Master
program UPTC 2013 first semester
Professor
Maria Teresa
Learning Strategies
Bijan
Nassiri
Language
Learning Strategies
Introduction
As
a matter of fact, language learning strategies have been created for a long
time ago, but the most important factor that we should take into account is
strategies for learning are vital and essential for the teachers of languages
who are willing to teach and improve their learners’ ability in a good manner.
According to the research of O’Malley,Chamot, and Copper effective listeners
used three specific strategies.
Self-
monitoring, Elaboration, and Inferences
This
study demonstrated that the use of certain learning strategies improved
learning among students. Learning strategies are defined by Oxford
There
are 62 strategies mentioned by Oxford
A. Direct
language learning strategies
They
are useful to the students because they help store and recover information.
Although there is gap in knowledge, but these strategies help learners to
produce language.
Memory
strategies
There
are three simple principles in memory strategies:
Laying
things out in order, making association, and reviewing. The use of memory
strategies are most frequently applied in the beginning process of language
learning.
Cognitive strategies
These
are perhaps the most popular strategies with language learners. The target language
is manipulated or transformed by repeating, analyzing, or summarizing. The four
sets in this group are:
Practicing,
receiving and sending messages, analyzing and reasoning, and creating structure
for input and output. In other words the processes and behavior which learners use
to improve their ability to learn or remember something (classroom tasks and
activities) are called cognitive strategies.
- Repeating key words or phrases silently or aloud
- Summarizing important information
- Creating visual images
Compensation strategies
Learners
use compensation strategies when don’t have sufficient knowledge of the target
language. They guess the meaning. When a learner recognizes the words shovel, grass,
mover, and lawn in a conversation, it could be understood that is about
gardening.
B.
Indirect Language learning strategies
They help learner regulate the learning process. They work together
with the direct learning strategies. They support and manage language learning
without direct engagement and therefore called indirect strategies.
Metacognitive
strategies
Metacognitive
strategies go beyond the cognitive mechanism and give learners to coordinate
their learning. This helps them to plan language learning in an efficient way.
When new vocabulary, rules, and writing system confuse the learner, these
strategies become vital for successful language learning. There are three sets
in these strategies:
a.
Centering your learning (to given a focus to the learner, it could be directed
toward certain learning activities).
b.
Arranging and planning your learning (help learners to organize)
c.
Evaluating your learning (helps learners with problems like monitoring errors,
and evaluation of progress)
Affective strategies
The
affective strategies factors like emotion, attitude, motivation, and values
influence learning in an important way. There sets of strategies are included
in this group:
Lowering
anxiety
Encouraging
yourself
Taking
your emotional temperature
Good
language learners control their attitudes and emotion about learning and
understand
that negative feelings retard learning. Positive feeling in class, giving
moreresponsibility to the students, increasing the amount of natural
communication, andteaching affective strategies can be good help by the teachers.
Anxiety
could be both helpful and harmful. It is felt that a certain amount of anxiety
is helpful for learners because it helps them obtain their optimum level of performance.
Too much anxiety has the opposite effect. Anxiety often takes forms of worry, frustration,
insecurity, fear, and self-doubt. A common high anxiety creating situation for
learners is to perform before peers and
teacher when they are not prepared.
Some
listen to the favorite music for a few minutes before practicing the target
language lower the anxiety.
Social
strategies
Social
strategies are very important in learning a language because language is used
in communication and communication occurs between people. Three sets are
included in this group:
a.
asking questions
b. cooperating
with others
c.
empathizing with others
Among
the three, asking questions is the most helpful and comes closest to
understanding
the meaning. Cooperation with others eliminates competition and in its place
brings group spirit. Studies show that cooperative learning result in higher
self-esteem, increased confidence, and rapid achievement. It is very important
to help learners change their attitudes from confrontation and competition to
cooperation.
Empathy
is very important in communication. Empathy means to put oneself in
someone
else’s situation to understand that person’s point of view. Learners can use social
strategies to develop cultural understanding and become aware of thoughts and feelings
of others.
Learners
can apply the strategy of cooperating with others by doing something together
in the language they are learning.
Daily
telephone conversation with a friend in the target language is an example to practice
listening and speaking skills.
Conclusion
This
article has introduced direct and indirect language learning strategies. It is
very important to understand that both of them complement each other. Learners
need to apply both for effective language learning. It is obvious that to know
and apply these strategies can be a great help for the learners who are interested
in learning language in any situation. There is no doubt by using these
strategies the learners can be more self-esteem to learn and more confidence
about what they are trying to understand about language. Knowing strategies
help a lot to the learners to improve their ability to learn and be conscious
about what they need in their career.
References
Cohen,
A.D. (1998). Strategies in learning and using a second language.
Ikeda,
M., Takeuchi, O. (2003) can strategy instruction help EFL learners to
improvetheir reading ability? An empirical study.
JACET
Bulletinu, 37,49,60.Lessard – Clouston, M. (1997). Language learning
strategies: an overview for L2teachers.
O’Malley,
M.J., Chamot, A.U., Kupper, L. (1989). Listening comprehention strategies in
second language acquisition.
Master
program UPTC 2013
Research Foundation
Professor
Dr. Alvaro Quintero
Bijan
Nassiri
Children’s
Narratives
Introduction
As
a matter of fact, nowadays writing has been considered as the language skill.
That is to say, through writing we are able to present simple notes, letters,
or academic reports. Moreover it is understood that writing as an alternative
sensitive and social dimension and as the capacity of individuals to recognize
themselves as human being as well as social and active participants of their
surrounding context. That is to say children by giving the suitable situation
can improve their ability of writing in order to express their feelings, views,
opinions and personal experiences. It is not important how they write but in
the what and why they write it. on the other hand it can be said that language
is thought to the children to be creative authentic and empower to understand
and transform their social realities.
Therefore,
a new socio – critical conception is rising because of this view that language
is not understood from the perspective developing linguistic abilities that may
be a limited view but it is deeply a critical and cultural matter to encourage
children to perceive, notice and aware to the realistic they face.
For
this reason, what we, as teachers, should understand is that students are used
to writing for academic purposes only, unfortunately because of this reality we
are far from the real situation of the importance of writing in our educational
context. It is better to say that we are in somehow in an artificial
environment in educational settings.
2
Lerner
(2001) believes that writing is as a social practice which is understood as a
powerful tool that allows students to re-think the world and consequently,
organize their own thoughts. Then, one of the most important factor of lack of
information about children’s writing is both teachers and students are not
accustomed to use writing as an essential element for education as means of
explore social views of the reality of their lives. Thus, it can be said that
writing is as a social practice that the students should be familiar with it
seriously. On the other hand, considering the ideas already discussed, children
are being able to be empowered in their voices and led problematize their own
reality froma critical perspective. Their actions and thought are considered as
challenges in their academic circumstances and their real lives.
According
to Scott (1996), Byern (1988), Pellegrini, Galda and Rubin (1984) effective
writing can be interpreted in the way learners are challenged to express their
feelings, thoughts, and records into words in the taget language. We use,
organize and arrange our ideas in order to translate them into printed language
(Byern,1988). On the whole, writing does not have to be merely the task or
information of academic paper, but has to be understood as living and active practice
able to transform human consciousness. (Ong, 1994). Paying attention to
children abilities and necessities improve their meta-cognitive skills and
their effectiveness in the writing competence as well as provide a critical
view concerning socio-cultural features as voice.
Wink
(2004) stated that voices can be heard when individuals assume a critical role
within a family or community, but how do learners get their voices heard?
Voices begin with nature of opinions and views towards a topic with arguments
and reflection. Indeed comprehension reality gives a real situation to the
students to be able to create their ideas and thoughts in their society and
express them in a critical way. This transformation of society is a big
injection of social sensitivity.
3
Social
sensitivity has three aspects: namely, history critical view, and reflection.
The combination of these aspects and using them as personal marks arisen from
personal experiences in the context of the narratives. On the whole every body
has his / her history which consists of both reward and bad experiences. We
really can not consider any transformation without reflection.
Conclusion
The
ability of writing through narration demonstrates our reality of life. In other
words to be socialized, educated people need to narrate any narrative situation
that human interact and constitutes a fundamental activity that leads them.
finally, being socialized is our duty as educators to create a very suitable
situation for our learners to be narrative and critical students to demonstrate
their abilities in a real life that they are belonging to it.
References
Adam, J., & Lorda, C. (1999). Linguistica
de los textos Narrativos. Barcelona, España.
Byrne,D.
(1988) Teaching writing skills. London ,
U.K.
Freire, P. (1974). Concientizacion:
Teoria y practica de la liberación, Colombia: Asociación Publicación Educativas
Jacson,
P. W. (1995) On the place of narrative in teaching.
Learner, D. (2001) Leer y escribir en
la escuela. Lo real, lo posible y lo necesario, Mexico, D.F. Secretario de
educación publica / Fondo de cultura Economica.
Master
program UPTC 2013
Learning
Psychology
Professor Sonia M. Rojas
Bijan
Nassiri
Second
Language Acquisition
Introduction
Language acquisition has always been one of the most important topics in
academic field. It requires meaningful interaction in the target language. It
is also believed that first language influence may be an indicator of low
acquisition. It is, not surprisingly, found most often in foreign language, as
opposed to second language situations, where opportunities for real
communication are fewer, and it is only rarely seen in “natural” child second
language acquisition. Silent period in second language acquisition has been
suggested to be beneficial, (Postovsky, 1977). “Language acquisition does not
require extensive use of conscious grammatical rules, and does not require
tedious drill.” Stephen Krashen
The acquisition – learning hypothesis
According to Krashen there are two independent systems of second
language performance: ‘the acquired system’ and the ‘the learned system’.
Acquisition is the product of an unconscious process very similar to the
process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires
meaningful interaction in the target language – natural communication – in
which speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the
communicative act. Krashen believes that learning is less important than
acquisition.
Second Language Acquisition
For better understanding the second language acquisition, it is
essential to know the distinction between acquisition and learning. Acquisition
is the product of unconscious process, but learning is the result of conscious
process. In other words, learning is the product of real interactions between
people in environments of the target language and culture, when the learner is
an active player. It is similar to the way children learn their native
language, a process that produces functional skill in the spoken language without
theoretical knowledge. A classic example of second language acquisition are the
adolescents and young adults that live abroad for year in an exchange program,
while knowing little about the language. They have a good pronunciation without
a notion of phonology, don’t know what the perfect tense is, modal or phrasal
verbs are, but they intuitively recognize and know how to use all the
structures. (Krashen)
Interrelationship between acquisition and learning
As a matter of fact, it is believed that languages are complex,
arbitrary, irregular phenomena, full of ambiguities. Therefore, grammatical
structure of a language is too complex and abstract to be categorized and
defined by rules. It is believed that to acquire a language is much easier and
more enjoyable than to learn a language. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze
the characteristics of the target language, their degrees of irregularity and
difficulty and how that affects the applicability of Krashen’s theory. It is
also necessary to analyze the personal characteristics of the players in the
teaching area.
Age and the efficiency of acquisition
vs. learning
It has been believed that the majority of studies as well as the
experience in the field of SLA indicate that
the lower the age the easier, the faster and the more complete the learning
will be. In the same way the age is a determining factor in foreign language
learning in general, it is also determining factor in the level of efficiency
of acquisition and learning.
Conclusion
As we have already understood language acquisition and learning has a
fundamental process that have been learned consciously and unconsciously. The
age also is very a considerable factor for acquiring and learning processes. In
other words, language acquisition is more efficient than language learning
Krashen (1988).
References
Krashen, Stephen D. principles and practice in second language
acquisition. Prentice – Hall international, 1988
M. Long, Native speaker/ Non native speaker conversation in the second
language classroom (1983).
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