Applied Linguistics

1. Applied Linguistics An Introduction to Applied Linguistics Chapter 10 Focus on the Language Learner: Motivation, Styles and Strategies.

2. Focus on the Language Learner: Motivation, Styles and Strategies. Summarized by: Narmeen Abdulrahman Asma Abbas Jwana Ismael Hawzheen Rahman Kawa Qadir To be presented by: Kawa Qadir

3. Factors of Success in L2 • Success in learning a foreign or second language depends on a variety of factors such as 1. the Duration and the Intensity of the language course. 2. The characteristics and abilities of the teacher. 3. The appropriateness of the teaching methodology.

4. Factors of Success in L2 4. The quality of the textbook. 5. The size and composition of the learner group. 6. The amount of natural L2 practice opportunities. 7. The characteristics of the language learner.

5. Learner Characteristics There are three learner characteristics (as researchers call {Individual Differences}) which are largely beyond the teacher’s control such as: Age Gender Language Aptitude

6. Age • Age has been the subject of a great deal of research over the last 40 years. The traditional view has been that the younger we start to learn a second language, the better chance of success we have. • Previously, this advantage was explained in terms of a ‘Critical Period’, (learning a L2 after the age puberty will be difficult)

7. Age • However, recent research shows that “the younger the better” principle is only valid in environments where there is constant and natural exposure to the L2 (for example, learning French in France). In typical classroom environments where the amount of exposure is relatively small, older learners seem to have the advantage over their younger peers, that is, here, older is better.

8. Gender • The learners’ gender is important because research has consistently found girls to outdo their male peers when it comes to language learning.

9. Language Aptitude • It is the best-known individual difference variable in language learning. • This factor has been referred to under different names, e.g., Special ability Special gift Special Knack Special feel Special flair for languages.

10. Language Aptitude • Everybody – learners, teachers and researchers alike – will agree that it is a very important attribute of learning effectiveness. • Language aptitude is best seen as the language-related aspect of intelligence. • It determines the rate of learning and the amnt of energy the process is likely to require of the learner.

11. Language Aptitude • Someone with a high aptitude will pick up the L2 relatively easily, whereas for another person the same level of proficiency can only be achieved by means of hard work and persistence. • It is important to note that language aptitude does not determine whether or not someone can learn a language.

12. Factors of increasing the effectiveof instruction Factors that teachers can actively address to increase the effectiveness of instruction include: Motivation Learning styles Learner strategies.

13. 1. Motivation • Motivation is the key learner variable because without it, nothing can much happen. • Motivation can be promoted consciously, which is good news for L2 teachers; it means that by employing certain methods it is possible to change learners’ motivation in a positive direction.

14. The Social Nature of L2 motivation • Motivation to learn a L2 is very different from the motivation to learn any other school subject. This is because an L2 is not only a communication code, but also a representative of the L2 culture where it is spoken. • As a consequence, L2 motivation will always have a strong Sociocultural component.

15. The Social Nature of L2 motivation • Learners may well be reluctant to set about learning the language of a cultural group towards which they have truly negative feelings. • Similarly, having favorable attitudes towards a language community may well increase the motivation to learn their language.

16. Motivation as a Dynamic process • Asecond important aspect of L2 motivation is that it is not stable and static but is rather in a continuous process of change. • Motivation undergoes a cycle that has at least three distinct phases:

17. Motivation as a Dynamic process First,motivation needs to be generated according to the selection of the goal. (choice motivation) Second,the generated motivation needs to be actively maintained and protected while the particular action lasts. (executive motivation)

18. Motivation as a Dynamic process • Finally,the third phase follows the completion of the action is termed “motivational retrospection” • It concerns learners’ retrospective evaluation of how things went.

19. Motivating Learners • The most obvious way to help classroom practitioners is by providing a list of practical motivational techniques that teachers can apply. • Dornyei four principal aspects of motivational teaching practice:

20. Motivating Learners • Creating the basic motivational conditions, like: • Establishing rapport with the students • Fostering a pleasant and supportive classroom atmosphere. • Developing a cohesive learner group with appropriate group norms.

21. Motivating Learners 2. Generating initial student motivation, like: • Increasing the learners expectancy of success • Making teaching materials relevant to the learners. • Creating realistic learner beliefs

22. Motivating Learners 3. Maintaining and Protecting motivation, like: • Making learning stimulating • Setting specific learner goals • Presenting tasks in a motivating way

23. 2. Learning Styles • Researchers both in educational psychology and the L2 field have observed that various learners approach learning in a significantly different manner, and the concept of ‘Learning Styles’ has been used to refer to these differences. • Indeed, we learn in different ways and what suits one learner may be inadequate for another.

24. 2. Learning Styles • Learning Styles seem to be relatively stable, and that is why teachers may have not such a direct influence on this learner variable as with motivation. • teachers can modify the learning tasks they use in their classes in a way that may bring the best out of particular learners with particular learning style preferences.

25. 2. Learning Styles • It is also possible that learners over time can be encouraged to engage in ‘style-stretching’ so as to incorporate approaches to learning they were resisting in the past.

26. Style Preferences • The following style preferences are considered particularly relevant and useful to understanding the process of language learning: 1. Being more visual, auditory or hands-on. 2. Being more global vs more particular. 3. Being more synthesizer vs being more analytic. 4. Being more extroverted vs introverted.

27. Style Preferences 5. Being more abstract and intuitive vs more concrete and thinking in step-by-step sequence. 6. Preferring to keep all options open vs being closure-oriented.

28. 3. Learner Strategies • Second-language researchers first noticed the importance of various learning strategies when they were examining the ‘good language learner’ in the 1970s.

29. 3. Learner Strategies • The results indicated that it is not merely a high degree of language aptitude and motivation that caused some learners to excel, but also the students’ own active and creative participation in the learning process through the application of individualized learner strategies.

30. 3. Learner Strategies • Research has found that the ‘good language learner’ is in command of a rich and sufficiently personalized repertoire of such strategies.

31. Categories of Learner Strategies • Learner strategies have been categorized in numerous ways, but one helpful distinction is between: • Language learning Strategies • Language Use strategies

32. 1. Language Learning strategies LLS s refer to the conscious and semi conscious thoughts and behaviors used by learners with the explicit goal of improving their knowledge and understanding of a target language.

33. 2. Language Use Strategies • LUSs refer to strategies for using the language that has been learned. • This category includes four sub-sets of strategies:

34. Language Use Strategies 1. ‘Retrieval Strategies’strategies used to call up language material from storage, for example, calling up the correct verb in its appropriate tense. 2. ‘Rehearsal strategies’strategies for practising target language structures.

35. Language Use Strategies 3. ‘Communication strategies’strategies used to convey a message that is both meaningful and informative for the listener or reader, for example, when we want to explain technical information for which we do not have the specialized vocabulary.

36. Language Use Strategies 4. Cover strategies’strategies for creating an appearance of language ability so as not to look unprepared, foolish or even stupid, for example, using a memorized and partially understood phrase in a classroom drill in order to keep the action going, or laughing at a joke that you did not understand at all..

37. 3. Self-motivating strategies • Along with the two general strategy types, LLS & LUS s there is one another type which is “Self-motivating Strategies” which learners can use to increase or protect their existing motivation.

38. Communication strategies • Communication strategies are used as (verba / non-verbal) first aid devices to deal with problems or break-downs in communication. • These devices enable learners to stay active partners in communication even when things do not go well. • They may use these to steer the conversation away from problematic areas, to express their meaning in creative ways (e.g. paraphrazing a word / concept)

39. Some common communication strategies • Avoidance strategies, e.g. leaving a message unfinished because of some language difficulty. • Compensatory strategies, e.g. describing the target word you can not remember. • Time-gaining strategies, e.g. using filling words to fill pauses and to gain time to think (e.g. well, now let me see etc.)

40. Some common communication strategies 4. Interactional Strategies, e.g. requesting repetition when not hearing or understanding sth properly.

41. Learner strategies • There are two notable approaches classify LS into two different categories. • Cognitive, Metacognitive, Affective and social strategies. • Skill area Strategies

42. 1. Cognitive, Metacognitive, Affective and Social strategies 1. Cognitive Strategies: encompass the language learning strategies of identification, grouping, retention and storage of language material, as well as the language use strategies of retrieval, rehearsal and comprehension or production of words, phrases and other elements of the L2.

43. 1. Cognitive, Metacognitive, Affective and Social strategies 2. Meta-cognitive Strategies: are those processes which learners consciously use in order to supervise or manage their language learning. Such strategies allow learners to control their own cognition by planning what they will do, checking how it is going and then evaluating how it went.

44. 1. Cognitive, Metacognitive, Affective and Social strategies 3. Affective Strategies: serve to regulate emotions, motivation and attitudes (for example, strategies for reduction of anxiety and for self-encouragement). 4. Social Strategies: Include the actions which learners choose to take in order to interact with other learners and with native speakers, e.g. asking questions to clarify social roles & relation ships.

45. 2. Strategies according to Skill Area • The Receptive skills, listening and reading, and the Productive skills, speaking and writing, are the four basic skill categories. • There are, of course, others such Vocabulary Learning Strategies

46. 2. Strategies according to Skill Area • Listening Strategies, listening to talk show on the radio. • Reading Strategies, planning how read a text, monitor to see how the reading is going & then check to see how much of it was understood. • Speaking strategies, Looking for a different way to express the idea.

47. 2. Strategies according to Skill Area 4. Writing strategies, postponing editing of the writing until all the ideas are written down. 5. Vocabulary strategies, using words just learned in order to see if they work.

48. Self-Monitoring strategies • Under adverse conditions in certain classrooms and without any teacher assistance, some learners are more successful at staying committed to the goals they have set for themselves than others are. How do they do it? In short, they motivate themselves.

49. Self-motivating strategies • Self-motivating strategies are made up of five main classes: • ‘Commitment control strategies’for helping to preserve or increase the learners’ original goal commitment. • ‘Meta-cognitive control strategies’for monitoring and controlling concentration. • ‘Satiation control strategies’for eliminating boredom.

50. Self-motivating strategies 4. ‘Emotion control strategies’for managing disruptive emotional states or moods. 5. ‘Environmental Control Strategies’for eliminating negative environmental influences.