strategies.docx

7/27/2019 Strategies.docx

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SAINT PETERS COLLEGE LEYTE NORMAL UNIVERSITY

Ormoc City

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Submitted by:

Lilian May S. Ando

M.A.T (LT)


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Learning Strategies

Learners of English as a Second Language use specific behaviors or thought processes

to enhance their own second language learning. The word strategy comes from the ancient

Greek word strategia, which means steps or actions taken for the purpose of winning a war. The

warlike meaning ofstrategia has fortunately fallen away, but the control and goal directedness

remain in the modern version of the word (Oxford, 2003).

According to Oxford, a given strategy is neither good nor bad for it is essentially neutral

until the context of its use is thoroughly considered. A strategy is considered valuable if the

following conditions are present: (a) the strategy relates well to the L2 task at hand, (b) the

strategy fits the particular students learning style preferences to one degree or another, and (c)

the student employs the strategy effectively and links it with other relevant strategies. Strategies

that fulfill these conditions make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed,

more effective, and more transferable to new situations. These learning strategies enable

students to become more independent lifelong learners.

Oxford has identified six major groups of L2 learning strategies. These are: (1) cognitive

strategies, (2) metacognitive strategies, (3) Memory-related strategies, (4) Compensatory

strategies, (5) Affective strategies, (6) Social strategies.

Metacognitive strategies (e.g., identifying ones own learning style preferences and

needs, planning for an L2 task, gathering and organizing materials, arranging a study space and

a schedule, monitoring mistakes, and evaluating task success, and evaluating the success of

any type of learning strategy) are employed for managing the learning process overall.

Memory-related strategies help learners link one L2 item or concept with another but do

not necessarily involve deep understanding. Various memory-related strategies enable learners

to learn and retrieve information in an orderly string (e.g., acronyms), while other techniques

create learning and retrieval via sounds (e.g., rhyming), images (e.g., a mental picture of the

word itself or the meaning of the word), a combination of sounds and images (e.g., the keyword

method), body movement (e.g., total physical response), mechanical means (e.g., flashcards),

or location.

Compensatory strategies (e.g., guessing from the context in listening and reading; using

synonyms and talking around the missing word to aid speaking and writing; and strictly for

speaking, using gestures or pause words) help the learner make up for missing knowledge.


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Affective strategies, such as identifying ones mood and anxiety level, talking about

feelings, rewarding oneself for good performance, and using deep breathing or positive self talk,

have been shown to be significantly related to L2 proficiency.

Social strategies (e.g., asking questions to get verification, asking for clarification of a

confusing point, asking for help in doing a language task, talking with a native-speaking

conversation partner, and exploring cultural and social norms) help the learner work with others

and understand the target culture as well as the language.

These strategies help language learners to take control of their learning, be more

competent, and, most important, become autonomous.

These are just some of the many strategies English teachers employ in their classes.

1. Role-playing. In Role-playing, students assume roles and act out those roles. For

instance, if the lesson is about giving and asking directions, one pretends he is lost

and the other gives directions.

2. Information gap. The idea is for learners to interact and talk to each other to fill

out missing bits of information. In teaching new words, for example, you give one

student a group of words; and the other, the meaning of those words. Give the

students time to match the words with their definitions, but to complete the task,

they need to interact, share what they know, and ask each other questions.

3. Reading Aloud. In Reading Aloud, students not only hone their reading skills but

also their pronunciation skills. In reading a passage aloud, students will be able to

see the word and then they try to position their mouth or tongue to how the letters

are written.

4. Pair Work. In Pair Work, the students work in pairs to complete a task. For

example, you can ask students to read a dialogue in pairs, or let them clarify what

they learned from the dialogue by interacting and asking each other questions.

Remember, the idea is to let students work in pairs.

5. Substitution. This technique works best when discussing sentence patterns and

structures. A word or group of words is changed with another set. Say, the pattern

you are working on is "I feel sad today." You can ask the student to change the

word "sad" into another word that connotes feelings.

6. Singing. When teaching pronunciation or when targeting a difficult sound, this

strategy comes in handy. Say, for instance, the student has difficulty producing the

/r/ and /l/ sounds, you can teach him the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat.


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7. Repetition. In Repetition, you let your student expose the language by asking him

to repeat what you say. This works best for beginners and zero-English students.

8. Sentence construction. This strategy is very simple. In Sentence Construction,

the students create sentences using words you provide. For instance, after

explaining the meaning of a new word, you ask the student to make his own

sentence using that word.

9. Physical Demonstration. This strategy is useful in many situations such as the

following: when teaching a zero-English student a new word or when words alone

are not sufficient to let your student understood your point. In Physical

Demonstration, you point to where or what something is, you gesture, you act out,

or you nod to indicate agreement.

10. Retelling, Summarizing, and /or Paraphrasing. In English classes, remember to

give the students many opportunities to use the English language. In Retelling,

Summarizing, and /or Paraphrasing, the student is asked to explain something

using his own words. With this strategy, the teacher can gauge how well the

student has understood a concept.

11. Use of Pictorial Products. Drawings, pictures, and diagrams are not only

interesting and lovely to look at, but they are also a very powerful tool in teaching

English. You can use drawings to demonstrate what you mean, or you can present

pictures to explain the meaning of a new word.

12. Asking Probing Questions. Even though you give your student ample

opportunities to speak or use the language, you will encounter students who either

do not want to speak or speak only with a "yes" or "no." Ask questions that require

them to speak more such as open-ended questions. Instead of yes/no questions,

you may want to ask wh- questions.

13. Use of Tongue Twisters or Nursery Rhymes. Tongue twisters are useful when

teaching pronunciation. Nursery rhymes are one way of piquing students' interest.

14. Cues. Hints, prompting questions, and (most important) advance organizers.

15. KWL. A publicly posted chart with three columns in which the teacher writes what

students already know (K) and want to know (W) about a new topic before they

begin a lesson; near the end of the lesson, the teacher writes what they have

learned (L) in the third column.


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16. Think-Pair-Share an activity in which students think individually for a brief time,

discuss ideas in a pair or triad (perhaps while working on a task), and then offer

ideas for consideration.

17. Think Alouda form of modeling in which teachers describe their cognitive

processing (e.g., interacting with a text to derive meaning, exploring strategies to

complete a math task, determining cause and effect in a science experiment).

18. RIQ stands for recall, insights and question. At the end of a lesson teachers can

use RIQ to encourage student reflection and monitoring of learning.

1) Recall three things from the lesson.

2) Write down two insights or ideas received during the lesson.

3) Write one question that you still have.

4) Students can share what they have written with a partner.

19. Mind Mirror. The mind mirror activity asks students to synthesise and be creative

with their understandings of a given character. In an outline of a character's head,

students depict how this character was feeling and thinking at a specific time and

what questions the character was considering. To illustrate all these ideas students

use (two) relevant quotes from the text and create (two) symbols and (two)

drawings that are important in explaining the character's perspective. This activity

provides a good opportunity to clarify the difference between a drawing and a

symbol.

20. Verbs Story. The teacher tells a story and as the teacher talks she writes the

verbs on the whiteboard, each verb on a new line. The students retell the story,

using the verbs as prompts. They can then write the story and compare their

version with the original. In this way a skills flow is used - the students listen, then

speak, then write and lastly they compare and notice the language differences.

21. Jigsaw Listening. Jigsaw Listening activities give students practice in listening to

information in English, then conveying that information to someone else. In a

Jigsaw exercise, students work in groups of 4 or 5. Each student in each group has

a number from 1 to 4 or 5. The teacher gives each group a different text, cut into

the samenumber of pieces as the number of students in the group. For example, if

there are 4 groups of 4 students each, the teacher might choose 4 different texts

about computers and cut each into 4 pieces. Each student would read one piece of

one text. Within the groups, students would tell each other what they read, so that

each group would then have all the information from one of the 4 texts. Then the


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students would form new groups -- all the number 1s would be in one group, all the

2s in another, and so on. Each member of the new group would give the

information from the text read by the old group. The result is that each person in

the class would get all the information from all 4 texts.

22. Numbered Heads Together. The Numbered Heads Together technique solves

several problems with group work; it forces the group to take responsibility for the

learning of each member, it ensures that one student in the group does not do all

the work while the others sit passively by, it prevents a few students from

volunteering all the answers to the teacher's questions, and it guarantees that all

students have an equal chance of being called on. Numbered Heads Together is

often used to check comprehension of a text students have read or something they

have listened to.

Instructions:

1. Students work in groups of 3 or 4.2. Each student has a number from 1 - 3 or 4.3. The teacher asks a question about a text the students have read or about

some topic they have studied.4. The groups discuss the question for a few seconds, decide on an answer

and make sure everyone in the group knows the answer.5. The teacher calls a number between 1 and 3 (or 4) at random and

indicates a group.6. The student with the indicated number in that group gives the group's

answer. If the answer is wrong, the teacher goes to another group.

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