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Gill Holley and Rob Metcalf
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his is the scenario. You have
two students arguing about the
best way to run the class. Both
are adolescents (aged 15) with
very different levels of motivation,
previous learning experience, and
expectations.
One of the students is highly
motivated. He needs English for a
possible move to the United States and
has already spent a summer there. He
insists he can pick up the language he
needs by speaking to the teacher (he
has no interest in speaking to other
students), and through contact with
authentic materials (songs, films,
magazine articles, and so on). He wants
gorrectlve feedpacl and answers to his
questions but has no interest in
studying grammar.
ub The other is studying English mainly
because her parents send her to class,
though she recognises the value of being
able to speak the language. Most of her
learning has taken place at school,
where the classes are large and her
teacher gives grammar explanations in
her native language and then sets
@l exercises to practise it.
She believe. rfrffit .peak in English
until she's learned the grammar and can
express what she wants to say correctly.
Perhaps the two students involved in
this real situation represent extreme
cases, but these differences in expecta-
tions exist to some extent in aII classes,
with all age groups, and can be a source
of ongoing problems if Ieft unresolved.
The question is, how do you deal with
them?
One option is to ignore the differen-
ces and plough on with your teaching
agenda, attempting at times to satisfy
one or other of the students. The
danger is that you lose the attention of
one when tryrng to meet the expecta-
tions of the other. What you want is for
both students to participate as fully as
possible in all classroom activities.
Another option is to confront the
problem and discuss the issues behind
teaching decisions with the class. This
has two benefits. First, it allows
students to make informed judgrnents
about the value of wtrat happens in
class and combats any misconceptions
they might have about how languages
are learned. Second, the discussion
process helps students to recognise
that a range of needs and learning
styles exists in their class and that
some degree of compromise is essential
if the class is going to be of use to
everybody.
The aim of the following activity,
should you decide that sharing
knowledge with your students would be
beneficial, is to facilitate discussion
about these issues. You can use it at
any time during a course, but it would
perhaps work best near the beginning
or, as in the case above, when particu-
lar problems arise.
How the activity works
1 Photocopy the cards and cut them up.
2 Students work in groups. They turn
over the cards one by one, discuss
their reactions to each statement,
and decide whether they agree \ rith
it or not. They should do this in
English if they can. (You might want
to point out here that Struggling to
get their message across in English,
t4"l.3ry'"s.PI$.)
3 When the groups have finished their
discussion, conduct a brie.f open-
_.lu ggle jg.b ry"h!*eS5io". The aim is
for students to see the variety of
responses to each statement within
the class.
4 Students in the same group divide
the cards amongst themselves. Give
each group a copy of the texts and
glossary on pages 16 and 17. They
look at the texts and try to match
these with the texts that explain the
findings of research to date. They
can do this by writing the
card/character number in the box.
When they have done this, students
take it in turns to tell the other group
members what they have found out.
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They should explain in their own
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feedback session. Go through the
statements one by one and get
students to tell you what they have
discovered. Are they surprised by
anything? Discuss the implications
for the way the class is run and invite
suggestions from the students as to
how the class could be improved. )'i
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LANGUAGE LEARNING: RESEARCH SUGGESTS. .

It,s rare to find a student who is a complete disaster at languages. A lot of people think they're bad at languages, but
this is usually because they've had negative e><periences in class. Often the problem is that they don't know how to
Here are
learn. Good language learners have good habits. If you can adopt some of these habits, you will probably learn faster.
J
some iips for learning:
-Z Use all the opportunities you have in class and out of class to practise communicating in En$ish.
2 Experiment with tanguage. Don't be afraid to make mistakes.
3 See all classroom activities as opportunities to learn or practise language.
4 Be organised and attentive. Buy a notebook for newwords. Look at your notes between classes. Ask the teacher when you
need help.
5 Understand that learning a language takes time and is hard work!

This is natural. Learning a language takes time. You will need to study English for years before you can lrnderstand
everything in a film or a real conversation. Fortunately this is not a big problem. Teachers adapt what they say to help
practise
students understand, a.nd most En$ish speakers also do this when they notice you're a learner. But it is a good idea to
listening to real English. Watch TV prograrnmes, videos and DVDs (perhaps with English subtitles at first), and listen to radio
prograrnmes such as the BBC's World, Serui,ce. Ask your teacher to use some of this material in class and explain how the
pronunciation of real English is different from the way that you pronounce it (for example, goi'ng fo is often pronounced
gonna.)

Most students go to English classes because theywant to learn to speak the language, so it's obviously a good idea to
spend plenty of time in class on speaking activities. But there are good reasons for other activities, too. Researcho
suggests that if you concentrate only on fluency" activities in class and never stop to analyse language and work on accuracy",
you will probably continue to make the same mistakes again and again. It's important to understand that other activities can
help you with your speaking. Reading and listening activities are a good way to learn and consolidate vocabula,ry and to see
new or familiar gra.rnmar in context. Some grammar work can help you to correct mistakes that make it difficult for other
people to understand you. Writing is a good way for a teacher to $ve you individual help which it is difficult to give during
speaking activities. And speaking is not a priority for all students-some need to learn to read and write in English for their
studies, for example.

This is what many people think, but it's not necessarily true. Extroverts are sometimes good at languages because they
enjoy communicating and aren't afraid to make mistakes. But introverts sometimes learn more because they listen well
and think more about what they hear. One thing is clear, though, if you want to improve your English, you need to use it. If you
don't like talking in front of the class, don't worry-speaking in pairs or small groups is a,lso excellent practice. The most
important thing is to communicate. Don't worry about making mistakes, and let your teacher help you to correct the more
serious ones.

Students sometimes say this, especially after two or three years of studying. Most textbooks look at similar topics
(family, holidays, and so on) and similar grrrnmar areas. But this is what happens in real Iife' You talk about the same
thingS again and aga,in, but in every conversation you learn something new. Think about lessons in the same way' The
first time you talk about holidays in class, you use some basic vocabulary In the next level, you're ready to learn more complex
vocabulary Aad when you study the same grarnmar again in the next level, you learn to do more with that gfammar. You also
learn that graJnmar is not black-and-white and that there are exceptions to the simple rules you learned when you started.
Or
Something you can do if you're feeling bored is ask your teacher to $ve you more time in class to talk about your interests.
why not bring your favourite song or a mag,zine article to class for other students to enjof Textbooks can help you org,nize
your studying but they should not dominate classroom activities.
 Some learners don,t like tatking to other students in the class. They're worried they'll learn the mistakes that
other
students make, especially if the teacher isn't listening and correcting. But research" suggests that students don't
mistakes from other students. What's more, talkingin pairs or small groups has important benefits' To learn
generally a
learn
language you need to practise using it as much as possible. If you spend some time in class speaking in
pairs and groups'
everybody speaks more, so everybody learns more. These activities also give shy students the opportunity to speak. And your

teacher will be listening to you some of the time' anyluay

Just imagine the consequences of this! You can make mistakes with granimar, vocabulary and pronunciation.
You can

be too formal or too informal. If a teacher corrected every mistake you made, it would be very frustrating!
But constant

correction is negative for other reasons, too. There are times in a class when communication is more important than
accu-
life, in real conversations you have to communicate with the English
rac/. communication activities prepare you for real and
you have, with no help from a teacher. Also, constant correction does not help you to learn faster. Mistakes are a natural part
of learning a language at all levels. It's good to correct some mistakes, such as the ones you make repeatedly
or that make it
difficultfor other people to understand you. But other mistakes come from language you're not ready to learn at the moment-
It's best to ignore these and continue talking.

This is not true. Different students learn different things from different activities. What you learn depends on mary
factors. Two important factors are motivation and interest. A motivated student will probably learn from most
activities, but a student with litfle motivation can learn a lot of vocabulary from an article about their favourite actor or hobby
Another factor is the type of learner you are. Some people are more a.nalytical than others. They like to have things explained
and know the rules. Others axe more instinctive. They don't remember the rules but can learn to speak well without them.
Also, researcho suggests that students learn the language they're readyto learn. So you can't expect every student in a class
to be ready to learn the same thing on the salne day What's important is that there are a variety of activities in class. That
way
everybody will learn something useful.

Extra gra,mmar work can help you to do exercises correctly, but researcho suggests that it will not necessarily help you
to speak better. There are three reasons for this: -Z When you learn new gra.rnmar, it takes time before you acquire* it
and can use it automatically when you speak. And you only acquire new langrrage if you use it repeatedly in real communica-
tion, not only in exercises.2 Students naturally acquire some structures" before others. If you're not ready for a structure
you,re studying, extra grarnmax practice doesn't help you to use it in conversation. It's best to leave it for the moment and
come back to it later. J you never knowwhat grammar you will really need when you start tatking. You could study the second
conditional in class but not really need to use it in conversation until months or maybe years later'
For all these reasons, it's better to do less grammar work in class but recycle grarnmar more often. It's also better to talk
first, see what problems you have, and then ask your teacher for help. And don't forget that vocabulary is actually more
important for communication than grammar. Don't get obsessedwith gra,mmar. Continue talkingand spend more time learning
newvocabulary. You are always readyto learn newvocabulary

There was a time when language-learning experts believed that translation was bad Glossary
because it stopped learners thinking in the new language. Some people still think this
accuracy the capacity to use language
is true, but many others now think that it's OK to use some translation in class. It's true that correctl!{ and not make mistakes; acquire u,sts fl
the final objective for an English learner is to think in English. But some translation can language automatically as your own when you

help. T?anslation is often a quick and convenient way to explain the meaning of new communicate; fluency the capacity to continue
talking effortlessly; research what experts do
language. And translation is a good way to help students see the differences between English when they do investigations and experiments to
and their language. However, translating everythingword for word is obviously not a good see if something is true or not; structure

idea when you want to communicate in English. grammar form: going fo + infinitittel fne
presenf simple,,and fhe first canditional a:re
examples of structures
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