Forum - What influences learner needs?
This forum is only for the discussion from Section 1.
1. Look at the diagrams in each of the three threads started by your trainer
below (Learning needs; Personal needs; Future needs)
2. How do you think these factors could affect motivation or ways of
prioritising learners' work?
3. Do you think there are any factors missing?
4. For this activity, please do not post replies outside the discussion threads
started by your trainer
Make sure you use questions to find out more and clarify anything you don't
understand.
1. The diagram below suggests that the context of use is a great determining factor
in deciding the future needs of learners.
Choose one of these contexts and
briefly explain how you think it
might affect motivation, or how a
particular context might influence
how a learner's work could be
prioritized.
I was investigating my students’ beliefs
on the importance and motivation of learning English and most of them pointed the
professional use and future needs as interchangeable factors of the most importance.
Bom, é importante aprender inglês porque o mundo de hoje é muito unido graças à
globalização e, o inglês é a língua oficial, teoricamente você sabendo falar em inglês
ou pelo menos escrever você consegue se comunicar em qualquer parte do mundo!
(Diogo Queiroga)
O inglês hoje é a língua mãe do mundo, por isso se você souber consequentemente
vai estar mais dentro do mercado de trabalho e até para o dia a dia mesmo. (Alice)
Aprender inglês é muito importante, ainda mais nos dias de hoje, devido à exigência
do mercado de trabalho. (Danilo)
Pra mim, a importância em aprender inglês, se dá pelo fato de que o inglês é a
língua universal, e hoje tanto para entrar no mercado de trabalho, quanto para fazer
viagens para qualquer lugar do mundo, saber inglês é fundamental. (Gabriela)
Porque atualmente o inglês vem quebrando barreiras continentais, culturais,
políticas e sociais. É importante conhecer e trabalhar com a língua se você não
quiser fazer parte do lado ruim da globalização que facilita o acesso a bens e
mercadorias para uns e ao mesmo tempo marginaliza quem não teve ou perdeu as
oportunidades de se realizar profissionalmente. Hoje vemos diversos países
querendo investir no Brasil já que é um excelente negócio. Além disso, várias
empresas nacionais procuram mão de obra especializada. Faz tempo que o Brasil
deixou de ser uma nação cuja produção alimentícia, industrial, petrolífera etc., era
só para a subsistência do país. Agora nós temos clientes e eles são estrangeiros:
alemães, ingleses, chineses, etc. E todos eles fazem negócios no Brasil falando a
língua inglesa. Não se pode mais chegar a uma empresa e não saber interpretar o
manual de um equipamento importado. Perder vendas porque não conseguiu
interagir com o cliente que não falava português. Ser reprovado no semestre da
faculdade de medicina porque o livro de anatomia era britânico. Enfim, para mim o
inglês não traz problemas, mas abre portas para um futuro mais brilhante. (Diego
Damásio)
I believe most of my students are motivated to learn English because of a
practical need. They want to learn the language for instrumental reasons, in other words,
to open their minds, increase their chances to get a good job and use this knowledge to
read texts from their areas of expertise. They also used the metaphor of the bridge in
which English is a bridge for a better future or for the social ascension. In this sense,
“the ones who don’t know the language are out of the world” (ZOLIN-VESZ, 2003, p.
33). And this reinforces the analogy global versus local proposed by (DIAS; ASSISPETERSON, 2006, p. 115), in which English is the tool to reach the global and the
difference is conceived as deprivation.
DIAS, M. H. M.; ASSIS-PETERSON, A. A. O Inglês na Escola Pública: vozes de pais
e alunos. Polifonia n. 12, vol. 2, 2006, p. 107-128.
ZOLIN-VESZ, F. Reconsiderações sobre o ensino e a aprendizagem da língua inglesa
no contexto escolar de mato grosso. In: Revista Norteamentos Disponível
em:*projetos.unemat-net.br/revista_norteamentos/arquivos/004/.../03.pdf Acesso em
20/08/2011.
2. The diagram below shows some of the factors that influence learning needs.
Choose one of these factors and
briefly explain why you think it
could affect motivation or how
learners prioritise their work.
According to Vester (2010), the
learning styles have direct relation to
the learners’ needs and affects motivation. They show how each one deal with
knowledge in different ways using different strategies. There are more variations and
factors to be considered when discussing the learning needs. Paiva (2005) mentions
biological variations, from intelligence and aptitude to learn, age, cognitive styles,
personality and affective factors, in addition to contextual variations where the learning
process takes place. ─ quantity / quality of the input available, social distance, kind and
intensity of feedback, culture, stereotypes, among others. (Ellis, 1990; Brown, 1993;
Ehrman, 1996 apud Paiva, 2005). The author states that not only these factors determine
the learners’ success, but a set of unpredictable dynamic and possible behaviors in the
learning context, that interact with creativity in a complex system because human
learning is not a predictable process. This way, one teaching approach can work
effectively with one but not with others. Students have different learning styles and
needs: visual (seeing), auditory (hearing), kinaesthetic (moving) or tactile (touching).
As teachers we should motivate and permit creativity, the use of language in different
contexts, for different functions and genres (PAIVA, 2005).
Motivation determines the degree of effort you put into foreign or second language
learning. The more motivation you may have, the more effort you tend to put into
learning the language. It leads to success in learning (Takayuki Nakanish)
NAKANISH, Takayuki. In Journal of Language and Linguistics: Critical Literature
Review On Motivation. Japan: Ibaraki University. Vol 1, number 3, 2002.
www.shakespeare.uk.net/journal/1_3/nakanishi1_3.html
PAIVA, V.L.M.O. Modelo fractal de aquisição de línguas In: BRUNO, F.C. (Org.)
Reflexão e Prática em ensino/aprendizagem de língua estrangeira. São Paulo:
Editora Clara Luz, 2005. p. 23-36.
http://www.veramenezes.com/modelo.htm
VESTER, C. Learning styles and teaching. Available at:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/learning-styles-teaching, 2010.
3. The diagram below shows some of the factors which influence learners' personal
needs.
Drawing on your own experience as a
learner, briefly describe how your
personal needs - e.g. materials, topics,
motivation, interaction with other
learners etc. - were influenced by one
of the factors in the above illustration.
When I was a teenager my mother
advised me to study English, as most of
the parents do. I spent some months there, but I was not so motivated and I gave
up. Years later, I started writing a friend in English and it was hard because I was not
fluent. I started studying in another school and there, I was told I had a good
pronunciation and they offered me the opportunity to teach children and learn English
for free. It was very interesting because I had classes at night and taught children in the
afternoon and then for adults..... I liked the job and decided to study Language at the
university. I had been influenced by my personal and professional interest.