Evidence of Learning
Diversity
Differentiated Instruction
Block Schedules Cooperative
Learning
Functions
SLA
TPR
TPRS
Technology
Assessment
Learning Styles
Backward
Design Proficiency
3 Modes of Communication
Standards Contextualized
Parents
Instruction
Multiple Intelligences
Graduation
Requirements Higher order thinking
Vocabulary
Blooms Taxonomies
Objectives:
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Gain some knowledge of Language Learning
Strategies (LLS)
Re-Activate knowledge of Learning Styles
Learn 20 LL Strategies
Link LLS to Instruction
Apply LLS in developing lessons
Resource:
Sailing the 5 Cs with Learning Strategies
Language Learning Strategies
(LLS)
Why teach them?
LLS instruction focuses on making the
students more active learners by teaching
them how to learn and how to use what they
have learned, and be more successful
second language learners.
What are learner strategies for?
for enhancing learning.
for performing specified tasks.
for solving specific problems.
for compensating for a deficit in learning.
for making learning easier, faster, more
enjoyable.
Distinct from Learning Styles
 learner's
"natural, habitual, and
preferred way(s) of absorbing,
processing, and retaining new
information and skills" (Reid, 1995, p. viii)
STYLE INVENTORY
Take 5 minutes to fill
out the survey.
Language Learning Strategies
“specific actions, behaviors, steps, or
techniques that students (often intentionally)
use to improve their progress in developing L2
skills. These strategies can facilitate the
internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the
new language. Strategies are tools for the selfdirected involvement necessary for developing
communicative ability.” (Oxford, 1992/1993, p. 18)
National Standards
Students who use learning strategies
effectively begin to see themselves as
language learners and take on more
responsibility for their own learning. Learning
strategies benefit all students since even those
who use some strategies effectively can be
taught additional ones. (Standards, p. 30-31)
When you learned your L2,
what strategies did you use?
Take 2 minutes to think about some
strategies you personally use.
Then talk with your table group for 5
minutes.
Some strategies
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Highlighting
Listening to media
Peer tutors
Study groups
Color Coding
Self Talk
Visual imagery
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Graphic organizers
Draw pictures
Physical gestures
Flashcards
Mnemonic devices
Note taking
Paired items
Why Use Strategies?
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learner-centered and allow learners to
become more self-directed
expand your role as the language teacher
are problem-oriented
involve many aspects, not just the cognitive
can be taught
are flexible
are influenced by a variety of factors
(Oxford, 1990, p. 9)
Why are these important?
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“… they are tools for active, self-directed
involvement, which is essential for
developing communicative competence”
(Oxford, 1990)
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“…help students become better language
learners.” Graham (1997)
Strategies they use…
Students are already using strategies to learn
language and to learn in other subjects. However,
many of them are not conscious of the techniques
they are using. By explicitly identifying learning
strategies as learners use them, you can
empower learners to use these strategies more
effectively and in a wider context.
How Teachers Can Help
Identify students’ learning styles and
current strategies through surveys,
interviews, etc.
 Help students discern the most relevant
LLS for their learning style, tasks, and
goals
 Aid students in systematically using them
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Building Students’ Repertoire
Metacognitive - reflecting upon your learning
•Organize/Plan Your Own Learning
• Manage Your Own Learning
• Monitor Your Own Learning
• Evaluate Your Own Learning
Task-Based - use their own resources to learn
most effectively
•Strategies That Use What You Know
•Strategies That Use Your Imagination
•Strategies That Use Your Organizational Skills
•Strategies That Use a Variety of Resources
Metacognitive Strategies
Organize/Plan
•Plan the task or content sequence.
•Set goals.
•Plan how to accomplish the task.
Manage your own
learning
•Determine how you learn best.
•Arrange conditions that help you learn.
•Seek opportunities for practice.
•Focus your attention on the task.
Metacognitive Strategies
Monitor
While working on a task:
Check your progress on the task.
Check your comprehension as you use the
language. Are you understanding?
Check your production as you use the language.
Are you making sense?
Evaluate
After completing a task:
Assess how well you have accomplished the
learning task.
Assess how well you have applied the strategies.
Decide how effective the strategies were in
helping you accomplish the task.
Task-Based: Use What you Know
Use Background Think about and use what you already
know to help you do the task.
Knowledge
Make associations.
Make Inferences Use context and what you know to figure
out meaning.
Make
Predictions
Anticipate information to come.
Make logical guesses about what will
happen.
Personalize
Relate new concepts to your own life, that
is, to your experiences, knowledge, beliefs
and feelings.
Sample Anticipation Chart
ANTICIPATION GUIDE ON ANIMAL SENSES
Before
reading
YES
After
reading
NO
QUESTION
1. Elephants have a great sense
of smell.
2. Elephants can see well.
3. Elephants can feel the
vibrations of the ground.
4. Elephants can hear and make
high sounds that people can’t
hear.
YES
NO
Task-Based: Use What you Know
Transfer
and/or
Use Cognates
Apply your linguistic knowledge of other
languages (including your native language)
to the target language.
Recognize cognates.
Substitute
or Paraphrase
Think of a similar word or descriptive phrase
for words you do not know in the target
language.
Task-Based: Use your Imagination
Use Imagery
Use Real
Objects/Role
Play
Use or create an image to understand
and/or represent information.
Act out and/or imagine yourself in different
roles in the target language.
Manipulate real objects as you use the
target language.
Task-Based: Use your
Organizational Skills
Find/Apply
Patterns
Apply a rule.
Make a rule.
Sound out and apply letter/sound rules.
Group
Classify
Relate or categorize words or ideas
according to attributes.
Use Graphic
Organizers
Take Notes
Use or create visual representations (such
as Venn diagrams, timelines, and charts) of
important relationships between concepts.
Write down important words and ideas.
Task-Based: Use your
Organizational Skills
Summarize
Create a mental, oral, or written summary of
information.
Use Selective
Attention
Focus on specific information, structures,
key words, phrases,or ideas.
Task-Based: Use a Variety of
Resources
Access
Information
Sources
Use the dictionary, the Internet, and other
reference materials.
Follow a model.
Ask questions.
Cooperate
Work with others to complete tasks, build
confidence, and give and receive feedback.
Talk Yourself
Through It
(Self Talk)
Use your inner resources. Reduce your
anxiety by reminding yourself of your
progress, the resources you have available,
and your goals.
Determining Success!
Knowing Learning Style
Applying Appropriate
Learning Strategies
Accomplishing the
Task
Integrating LLS with Instruction
Effective strategies instruction is not an "add-on"
or a separate content area; rather, strategies
instruction is used to support language
learning and to accomplish authentic,
meaningful language tasks. Although some
initial explanations are needed, most
strategies instruction should occur while you
are working on language tasks.
LLS and the 3 Modes
Interpersonal
 Interpretive
 Presentational
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& Culture!
Interpersonal Mode
Sample Activity Strategy
Talk with a partner about
things you do at home.
Cooperate: Work together to keep the
conversation going. When you are trying to think of
a word, let your partner suggest vocabulary you
can use. If your partner has trouble, help by
offering what you know how to say. Helping each
other learn will make the process more fun.
Use new vocabulary
related to school
subjects to interview a
classmate about likes
and dislikes.
Look at the vocabulary list for cognates, words
that are similar to the English names of school
subjects. Check your understanding of the words
with the glossary and ask your classmate about
the classes they like or dislike. Notice how the
words may have a different stress or pronunciation
in the foreign language, so you won’t pronounce
them the same way as in English.
Interpretive Mode
Sample Activity Strategy
Listen to a dialogue
about making a date.
Use what you know about dating to help you
understand the dialogue. For example, there are
different ways to ask if someone is free on a certain
date in English. How do speakers of your foreign
language handle the situation? Notice how the
speakers make a request and respond to a request for
a date
Read a travel brochure.
Answer questions about
the place in the
brochure.
Begin reading the brochure and stop periodically to see
if you are understanding what you are reading. Stop to
monitor your progress frequently. If you don’t
understand, access resources such as the glossary,
your notes, or your dictionary.
Presentational Mode
Sample Activity Strategy
Create and perform a skit Stop for a moment to encourage yourself. Tell
about ordering in a French yourself that you can do this assignment
restaurant.
because you have good strategies for language
learning. You can use cooperating as you work
with a classmate to plan the skit. You can use
what you know as you remember phrases in
French to talk about food, drinks, and money.
You can monitor as you practice the skit to
check if you can understand the lines you and
your classmate write. When problems come up,
you can access resources to get the help you
need.
Culture: Practices/Perspectives
Sample Activity Strategy
After listening to a
As you listen to the description of the wedding,
dialogue about a
create an image of the ceremony in your mind.
wedding in Mexico, list
the practices you learned
about and talk about
what this tells you
Mexican culture.
Read a magazine article
about Austrian sports
and write a summary
about what types of
sports they play in
Austria.
Use the headline, photo, caption, and key words to
infer what the article will focus on. As you read,
check to see if what you inferred matches
information in the article.
Culture: Products/Perspectives
Sample Activity Strategy
Write a description of a
Search the Web for French works of art. Museum
French work of art.
websites are frequently valuable sources of
Discuss why this painting information about art.
was influential to French
culture.
Read a magazine article
about current fashion
trends in Paris.
Before reading, brainstorm what you already
know about fashion and French fashion in
particular. For example, what clothing names do
you know in French? How about colors? Apply
what you know to help you understand the article.
Resources
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http://www.nclrc.org/sailing/index.html
http://www.nvcc.edu/home/lfranklin/strategies.htm
http://www.metamath.com/multiple/multiple_choice_que
stions.html DVC Learning Style Survey for College has a good
introduction, four categories of styles (visual/verbal; visual
nonverbal; tactile/kinesthetic; auditory/verbal), and a selfassessment web-based tool. Results/scores are based upon 32
questions.
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http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html
Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire: (Felder/Silverman)
introduction, learning preferences on four dimensions
(active/reflective, sensing/intuitive, visual/verbal, and
sequential/global); and a self-assessment instrument self-scored.
Results/scores are based upon 44 questions.
Your Task (between now & 11:00)
Form groups of 3 by language and level
 Define language lesson objectives to
include a real-life cultural/social situation
 Decide what strategies students will be
able to use by the end of the lesson and
self-evaluate. List strategies objectives.
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Continued….
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List materials. Create samples of any
worksheets/graphic organizers that will be
needed.
Sequence of Activities:
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Presentation: At least one step-by-step activity that
describes how you will model your expectations and
learning strategies.
Practice: in which students use the language to
achieve the communicative objectives using
strategies you model/suggest.
Debriefing/Self Evaluation: students reflect and
share their strategies for learning.