The self-directed Learner

It has beed studied in SLA and educational thinking and there have been many insights on the language learner.
Leaner autonomy is the ability of the learner to take responsibility for their own learning and to plan, organise, and monitor the learning process independently of the teacher. One of these insights is leaning strategies of the good language learner.

Strategies of the good language learner

Types of learner strategies: one important ways of encouraging self-directed or independent learning is to teach leaning strategies. Definition p.77

1st part: cognitive strategies

2nd part: metacognitive how to manage their learnig.

Strategies of the good language learner

1. Cognitive strategies: processes used directly in learning to deal with information. Examples, analogy, memorisation, repetition, inferencing.

SEE examples p.78

2. Metacognitive strategies: planning for learning, thinking about how to make leaning effective, self-monitoring during learning, evaluation.

3. Communication strategies: use gestures, mime, synonyms, to make themselves understood. These keep the learner involved in conversation even if they lack the knowledge.

4. socio-effective strategies: used to practice the language, collaborating on tasks, watching TV, conversation with native speakers.

Learner Training in the classroom

Learner training: is a set of procedures or activities which raises learners' awareness of what's involved in learning a foreign language, encourage learners to be more involved, active, and responsible in their own learning, help them to develop their learning strategies.

Goals:

to prepare learners to work with the system of self-access facilities. To encourage learners to be aware of the ways they can find and use lang learning opportunities outside the classroom To develop learners who can use the learning opportunities o the classroom effectively by applying some strategies to their interaction. Different types of learner training activity:

Learner Training in the classroom

1. Activities that help learners to reflect on learning:
Teachers need to encourage learners to reflect on their learning needs and problems.

First: by providing a list of expectations that learners could have. SEE Example p.87: it allows teachers to raise expectations. 87 2nd: by asking students to make personal recordings about their strengths and weaknesses. This gives ideas about individual guidance in the classroom. 87 Coursebooks make explicit reference to leaning styles. SEE p.88

Learner Training in the classroom

2. Activities that train strategies and equip learners to be active:

Training cognitive strategies: to increase learners knowledge of useful ways to learn and develop the strategies they need. e.g. learning the meaning of a new word; use dic, guess, clues. EXAMPLE p.91 Training metacognitive strategies: it can be productive at the beginning, so learners share their own strategies with their peers. Teachers & materials writers can promote the use of metacognitive strategies by a range of activity types.

The role of Self-access facilities in Language Learning

School or teachers need to provide resources for leaners. Teachers might help then to use these resources. The aim is to eventually learners will be able to use it in their own way, according to their own goals and using their own strategies to monitor their progress.
Individual resources (electronic) should be appreciated and learners encouraged to use them.
When learners are guided, they will know how to improve their self-study programmes, knowing their aims, monitoring their progress.

EXAMPLE p.97