or vice-versa,
using one language as the basis for understanding or producing another.
-
Transferring:
directly applying knowledge of words, concepts, or structures from one language
to another in order to understand or produce an expression in the new language.
•
Creating structure for input and output
-
Taking
notes: writing down the main idea or specific points.
-
Summarizing:
making a summary or abstract of a longer passage.
-
Highlighting:
using a variety of emphasis techniques to focus on important information.
Compensation strategies
There
are ten compensation strategies divided into two sets, which involves the four
language skills: guessing intelligently to
receptive skills, and overcoming
limitations to productive skills.
•
Guessing intelligently: listening and reading.
-
Using
linguistic clues: seeking and using language–based clues in order to guess the
meaning of what is heard or read in the target language.
-
Using
other clues: seeking and using clues that are not language-based clues in order
to guess the meaning of what is heard or read in the target language.
-
Switching
to the mother tongue: using the mother tongue for an expression without
translating it.
-
Getting
help: asking someone for help by hesitating or explicitly asking for the person
to provide the missing expression in the target language.
-
Using
mime or gesture: using physical motion to indicate the meaning.
-
Avoiding
communication partially or totally: avoiding communication when difficulties
are anticipated.
-
Selecting
the topic: choosing the topic of conversation in order to make sure the topic
is one in which the learner has sufficient vocabulary and grammar to converse.
-
Adjusting
or approximating the message: altering the message by omitting some items of
information, making ideas simpler or less precise.
-
Coining
words: making up new words to the desired idea.
-
Using
a circumlocution or synonym: getting the meaning across by describing the
concept or using a word that means the same thing.
→ Indirect strategies
The
indirect strategies – for general management of learning – is composed of metacognitive strategies for
coordinating the learning process; affective
strategies for regulating emotions; and social
strategies for learning with others.
Metacognitive strategies
According
to Oxford (1990:135), metacognitive strategies help learners to regulate their
own cognition – “coordinate the leaner process by using functions such as
centering, arranging, planning, and evaluating” – which means to focus, plan
and evaluate their progress as they move toward communicative competence. It is
possible to see that metacognitive strategies are essential for successful
language learning.
The
term “metacognitive”, according to Oxford
(1990:136), means “beyond, beside, or with the cognitive”, which means that
these “are actions that go beyond purely cognitive devices, and which provide a
way for learners to coordinate their own learning process”.
Metacognitive
strategies are divided into three strategies sets: centering your learning, arranging
and planning your learning, and evaluating
your learning. These three groups are composed by ten strategies:
• Centering
your learning: this type of strategy intends to help the learner to centralize
their attention and energies on certain language tasks, activities, skills, or
materials. This group is composed by three strategies:
-
Overviewing
and lining with already known material: this strategy implies in associate the
new material or language with what is already known.
-
Paying attention: it involves paying attention
to specific aspects of the language or to situational details.
-
Delaying
speech production to focus on listening: deciding in advance to delay speech
production in the new language either totally or partially, until listening
comprehension skills are better developed.
•
Arranging and planning your learning: This group of strategies – composed by
six strategies – helps learners to organize and plan their own learning.
-
Finding
out about language learning: making effort to find out how language learning
works and what is involved.
-
Organizing:
understanding and using conditions related to optimal learning of the new
language; scheduling well, and keeping a language learning notebook.
-
Setting
goals and objectives: setting aims for language learning. “Students without
aims are like boats without rudders; they do not know where they are going, so
they might never get there!” (oxford, 1990:157)
-
Identifying
the purpose of a language task: deciding the purpose of a particular language
task enables learners to channel their energy in the right direction.
-
Planning
for a language task: planning for language elements and functions necessary for
an anticipated language task or situation.
-
Seeking
practice opportunities: make good use of or create opportunities o practice the
new language since it help learners in their proficiency.
• Evaluating
your learning:
-
Self-monitoring:
it is a good strategy for learners to identify and correct their own errors
because the learners become aware of their difficulties and it helps in
overcoming them.
-
Self-evaluating:
learners evaluate their own improvement in the new language which encourages
them to continue developing.
Social strategies
According
to Oxford
(1990:144), “language is a form of social behavior”. Language is also
communication and it happens among people. Social strategies are very important
because nobody learns a language alone, isolated, on the contrary, learning a
language involves other people. There are three sets of social strategies and
each set is composed by two strategies:
•
Asking questions
-
Asking
for clarification or verification: it involves asking to repeat, paraphrase,
explain, slow down, or give examples when what someone said was not clear.
-
Asking
for correction: asking someone for correction of errors that are obvious to
other people.
•
Cooperating with others
-
Cooperating
with peers: working together with other language learners to improve language
skills.
-
Cooperating
with proficient uses of the new language: working with native speakers or other
proficient users of the new language in order to improve the skills.
•
Empathizing with others
-
Developing
cultural understanding: get to know the
new culture often helps learners understand better what is heard or read in the
new language.
-
Becoming
aware of others’ thoughts and feelings: observing the behavior of others, and
when appropriate, asking about thoughts and feelings.
The
affective strategies will be discussed more detailed in the following topic.
- Affective strategies
According
to Oxford (1990:11):
Language
learning strategies are not restricted to cognitive functions. Strategies also
include metacognitive functions like planning, evaluating, and arranging one’s
own learning; and emotional (affective), social, and other functions as well.
Unfortunately, many language learning strategy experts have not paid enough
attention to affective and social strategies in the past.
The
term affective refers to the act of gaining control over emotions, attitudes,
motivations, and values. Good language learners are those who gain control over
these factors, and this control is gained through the use of a set of
strategies that are called affective.
According to Oxford (1990:14):
The
affective side of the learner is probably one of the very biggest influences on
language learning success or failure. Good language learners are often those
who know how to control their emotions and attitudes about learning. Negative
feelings can stunt progress, even for the rare learner who fully understands
all the technical aspects of how to learn a new language. On the other hand,
positive emotions and attitudes can make language learning far more effective
and enjoyable.
Teachers
can exert influence over the emotional atmosphere of the classroom in three
ways:
•
Changing the social structure of the classroom to give students more
responsibility.
•
Providing increased amounts of naturalistic communication.
•
Teaching learners to use affective strategies.
By
teaching strategies for language learners teachers help them to gain control
over affective factors related to language learning.
Affective
strategies are those that have to do with the emotional side of language
learning. There are three main sets of affective strategies (lowering anxiety; encouraging yourself; and taking
your emotional temperature) and these three sets are composed by ten
strategies (using progressive relaxation,
deep breathing, or meditation; using music; using laughter;
making positive statement; taking risks wisely; rewarding yourself; listening to your body; using
a checklist; writing a language learning diary; and discussing your feelings with someone else.)
The
following diagram shows the affective strategies classification made by Oxford
(1990:41):
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Now on,
let’s take a deeper look at the affective strategies suggested by Oxford
(1990).
4.1 Lowering your
anxiety
4.1.1 Using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation
Oxford
(1990:164) states that “a few minutes of relaxation in the classroom or at home
using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation will help learners
accomplish their learning tasks more peaceful and more efficiently”. These
techniques help to reduce anxiety. It does not mean that the learner must lay
down on the floor or assume yoga poses.
Progressive
relaxation involves relaxing all the major muscle groups. Deep breathing is an
accompaniment to progressive relaxation. It brings great calmness almost
immediately when it involves breathing low from the diaphragm, not just from
the lungs. Meditation also helps to reduce the anxiety that often affect
language learners. Meditation “means focusing in a mental image or sound to
center one’s thoughts” (Oxford, 1990:164).
Teachers
can talk so students about their anxiety and train them to use these techniques
in order to overcome language learning problems related to anxiety.
4.1.2 Using music
Listening
to soothing music, such as classical concert, is a good way to relax and can
calm learners and put them in a more positive mood for learning.
There
is a language teaching method – the Suggestopedia – that states that using
music in language learning classroom alter students’ mood and mental states.
4.1.3 Using laughter
Watching
a funny movie, reading a humorous book, listening to jokes are good ways to
relax. Laughter is a good way to low anxiety and language learners can also
benefit from “laughter’s anxiety-reducing powers” (Oxford 1990:165).
According
to Oxford (1990:164-165), “the use of laughter is potentially able to cause
important biochemical changes to enhance the immune system, so many hospitals
are now sing ‘laughter therapy’ to help patients relax”.
There
are many kinds of classroom activities which can provide a funny environment:
role-plays, games, and active exercises in which learners are allowed to play
as they learn.
4.2
Encourage yourself
4.2.1 Making positive statements
Positive
statements help to self-encourage learners. The strategy of making positive
statement helps to improve each of the four language skills.
Using
positive statements are very important in language learning process, especially
before a difficult language activity. Oxford (1990:165) provides a list of some
positive statements teachers can urge learners to say:
• I
enjoy understanding the new language
• I
can get the general meaning without knowing every word
•
People understand me better now
• I
had a very successful conversation today
• I
can tell my fluency is increasing
•
I’m confident and secure about my progress
•
It’s OK if I make mistakes
These
statements self-encourage learners in order to make them feel comfortable about
their own leaning process.
4.2.2 Taking risks wisely
It
is very important to take risks in a language learning situation since making
mistakes is part of the learning process.
Oxford
(1990:166) states that taking risks does not mean:
Wild, unnecessary
risks, like guessing at random or saying anything at all regardless of its
degree of relevance. Risk taking must therefore be tempered by good judgment.
Deciding to be a wise risk taker may require the supportive use of other
affective strategies, such as making positive statements or rewarding yourself.
It is a very important strategy which can
be used in the four language skills.
4.2.3 Rewarding yourself
Without doubt, it is very important for
learners to be rewarded by external sources – praise from the teacher, good
grade on a test, a certificate of accomplishment, and so on. However, it is
extremely important for learners to be reward by themselves. Oxford (1990:166)
states that “some of the most potent and useful rewards come from within the
learners themselves”, but we all know that it is not a simple task and learners
need to discover how to reward themselves for good work in language learning. Positive
statements, when used after a particular good performance on the part of the
learner, can be a very good form of self-reward.
4.3
Taking your emotional temperature
4.3.1 Listening to your body
It is
very important to pay attention to the signals given by the body, however,
according to Oxford (19920:167) is “one of the simplest but most often ignored
strategies for emotional self-assessment”.
Performance
in all four language skills can affect your physical state and negative
feelings – tension, anxiety, and fear – tighten the muscles and affect all the
organs of the body. Likewise, positive feelings – happiness, pleasure,
contentment and excitement – can have either a stimulating or a calming effect.
It is
very important to observe how your body is reacting to the situation. Oxford
(1990:167) states that “turning in to
the body can be a first step toward greater emotional self-understanding and
control”.
4.3.2 Using checklist
This
strategy consists in discovering feelings, attitudes, and motivations
concerning language learning through the use of a checklist. It is a more
structured way to ask themselves questions about their own emotional state, in
general or related to a specific language tasks and skills.
Teachers
must encourage students to complete checklists every day or every few days to
assess their feelings and attitudes about language learning and learners must
be aware of that fact that it is an important strategy to help increasing their
language learning skills.
4.3.3 Writing a language learning diary
This
strategy consists in keep writing a diary or journal about events and feelings
in the process of learning a new language. In these diaries or journals
learners should describe their feelings, attitudes and perceptions about the
language learning process. Learners can also take notes of strategies they find
effective for them.
Keeping
writing a diary or journal help learners to be aware of their own improvement
and it is important in the learning process. These diaries or journals can be
kept privately or can be shared to other people.
4.3.4 Discussing your feelings with someone
else
Language
learning is not a simple process and it involves many feelings and learners
often need to talk and discuss with another person – teacher, friends, classmates,
and relatives – to discover and express feelings about language learning.
Checklists
and diaries can be used as input to oral discussions about feelings and because
of these discussions “anxieties and inhibitions diminish, and learners feel
they have more control over their own fate” (Oxford 1990:168). It is a very
important strategy to encourage students to express their feelings about the
language learning process and discover what they need to be better learners.
4.4
Applying affective strategies to speaking skill
There
are some exercises concerned with the affective strategies that can play an
important role in order to overcome some problems. There are exercises that
have to do with the four language skills, and there are other related to each
skill in particular. It will be described some exercises taking into
considerations the ones that would be useful to speaking skill, since it is the
interest of this work.
4.4.1 Creating a language learning notebook
Creating
a language learning notebook is a strategy which can be useful for the four
language skills, since it can help learners throughout their language learning,
and also feel more confident about their own development.
Doing a
language learning notebook is a simple thing; learners only need a notebook.
The language learning notebook helps learners to organize their own language
learning, and, according to Oxford (1990:177) it can be used for many purposes:
• To
record your goals and objectives for learning the language.
• To
write down assignments given by the instructor.
• To
keep a list of new words or expressions you have learned or want to learn.
• To
write down words you have heard or read that you want to ask someone about or
look up in the dictionary.
• To
write down grammar rules you have learned or figure out in some way.
• To
keep notes about conversations you have had in the language.
• To
summarize what you need in the new language.
• To
keep a record of errors you want to work on, and your hunches about why you
might have made those errors.
• To
comment on strategies you have used successfully or unsuccessfully.
• To
record the amount of time you spend each week studying or using the target
language.
The
structure of the notebook depends on the learners’ style, personality, and
purposes for using it. It can be simple or detailed. Oxford (1990) suggests
keeping writing in the language learning notebook as often as possible and
using it as a good friend in language learning process since it is a good way
to get organized and to manage the learning.
4.4.2 Setting goals and objectives
It is
very important for language learning process setting up goals and objectives
for language learning. It helps learners to become clear about why they are
learning the language, and what they want to get from the language learning. It
helps learners feel more confident about the four language skills.
Oxford
(1990:179) suggests a questionnaire for “determining language learning goals
and objectives”:
1. Setting long-terms goals
First set some long-term goals for you. To do this , answer the
following questions:
a.
why you are learning this language? (check one or more)
_______For
advancement
_______For
good grades
_______For
a new or better job
_______For
travel
_______Because
the language is required for graduation
_______To
get to know people from the new culture
_______Because
it’s fun
_______Other
(list)________________________________________________
b.
Which skills are the most important to you? Given the purposes you have
identified, decide which skills are the most important and how you need to
spend your learning time. Indicate below the importance of each skill area
(1= least important, 5= most important). Then, indicate how proficient you
want to become in each of these skills (low, medium, high).
Importance Desired
proficiency
Skill (list 1 to
10)
(list Low, Med, High)
Listening __________ _________________
Speaking __________
_________________
Reading __________
_________________
Writing __________
_________________
c. On
the basis of your purposes for learning the language and of your skills
priorities, what are your long-term goals for learning the new language for
the next months or years? Sample goals: being able to hold a long social
conversation in the new language; reaching a certain overall proficiency
level; being able to give instructions in the new language without constantly
using a dictionary. Goals should be realistic.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now go
back and write down a date for each goal – a time by which you expect to
reach the goal. Setting such a date will enable you t check your progress
toward meeting your goals.
2. Setting your objectives
After you have set long-term goals, set yourself some short-term
objectives, too. These are aims for the next few hours, days, or weeks.
Sample short-term objectives include memorizing a set of vocabulary words;
mastering the past tense of regular verbs; reading a specific text or
complete a particular assignment. Some of these objectives might take only a few
hours, while others might take several weeks. Again, set a deadline for
yourself for achieving these objectives so you can check you progress.
(Repeat this process as needed)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Now put this questionnaire in
your language learning notebook to remind you of you goals and objectives.
Review periodically so that you will remember them and gear your learning
toward them. Revise them as needed.
|
4.4.3 Gauging your skill progress
This
exercise helps learners to assess their own progress in language learning
skill. It is necessary only a paper and a pen.
This
exercise consists in measure how well you are progressing – according to your
own criteria of what is important for you. Oxford (1990) suggests a table in
which students can rate their own progress. It is important because when
learners become aware of their condition as a language learner, for example, if
they note serious problem, they can think about strategies to overcome some of
these problems related to language learning.
Related
to speaking skill, Oxford (1990:183) suggests the following:
Speaking
1. When you speak to native
speakers of the new language, do they seem to understand you most of the
time, without your being asked to repeat? ________
2. In class do your classmates
generally understand what you say in the new language? ________
3. Has your speaking improved
since last month in terms of quality and quantity? ________
4. Do you find ways to express
yourself orally even if you don’t know all the words? ________
On the basis of these questions,
give yourself a rating on speaking (circle
one):
1. Doing just fine, about where I
should be
2. Not too bad, nothing to worry
about
3. Serious problems
|
4.4.4 Relaxing
Tension
and anxiety has to do with language learning; however relaxing is an exercise
that helps learners to relax so that they are able to deal more affectively
with language learning.
To
practice this exercise, first, learners must tighten up their lower arm muscles
as much as they can, and learners must try to hold this position for 20 or 30
seconds, despite of the fact that it will hurt a little. So, learners will see
how much better they feel.
One way
of relaxing is through progressive
relaxation. Learners must, if possible, lay down, if not, sit in a
comfortable position. They must tense their feet and them relax them. They must
move up to the ankles, then to the thighs, then to the hips, the lower back,
and all the way to their shoulder and relaxing each major group of muscles.
In the
neck muscles and face muscles there is a lot of tension stored, so do the same
with them. With this exercise learners will feel really comfortable and
relaxed. Oxford (1990:184) suggests that “to maintain this feeling, for a few
minutes imagine a lovely, relaxing scene like a beach or a forest. Center your
thoughts on this beautiful spot, meditating on it gently as you breathe deeply.
This is a scene you can return to as often as you want, to help you relax”.
This is
a very good exercise, especially when learners will engage in an oral
communication, since this skill involves a lot of tension. It can help learners
to perform better some activities.
4.4.5 Calming down through meditation and music
Meditation
and music can help learners to focus and become calm, so that language learning
does not feel so stressful. This exercise can be practice for few minutes at a
time, several times a day.
To do
this, learners just have to sit comfortably in a quiet place and think of one
thing: an object, a word, a syllable, or a pretty place. Despite the fact that
learners’ mind will wander at first, they must bring their minds back to the
thing they are thinking about. It is necessary to breathe slowly and deeply
from the abdomen, not just from the chest.
If
learners enjoy doing it, they can also play some peaceful background music
while they meditate. It is a very good exercise every time learners feel
tension because it is a useful way of relaxing the body and centering the mind.
It can be done all the time at home and also can be tried during class time. It
can be done before learners engage in oral conversations, in order to calm down
the tensions.
4.4.6 Praise be!
This
exercise consists in making learners praise themselves for good work and
encourage themselves to keep on learning.
Learners
must pay attention to specific accomplishments and successes in learning and
make positive statements – affirmations – to themselves about their work. These
statements help learners change negative attitudes about themselves as language
learners, and they can speed up the process of learning by convincing themselves
that they will succeed.
Oxford
(1990) suggests that learners should say positive statements to themselves at
least three to five times a day, and more if possible. It is also teachers’
role to encourage learners doing it. Oxford (1990) lists some general
statements that can help learners feel more confident as language learners:
• I am
a good language learner
• I am
confident and secure in language learning
• I am
progressing well in my language learning
• I can
learn from my errors and do not have to be afraid of them
• It’s
OK if I take risks in language learning
• I
don’t have to understand everything all at once
• I can
tolerate a bit of confusing
• My
warm personality helps me in language learning
4.4.7 Assessing your emotions
This
exercise consists in using a checklist to assess their emotional state and to
link their emotional with the events of their language learning and other
aspects of their lives.
The
checklist is simple to use and requires little time, however, it should be used
at least once a week, or if possible, every single day. Oxford (1990:187)
states that “this checklist is not a complicated psychological profile that
tells deep secrets about you! It is an easy way for you to keep in touch with
yourself in a private, personal, and regular way, so that you can better handle
the demands of language learning.
Oxford
(1990:188) suggests a checklist for language learners, in order to take their
emotional temperature:
Part A
Date:_____________________ Language studied:______________________
Period covered (check one):
_________Day _________Week _________Other
(specify):__________
Part B List language tasks or events in which you
have just been involved, for example,
giving an oral report, writing a letter,
doing drills, holding a conversation.
(Give weather details are useful to
you, including if you want, the other people involved.
Don’t skip this; it
shows you how certain tasks/events trigger particular feelings!)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part C Describe how you’re feeling now, especially
in relation to the learning talks or events above.
(Check the one descriptor
per line that best describes you. Realize that nothing is
either black or white,
and that any single descriptor is not necessary better
than its opposite).
______happy ______unhappy
______proud ______ashamed
______confident ______unconfident
______peaceful ______anxious
______unafraid ______afraid
______risk-taking ______cautious
______clear-thinking ______confused
______friendly
______unfriendly
______interested ______bored
______calm ______angry
______strong ______weak
______energetic ______tired
______outgoing ______shy
______accepting ______critical
______able to tolerate
contradictions ______unable to tolerate
contradictions
______want to learn the language ______don't want to know the
culture
|
4.4.8 Stress checking
Many
learners feel under a little or a lot of pressure when they are learning a
second or foreign language, and sometimes they do not know what is causing the
problem. Oxford (1990:189) states that we must be aware of what is causing the
worry:
The first thing to do is to identify, if you can, what it is that is
bothering you most about the problem or situation. Is there anything you can do
about it? What steps might you take to solve the problem or address the main
issue? What would your best friend or a respect adviser do about the problem if
faced with it?
Try to look for someone to talk about the problem. Get new ideas about
how you might deal with it. If the problem is truly serious, seek professional
help from a teacher, counselor, or other person.
It is
very important to pay attention stress and try to solve the problem related to
it because it can have a bad consequence as the time pass. Oxford (1990:190)
suggests a stress checklist to identify whether or not signs of stress:
Circle each of the signs of stress
that you have noticed in yourself lately.
Anger Inability to think, concentrate, Tight muscles
or make decisions
Isolation Depression Headaches
Exhaustion Anxiety Sleeping too much or too little
Pickiness Fear Eating too much or too little
Irritability Worry Reliance on alcohol or drugs
|
4.4.9 Keeping a diary
It is a
useful strategy for language learners to keep a diary in which they can feel
free to write whatever they want, but write something every day (do not have to
be long and involved; just a few lines or a few paragraphs a day might be
enough). This must be a private diary, learners do not need to show it to
anyone else. For this reason, learners can use it any way they want, to
describe emotions, desires, issues, difficulties, achievements, learning
strategies, conversations, how the time is spent, and so on.
Oxford
(1990:191) states that “to providing a record of emotions, writing a diary is
actually a form of therapy in itself. Diaries are useful for ‘letting off
steam’, helping you sort through conflicting feelings, and sometimes coming to
new conclusions about how you feel, think, and act”. This practice helps
learners to think through their learning problem and identify your
accomplishments.
We had
just analyzed some of the exercises concerned with the affective strategies and
that can play an important role in order to overcome some problems related to
language learning. Now on, we are going to study a little about affectivity, which is also an important
aspect in language learning process.
5. Affectivity: what is it?
Learning a new language
involves not just some cognitive aspects. There are many things that have to be
taking into consideration. Cook (2005) criticizes the fact that many
researchers are only worried about the language itself and they do not think
about the subjective aspects in a language learning process. He believes that
every human being has a particular way of thinking and acting.
According to Brown (1994)
there are two aspects that have to be considered when you are learning a new
language: the intrinsic side of
affectivity and the extrinsic
factors. The intrinsic side of
affectivity has to do with personal factors within a person that contribute
in some way to the success of language learning. Extrinsic factors remind us that a language learner brings not just
two languages into contact but also two cultures and this second culture has to
be learned with the second language.
As we can see, learning
a second language involves many factors. According to Hilgard (1963, apud
Brown, 1994:134), “purely cognitive theories of learning will be rejected
unless a role is assigned to affectivity”, which means that, many variables has
to be considered in a language learning process. By the way, what is affective? As it had already been
mentioned, affective refers to the
aspect of mind that is characterized by states and processes such as emotion, feeling, mood, motivation, or attitude. The word affective is
most commonly used in psychology and psychiatry. It is the emotional side of human behavior and in language
learning process it has to be juxtaposed to the cognitive side since one
current psychological theory, the lateralization
of the brain function, holds that one half of the brain deals mainly with
the affective or emotional. Moreover, Brown (1994:135) believes that “the
development of affective states or feelings involves a variety of personality
factors, feeling both about ourselves and about others with whom we come into
contact”. These personality factors will be discussed later on.
In the same way, Ellis
(1999, apud Cook, 2005) says that there are many factors that contribute to
language learning process and she gives attention to two of them, that are
called internal and external factors. External factors refer to the input that learners receive into the
learning environment. The social environment is also external factor. Into the internal factors, Ellis (1999) quoted
the cognitive factor and the flair that learners have. Despite of these two
factors, which are easily visible and very important, there are others that
also can influence directly the language learning process.
5.1 Critical period
According to Brown
(1994: 52), there is a “critical period” for language acquisition. He says
that, there is “biologically determined period of life when language can be
acquired more easily” and the “critical period” is when “language is
increasingly difficult to acquire. The critical
period hypothesis claims that there is such a biological timetable”. This
is a period in which certain abilities do not develop easily. It is said that
the critical period occurs around
puberty, beyond which people seem to be incapable of acquiring a nativelike accent
of the language they are learning.
Also there are some
other aspects that affect language learning success: neurological, psychomotor,
cognitive, affective and linguistic considerations.
5.2 Neurological
considerations
Neurological researches
show that as the human brain matures, certain functions are assigned – process
that is called lateralization.
Certain functions, such as intellectual, logical, and analytic are lateralized to the left hemisphere of
the brain; while others functions, such as emotional and social needs are
controlled by the right hemisphere.
Brown (1994:54) says
that “during this time the child is neurologically assigning functions little
by little to one side of the brain or the other; included in these functions,
of course, is language.”
While Lenneberg (1967,
apud Brown, 1994) suggest that lateralization is complete around puberty,
Krashen (1973, apud Brown, 1994)) believes that it happens in a much earlier
age – around age five. Scoval (1969, apud Brown, 1994) says that the “plasticity
of the brain” is what enables children to acquire easily a second or foreign
language. He also believes that possibly it is the accomplishment of lateralization that makes it difficult
for people to acquire fluent control of a second or foreign language.
5.3 Psychomotor considerations
Related to neurological
considerations we have the psychomotor coordination of the “speech muscles” in
language acquisition – more commonly called accent.
We all know that there are several hundred muscles that are used in the
articulation of the human speech (throat, larynx, mouth, lips, tongue, and
other). The muscles development begins at birth and continues to develop as the
child grows up.
Learning a new language
becomes more complicated in adulthood because there are some sounds from the
second or foreign language learners are studying that we do not have in our
native language since a degree of muscular control is required to achieve the
fluency of a language. For this reason,
we know that children acquire authentic pronunciation while adults generally do
not, since pronunciation involves the control of so many muscles. It is
important to remember that there are cases when people who learned a language
in adulthood become very proficient, but Brown (1994) says that, these,
however, appear to be “isolated instances”.
In contrast of these, it
is important to say that pronunciation of a language is not the most important
criteria. There are many people who do not have a “perfect” pronunciation but
who have fluent control of a language, which means that, muscular coordination
is important but not the most important aspect – communicative and functional
purposes of language is far more important.
5.4 Cognitive Considerations
Human cognition is best
developed in the first sixteen years of life and less rapidly developed after
adulthood. Piaget’s theory suggests that, at puberty – age eleven – a person
becomes capable of abstraction and of formal thinking. The question is: why
adults, possessing superior cognitive capacity, often do not “successfully”
learn a new language?
Rosansky (1975, apud
Brown, 1994:59) explains that the first language acquisition takes place when
children are highly “centered”, and are generally not aware of the fact that
they are learning a language, nor they are aware of social values and
attitudes. She says that “he is not only egocentric at this time, but when
faced with a problem he can focus (and the only fleetingly) on one dimension at
a time. This lack of flexibility and lack of decentration may will be a
necessity for language acquisition”. For these reasons, adults language
learners who are too consciously aware of what they are doing generally present
some difficulties in learning the new language.
5.5 Affective considerations
This is the most
interesting aspect for this work as well as is considered the most complex of
the four domains.
As emotional creatures
we are also influenced by our emotions. According to Brown (1994), the
affective domain includes many factors: empathy, self-esteem, extroversion,
inhibition, imitation, anxiety, attitudes, between other aspects (which are
going to be discussed later on). When we consider the nature of language any
affective factor can be relevant.
Very young children are
totally egocentric. Everything revolves about them. As they grow older they
become more aware of themselves, more self-conscious to define and understand
their self-identity. In preadolescence they see themselves as “separate and
identifiable entities but ones which, in their still-wavering insecurity, need
protecting” (Brown, 1994:61). By that time, children develop inhibitions about
their self-identity, and feel afraid to expose themselves, and at puberty these
inhibitions tend to increase because they must acquire a totally new physical,
cognitive, and emotional identity, which make them feel completely confusing
about everything: their egos are affect by the way they understand themselves
and the way they use the communicative process to bring on affective
equilibrium. The simultaneous physical, emotional and cognitive changes of
puberty give rise to a defensive mechanism in which the language ego becomes
protective and defensive, and it causes some emotional problems related to
language learning process.
6. Personality factors that affect
language learning success
A large number of
variables are implied in considering the emotional side of second or foreign
language learning process. As we could see, affective
refers to emotions or feelings. According to Brown (1994:135)
The affective
domain is the emotional side of human behavior, and it may be juxtaposed to the
cognitive side. The development of affective states or feelings involves a
variety of personality factors, feeling both about ourselves and about others
with whom we come into contact.
Bloom, Krathwohl, and
Masia (1964, apud Brown, 1994:135-136) provide an extended definition of the
affective domain:
1. At the first and
fundamental level, the development of affectivity begins with receiving. Persons must be aware of the
environment surrounding them, be conscious of situations, phenomena, people,
objects; be willing to receive, willing to tolerate a stimulus, not avoid it,
and give a stimulus their controlled or select attention.
2. Next, person
must go beyond receiving to responding,
committing themselves in at least some small measure to a phenomenon or a
person. Such responding in one dimension may be acquiescence, but in another,
higher, dimension the person is willing to respond voluntarily without
coercion, and then to satisfaction from that response.
3. The third level
of affectivity involves valuing,
placing worth on a thing, a behavior, or a person. Valuing takes on the
characteristics of beliefs or attitudes as values are internalized. Individuals
do not merely accept a value to the point of being wiling to be identified with
it, but commit themselves to the value to pursue it, seek it out, and to want
it, finally to the point of conviction.
4. The fourth level
of the affectivity domain is organization
of values into a system of beliefs, determining interrelationship among
them, and establishing a hierarchy of values within the system.
5. Finally,
individuals become characterized by and understand themselves in terms of their
value system. Individuals act
consistently in accordance with the values they have internalized and integrate
beliefs, ideas, and attitudes into a total philosophy or world view. It is at
this level that problem solving, for example, is approached on the basis of a
total, self-consistent system.
The fundamental notions
of receiving, responding and valuing
are universal. In language acquisition the learners need to be receptive to
whom they are communicating and to the language itself, respond to people and
to the context of communication, and to place a certain value on the
communicative act of interpersonal exchange.
Understanding how human
beings feel, respond, believe, and value is an extremely important aspect in
language learning process. For this reason, Pike (1967, apud Brown, 1994:136)
states that:
Language is
behavior, that is, a phase of human activity which must not be treated in
essence as structurally divorced from the structure of nonverbal human
activity. The activity of man constitutes a structural whole in such a way that
it cannot be subdivided into neat “parts” or “levels” or “compartments” with
language in a behavioral compartment insulated in character, content, and
organization from other behavior.
Now
on, we are going to analyze some specific personality factors in human behavior
and how they are related to language learning process.
6.1
Self-esteem
Self-esteem
is an essential aspect in language learning process. According to Brown (1994136),
“no successful cognitive or affective activity can be carried out without some
degree of self-esteem, self-confidence, knowledge of yourself, and belief in
your own capabilities for that activity”.
Coopersmith
(1967, apud Brown, 1994:137) provides a “well-acceptable” definition of
self-esteem:
By
self-esteem, we refer to the evaluation which the individual makes and
customarily maintains with regard to himself; it expresses an attitude of
approval or disapproval, and indicates the extent to which an individual
believes himself to be capable, significant, successful and worthy. In short,
self-esteem is a personal judgement of worthiness that is expressed in the
attitudes that the individual holds towards himself. It is a subjective
experience which the individual conveys to others by verbal reports and other overt
expressive behavior.
Self-esteem is a
self-judgement of worth or value. Low self-esteem would be represented by
statements like “I sure feel stupid!”, while high self-esteem would present
comments like “I feel so good about what I just did!” Self-esteem can be a trait – a global personality
characteristic – or a state – related
to a particular situation.
Global self-esteem –
which arises when the person is at a mental age of eight – is related to
self-perceptions of competence in various areas – academics, athletics,
physical appearance and conduct – and a personal assessment of the importance
of each of these areas. When a person is doing well in those areas, global
self-esteem is enhance, however, if the person fail in those areas global
self-esteem is maintained despite this failure. Teachers can play an important
role in making learners succeed and feel generally good about them. Learners
with high global self-esteem maintain positive evaluations of themselves, and
it is very important in language learning process.
State self-esteem is
related to a specific situation, event or activity type. Learning a language
has to do with this type of self-esteem: classroom environment decreased
situational self-esteem in a language class. It is easy to see that learners
who have particular problems in language learning situation are those who have
low self-esteem.
Speaking skill seems to
be the ability which most causes low self-esteem once learners has to expose
themselves in front of other people in order to understand other and to be
understood by other.
6.2 Inhibition
As it
had already been mentioned all human beings “build sets of defenses to protect
the ego” (Brown, 1994:138). This defensive inhibition to protect the ego
happens mainly in adolescence when there are physical, emotional, and cognitive
changes, and it continues into adulthood.
Inhibition
is closely related to self-esteem since:
(…)
those with higher self-esteem and ego strength – are more able to withstand
treats to their existence and thus their defenses are lower. Those with weaker
self-esteem maintain walls of inhibitions to protect what is self-perceived to
be a weak or fragile ego, or a lack of self-confidence in a situation or task.
It has
to do with language learning process because learners take a new identity when
they are learning a new language and it involves risk-taking and, of course,
many errors, which are considered part of the learning process. However, when
learners perform some mistake they tend to be very critical of their own
mistakes, which, in some way, impede success.
6.3 Risk-taking
According
to Rubin and Thompson (1982, apud Brown, 1994:140), one of the characteristics
of a good language learner is “the ability to make intelligent guesses”, which
means that, risk-taking plays an important role in language learning success.
Moreover, Rubin (1975, apud Brown, 1994:141) stresses that “the good language learner
makes willing and accurate guesses”.
Despite of the fact that risk-taking is an important part of the language
learning process, students try to avoid doing it because in classroom it:
(…)
might include a bad grade in the course, a fail on the exam, a reproach from
the teacher, a smirk from classmate, punishment or embarrassment imposed by
oneself. Outside the classroom, individuals leaning a second language face
other negative consequences if they make mistakes. They fear the frustration
coming from a listener’s blank look, showing that they have failed to
communicate; they fear the danger of not being able to communicate and thereby
get close to other human beings. Perhaps worst of all, they fear a loss of
identity (Brown, 1994:140).
It is
important to say that “person with a high motivation to achieve are…moderate,
not high, risk-takers” (Beebe, 1983 apud Brown, 1994:141). Moreover, Oxford
(1990) suggests that it is essential to learners take moderate and intelligent
risks, such as guessing meanings and speaking up despite the possibility of
making mistakes.
Language
learners, who are afraid of ambiguity, become emotionally paralyzed and
unwilling to take any moderate risks in language classroom, so as to ensure
that they are not vulnerable. Scarcella and Oxford (1992:59) stress that “these
students are stalled by actual or anticipated criticism from others or by
self-criticism that they themselves supply”.
6.4 Anxiety
Anxiety
is a very important aspect in language learning process once it can affect
drastically the learning. According to Brown (1994:141), it is difficult to
define in a line; however, he suggests that “it is associated with feelings of
uneasiness, frustration, self-doubt, apprehension or worry”.
According
to Scovel (1978, apud Brown, 1994:141) anxiety is “a state of apprehension, a
vague fear…” According to Horwitz (1986, apud Bailey and Nunan, 1996) students
suffering of foreign language anxiety feel apprehension, worry, dread, and
started panic when they have to speak in the target language. The author also
says that anxious students have difficulties in concentrating, become
forgetful, tremble, and have palpitations and exhibit avoidance behavior, such
as, skipping class and over-studying.
According
to Scarcella and Oxford (1992), there are two kinds of anxiety as well as in
self-esteem: state and trait. Anxiety can be a permanent character
(trait anxiety) or can arise in response to a particular situation or event
(state anxiety). In language classroom, learners present situational or state
anxiety rather than trait anxiety. It is because, in general, anxious learners
are reacting to certain aspects of the language learning situation, such as
incomprehension input, teachers’ intolerance of silence, unequal opportunities
teachers give to students, lack of knowledge, and fear of making mistakes and
so on.
Anxiety
can have a very negative consequence on language learning process. Moreover, anxiety
is too prejudicial to language learning once that as Horwitz (1986, apud
Randall, 2007:2) reports that “nervous, fearful language learners find it very hard
to tell the difference between sounds and structures in statements presented in
the target language and have a lot of difficulty grasping the content of target
language messages”.
According
to Horwitz (1986, apud Randall, 2007), anxiety is a problem also found among
foreign language teachers. In her researchers she found that non-native foreign
language teachers report some of the same fears students are relating. For this
reason, some teachers avoid communication in the target language in language
learning classroom because they are scared of making mistakes and being wrong
in front of the students.
6.5 Attitude
According
to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2005:85), attitude is “the way that
you think and feel about sb/sth; the way that you behave towards sb/sth that shows
how you think and feel”.
Attitude
is a very important aspect in language learning success because it affects “how
successful you are in achieving your academic and personal goals; how you feel,
mentally and physically; and how look, what you say and what you do” (Bete,
2001:1).
Bete
(2001:1) stresses that to have a positive attitude is essential in language
learning and the author suggests “seven easy ways to develop a positive
attitude”:
2) Be confident
3) Be positive
4) Be punctual
5) Be patient: some things just take
time to do this world, and so are your talents
6) Believe in yourself: you are unique
in this world, and so are your talents
7) Set goals for yourself: then work
hard to achieve them
8) Get fun out of life: don’t take
yourself too seriously
Teachers
must pay special attention to attitudes learners bring to language learning and
help them to turn any negative attitudes into positive ones.
Now, I
am going to write my final considerations, in which I am going to explain how
this work could help me overcome some of the problems I, as a foreign language,
have been found.
7. Final considerations
My primary intent had
been to find useful affective language learning strategies in order to help
students develop the speaking skill.
I began by describing language
learning skill. The skills are divided into two categories: the receptive –
listening and reading – and the productive – speaking and writing. In order to
make a successful language learning receptive skills should always precede
productive ones. I then presented a description of the speaking process since
it seems to be the most handy and immediate form of communication.
Following this, I stated
the importance of interaction in language learning classroom. Through
interaction students may develop the language in which they are exposed to and
the language they are suppose to produce. Some of the interaction in language
learning classroom takes place naturally, but most of the time, it is necessary
teachers interference to make it happens.
Sometimes whether
teachers interfere or not, there are some students that seem not want to
participate in language learning classroom and it were identified some aspects
that make them stop speaking in the target language: students low English
proficiency, fear of making mistakes, teachers’ intolerance of silence,
difficult teachers’ language input, unequal opportunities given by the teachers
to the students, and so on.
Then, I began on
language learning strategies defining them and presenting the importance of
them on learning process. Language learning strategies are conscious actions
which help learners improve their abilities in the learning and it plays an
important role since they help language learners solve problems encountered
during language learning process. Language learning strategies can make
learning easier, more affective, and even more fun.
Language learning
strategies are classified by many researchers in different ways, but more or
less the same, without any radical changes. However, what seems to be the most
complete classification is made by Oxford (1990). She apparently tried to
subsume within her classification every strategy that had previously been cited
in the literature on learning strategies. The author divided language learning
strategies into two major classes (direct and indirect) which are subdivided
into six different types of strategies (memory, cognitive, and compensation –
under the direct strategies; metacognitive, affective and social – under the
indirect) and nineteen sets.
Then, I began by
describing the affective side of language learning since it is my primary
interest in this work. Oxford (1990) states that affective strategies to help learners overcome some affective
problems related to language learning. She suggests some strategies such as
using progressive relaxation, deep breathing or meditation, using music and
laughter in order to low anxiety; make positive statements, take risks and
reward as a kind of encouragement; listen to your body, keep a language
learning diary and discuss your feelings to someone else in order to take your
emotional temperature. Then, I analyzed how these strategies can be applied to
speaking skill in order to improve it.
Affective strategies can
be very useful to overcome some personality factors that affect language
learning success such as: self-esteem, inhibition, risk-taking, anxiety,
attitude, and so on.
During the development
of this work, it was clear to understand that language learning is not only a
process of acquiring linguistic rules or participating in communication
activities. More than that, language learning is a process in which individual
learners are constantly putting themselves in a position of having their own
self-concept undermined and subjecting themselves to criticism and negative
evaluations since the chance of making mistakes in language learning
environment is much greater than in other subjects.
As a language learner as
well as a foreign language teacher, I have found too difficult to deal with
this criticism and negative evaluations caused by language learning process. I
also have been faced with some personality factors that affect language
learning such as inhibition, anxiety, and low self-esteem. However, by the time
I was developing this work, I became more aware of my difficulties and about
what are some of the causes of these difficulties. I could realize that speaking is a complex
skill and requires more than just a right way of pronouncing words.
I have already started
use some of the affective strategies suggested by Oxford (1990), such as deep
breathing, making positive statements, assessing emotions and discussing
feelings to someone else, and I could already obtain good results and it makes
me feel very motivated.
It was a great work for
me because I could reflect on my own language learning process. It allowed me
to be aware of my own problems and face them. It was really satisfactory
because I could myself think about a solution to overcome some of my own
problems related to speaking skill.
I got the conclusion
that it was very helpful to me and I really intend to continue putting these
strategies into action trying to become a better speaker in the English
language.
To sum up, I realize
that learning a foreign language requires dedication and hard work, and I think
I had already a good start.
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