Q for Qualities of a Good Learner

What does it mean to be a good learner?

There are lots of aspects related to this concept, some of them are age and good language learners, personality and good language learners, learning strategies and good language learners, aptitude and good language learners, gender and good language learners etc. From this wide range of aspects, I chose to focus on learning strategies.

Although there is no an explicit and unambiguous definition of learning strategies, some common definitions offered by major scholars in the field suggest that learning strategies are efforts by learners to enhance or assist their language learning experience (Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition, 2010). In other words, a learning strategy is a person's approach to learning and using information. Elements related to these strategies are the following: they involve choice on the part of the learner; they involve conscious selection (the learner is aware of deciding to use a strategy); they are goal directed; they are effortful. 

 There are six main types of learning strategies. Oxford (1990b) makes a clear distinction between direct learning strategies, "which directly involve the subject matter", i.e. the L2 or FL, and indirect learning strategies, which "do not directly involve the subject matter itself, but are essential to language learning nonetheless" (p. 71). Moreover, each one of these broad types of learning strategies is divided into groups.  

The three main types of direct learning strategies (Oxford, 1990b):

• Memory strategies, which assist in entering information into long-term memory and retrieving information when needed for communication.

•  Cognitive strategies, which are used for forming and revising internal mental models and receiving and producing messages in the target language.

• Compensation strategies, which are needed to overcome any gaps in knowledge of the language.

The three main types of indirect learning strategies (Oxford, 1990a, 1990b):

• Metacognitive strategies, which help learners exercise 'executive control' through planning, arranging, focusing, and evaluating their own learning.

• Affective learning strategies, which enable learners to control feelings, motivations, and attitudes related to language learning.

• Social strategies, which facilitate interaction with others, often in a discourse situation.

It is important to mention that there is a difference between cognitive strategies and metacognitive strategies. While cognitive strategies are thought processes used directly in learning which enable learners to deal with the new information presented in tasks and materials by working on it in different ways ( for example: repetition), metacognitive strategies include planning for learning, self-monitoring during learning, thinking about learning and how to make it effective.

Some further categories are related to learning strategies. One of them is the communication strategy. The value of this strategy is that it keeps learners involved in practicing the language (the learners use gestures, mime, synonyms, simple explanations, paraphrases, and cognate words from their first language to make themselves understood and to maintain a conversation despite the gaps in their knowledge of the second language).

Learning strategies are very important for L2 learning and acquisition. Enabling as well as training students to use learning strategies can definitely help them become better language learners. Early research on 'good language learners' by Naiman, Frohlich, Stern, and Todesco (1978, 1996), Rubin (1975), and Stern (1975) suggested a number of positive strategies that such students employ, starting from using an active task approach in and monitoring one's L2/FL performance to listening to the radio in the L2/FL and speaking with native speakers. Another study, conducted by O'Malley and Chamot (1990) also suggests that effective L2/FL learners are aware of the learning strategies they use and why they use them.

The goal of language learning strategies, as it's discussed in the book "Lessons from Good Language learners" (Griffiths, 2008), is the facilitation of learning. Such a goal makes a distinction between learning strategies and skills. While learning strategies are used to learn, skills are employed to use what has been learnt.

In conclusion, Learning strategies are used by students to help them understand information and solve problems. Students who do not know or use good learning strategies often learn passively and ultimately fail in school. According to that, I certainly believe that we, as future teachers and educators, should focus on making our students more active learners by teaching them how to learn and how to use what they have learnt to solve problems and to be successful, especially in language learning.

   References

·         Key Terms in Second Language Acquisition/ Bill Van Patten (2010)

·         Oxford Journals. Key concepts in ELT. Learner strategies (ELT Journal 47:1).

·         Griffiths. C. (2008) Lessons from good language learners. Cambridge university press.

·         The Internet TESL Journal. Language Learning Strategies. Retrieved from:  http://iteslj.org/Articles/Lessard-Clouston-Strategy.html

·         Oxford, R. (1990a). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know. New York: Newbury House.

·         Oxford, R. (1990b). Styles, strategies, and aptitude: Connections for language learning. In T.S. Parry & C.W. Stansfield (Eds.), Language Aptitude Reconsidered (pp. 67-125). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.