HELPING

LEARNERS
DEVELOP
LEARNING

Task for students:

Read the article

briefly describe the

content without
referring to the article

DISCUSS:

What are the possible problems students

may face?

Task for students:

Read the article

briefly describe the

content without
referring to the article

DISCUSS:

What learning strategies would they

probably use?

GROUP DISCUSSION:

What are learning

strategies?

WHAT ARE LEARNING

STRATEGIES?
Learning strategies are:
how students choose to learn new content.
Some strategies are:
visible (e.g. highlighting key words in a text);
invisible (e.g. making associations between L1 and
the target language).

GROUP DISCUSSION:

Why should we help our

learners develop
learning strategies?

WHY SHOULD WE HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP LEARNING

STRATEGIES?

Encourage independent learning

Make learning effective

STAGES AND
STRATEGIES WHEN
CARRYING OUT A TASK

BEFORE /PRE
E.g. analyse the task and what has
to be done.

DURING (WHILE)
E.g. identify key content vocabulary.
AFTER/POST
E.g. comparing work with peers.

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

ACTIVITY 2
Examples of strategies used before doing a task

Selecting and setting learning goals

Deciding on criteria to measure how
well a task can be done
Analysing the task, its purpose and
what has to be done
Working out timing of stages

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

ACTIVITY 2
Examples of strategies used while doing a task
Identifying key content
vocabulary
Predicting meanings of
content vocabulary and
predicting text content
Guessing meanings of
new words
Asking for clarification
Paraphrasing
Drafting work
Organising work
Personalising learning

Risk taking and

experimenting with new
concepts and language
Using some L1 for a
specific purpose, e.g.
checking a concept,
looking up a bilingual
dictionary, checking
meaning of vocabulary
with a peer
Note taking

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

ACTIVITY 2
Examples of strategies used after doing a task
Deciding how to remember new words and
concepts
Making visual prompts to aid memory
Reviewing work alone or in small groups
Exchanging work with a partner and asking for
feedback
Comparing work with previous work and deciding
how it has improved
Editing work
Summarising work

Test yourself
1
Look at the learners comments and the three
methods to help learners develop learning strategies
listed A, B and C. Two of the learning strategies will
help the learner. One learning strategy will NOT. Mark
the option (A, B or C) which will NOT help the learner.

Im not sure how to present the main

facts about the project that we have
undertaken for the last one and half
months.
A Draw a timeline with short notes about the process.
B Draw two tables showing the changes before and
after the
project.
C Draw a picture of the project so far.

Test yourself
2
Look at the learners comments and the three
methods to help learners develop learning strategies
listed A, B and C. Two of the learning strategies will
help the learner. One learning strategy will NOT. Mark
the option (A, B or C) which will NOT help the learner.

We need to learn the key subjectspecific technical words to help us

write accurate notes on the description
ofSuggest
the equipment.
A
learners write word banks for each part of the
topic studied.
B Suggest learners predict or guess meanings of content
vocabulary.
C Suggest learners write a glossary of main terms from
the unit.

Test yourself
3
Look at the learners comments and the three
methods to help learners develop learning strategies
listed A, B and C. Two of the learning strategies will
help the learner. One learning strategy will NOT. Mark
the option (A, B or C) which will NOT help the learner.

Sometimes I dont understand the

instructions in the discrete
mathematics book.
A Ask for clarifications from the teacher.
B Compare understanding with a friend.
C Categorize words into groups.