rae lan, 20071 a fish or a fishing rod- language learning strategies for successful language...

Rae Lan, 2007 1

A Fish or A Fishing Rod- Language LearningStrategies for Successful Language Learning

語言學習策略工作坊April 11, 2007

義守大學

藍蕾東吳大學英文系副教授Rae Lan, Ph.D.

Email: [email protected]

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Rae Lan, 2007 2

Language Learning Strategies (LLSs) Research Implication & Pedagogical Applicatio

n

• My Research on Taiwanese Children’s Language Learning Strategies

• LLSs for EFL Adult Learners• Strategy Inventory for Language Learnin

g (SILL, Oxford, 1990)• Strategy Instruction for Our Students

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Language Learning Strategy Profiles of Elementary School Students in Taiwan

• Introduction• Literature review• Methodology• Results• Implications and R

ecommendations

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• Significance:– Including the largest-scale sample (N=1190) – Covered four major geographical areas – Investigating eight independent variables – Adopting a mixed-method design (multiple

instrumentation)

• Purpose:– Exploring the strategies profiles of the EFL young

learners– Raising strategic awareness of the teachers and

students– Promoting strategy instruction by empirical

evidence

Significance & Purpose of the Study

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Research Questions

1. What does the Background Questionnaire tell us ?2. What is the total strategy-use mean?3. What are the strategy-use means for each of the strategy cate

gories?4. Comparing these EFL results with other Children’s studies5. what are the five most and the five least used strategies?6. Are there significant relationships among the following variabl

es: strategy use (total us and use by strategy category), geographic area, gender, parents’ educational background, prior English learning experience, self-choice of English learning, proficiency self-rating and degree of liking English?

7. What additional information do 12 students’ think-aloud protocols and strategy interviews provide beyond that offered by the strategy questionnaire given to the whole sample?

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Research Variables

GeographicArea

Gender

Parents’ Education

Prior English Learning

Self-choice

Self-rating

Liking English

Language LearningStrategies

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Literature Review

Definition- • Learning strategies are behaviors or

thoughts that the learner uses with some degree of control or awareness to enhance his or her learning.

(Oxford, 2003)

• Specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situations” (Oxford,1990, p.8)

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How Are Strategies Categorized?

Oxford’s Six Strategy Taxonomy

(1990)

Direct Strategies Indirect Strategies

MemoryStrategies

CompensationStrategies

Cognitive Strategies

AffectiveStrategies

SocialStrategies

Meta-cognitiveStrategies

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Examples of Strategies:

• Activating prior knowledge/experiencesActivating prior knowledge/experiences• Analyzing expressions to uncover the Analyzing expressions to uncover the

meaningmeaning• Planning and organizingPlanning and organizing• Positive self-talkPositive self-talk• Using images to remember wordsUsing images to remember words• Categorizing vocabulary for Categorizing vocabulary for

memorizationmemorization

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Literature Review

• LLS in ESL versus EFL contexts (Kojic-Sabo & Lightbown)• Factors affecting LLS use

– Gender (Oxford & Nyikos, 1989) proficiency (Chamot & El-Dinary, 1999), motivation (Yang, 1996) and learning styles (Ko, 2002)

• Young children’s L2 learning strategies– cognitive strategies, conversation-initiation/social-intera

ction strategies, private speech strategies and task-related strategy use (See Lan, 2005)

• Taiwanese children’s LLSs– vocabulary learning strategies (Kung, 2003; Lin, 2001)– gender and personality traits (Hsu & Huang, 2004)– gender, proficiency, and liking of English (Lan & Oxford, 2003)

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Methodology

A mixed method design in two phases

Phase I

Quantitative Data Collection

Questionnaire

Phase II

QualitativeData Collection

Think-aloud Protocol

& Interview

Data Integration

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Methodology

• Participants– 1190 6th grade students from north, central,

south and east of Taiwan (Phase I)– 12 6th graders from each area (Phase II)

• Instruments– Taiwanese Children’s Strategy Inventory f

or Language Learning (Adapted from Gunning, 1998 based on Oxford, 1990) (Phase I)

– Think-aloud Protocols (Phase II)– Interviews (Phase II)

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Results-Phase I

• Overall medium range of strategy use (H=23%/M=53%/L=24%)• Affective>Compensation/Social>Metacognitive>Cognitive/Memory• Highest - ask for help/clarification, analyze/avoid errors• Lowest - read English books, use flash cards, learn words in context• Pearson correlation – liking of English, self-choice, self-rated

proficiency• Multiple regression – 40% of variance, liking, self-choice, self-rating• ANOVA- All eight independent variables bear significant effect on

LLS use except for geographical areas• 37% disliked English, 78% with prior learning, English ranked as # 4

favorite subject

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Results-Phase II

(1) Association of the words - using imagery, associations, story-making, sequencing, and location of words (10/35, Consolidation) (2) Emphasizing the words - repeatedly spelling, repeatedly writing, underlining (7/35 Consolidation) (3) Meta-cognitive aspects – self-testing, using a spiral pattern, over-viewing, skipping difficult words (6/35 Consolidation) (4) Analyzing the words - dividing up words (5/35 Consolidation) (5) Understanding the meaning of words - using L1, using pictures (4/35, Discovery) (6) Sounding out words - sounding out words based on phonetics, phonics, Ju-Yin, or previously known words (3/35, Consolidation)

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Number of Strategy

items

Percentage of

categories

Number of frequency

Percentage of frequency

Strategy used by which proficiency

level

Association of the words 10 28.6% 19 24.1%

High : 8Medium: 4Low : 7

Emphasizing words 7 20.0% 19 24.1%


Metacognitive aspects 6 17.1% 12 15.2%


Analyzing the words 5 14.3% 14 17.7%


Understanding the meaning of word 4 11.4% 8 10.1%


Sounding our words 3 8.6% 7 8.8%


Total number 35 100% 79 100%

High : 31 (39.3%)Medium :26 (32.9%)Low :22 (27.8%)

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Name ID No.Prior

English learning

Proficiencylevel

Time spent on the task

Accuracy rate

Number of strategies

used

Charlie 103 4 High 8”15 97% 7

Frankie 203 8 High 3”20 100% 8

Ivy 303 6 High 2”37 100% 7

Larry 403 5 High 6”43 88% 9

Billy 102 None Medium 8”03 100% 9

Eddie 202 1 Medium 5”10 83% 7

Henry 302 3 Medium 6”17 75% 4

Kelly 402 None Medium 21”48 92% 6

Alex 101 None Low 5”45 75% 4

Daisy 201 None Low 14”30 33% 4

Gabi 301 1 Low 6”12 83% 8

Jenny 401 None Low 9”13 46% 6

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Years of prior

English learning

Time spent on the

Vocabulary task

Accuracy rate

Frequency of

strategies used

High 5.75 20”55 96.3% 39.3%

Medium 1.0 41”18 87.5% 32.9%

Low .25 35”40 59.3% 27.8%

Rae Lan, 2007 18

Implications For Research

• A rich repertoire of strategies are used by EFL elementary school students in Taiwan

• Linear relationships exist between EFL children’s LLS use with a variety of variables including (a) degree of liking of English, (b) proficiency level, (c) gender, (d) self-choice of studying in a private English school, (e) prior English learning, and (f) father’s education

• Context makes a difference • Research instruments for identifying and measurin

g children’s LLSs

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• Employ games with both age-appropriateness and proper cognitive demands for vocabulary learning

• Start incorporating systematic instructions on teaching vocabulary so that they can equip their students with strategies to cope with the challenges in vocabulary learning,

• Approach vocabulary teaching by first teaching their young students how to use dictionaries as a learning tool

Pedagogical Implications

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Conclusions

• EFL elementary school students employed a variety of strategies for vocabulary learning• The students’ strategy use was related to their proficiency, prior learning, time spent and their performance on the vocabulary quiz• Vocabulary learning plays a key role in their English learning experience and is related to the use of games.

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Factors Affecting LLSs Use

Learning Styles

Gender

Self-rating

Prior Learning

Proficiency

Learning Context

Attitude

Language LearningStrategies

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EFL College Students’ LLSs Use

• Learning contexts- Kojic-Sabo & Lightbown, 1999; Park, 1994; Yang, 1994; Green & Oxford, 1995• Proficiency-Chamot & Kupper, 1989;Dreyer & Oxford, 1996; Gu & Johnson, 1996; Park, 1997/Chen, 2001; Lin, 1999; Wang, 2001; Wu, 2000 (in Lan & Oxford, 2003)• Gender-Ehrman & Oxford, 1989; Oxford & Nyikos, 1989; Yang, 1993; Zoubir-Shaw & Oxford, 1995• Motivation, attitudes & beliefs- Liao, 2000; Peng, 2001; Yang,1996; • Learning styles-Ko, 2002; Rau, 2001

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Considerations for Implementing Strategy

Instruction

• Policymakers, School authorities, teacher educators and parents need to be informed by research to advocate the values of SI in both English and other disciplines.

• Teacher education programs need to include and highlight SI as an important component to build up teachers’ knowledge, interests beliefs, and confidence in implementing SI.

• Strategy instructional models should provide specific steps and procedures to help teachers with their job.

• Teachers need to guide and facilitate students in understanding the need and value of using learning strategies for effective learning

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Strategy Instructional Models

1. Preparation: Raising students’ awareness through retrospection, think-alouds, and discussion

2. Presentation: Developing students’ knowledge about strategies by providing rationale, describing/naming strategies and by modeling strategy use

3. Practice: Developing students’ skills in using strategies for academic learning through cooperative learning tasks, thnk-alouds, peer tutoring, and group discussions.

4. Evaluation: Developing students’ ability to evaluate their own strategy use through recording strategies used, discussions, and keeping dialog journals.

5. Expansion: Developing transfer of strategies to new tasks by discussions on metacognitive and motivational aspects of strategy use, additional practice, and assignments. (Chamot & OMalley (1990)

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Typical Steps in Strategy Instruction

1. Determine the learners’ needs and the time available

2. Select strategies well3. Integrate SI into language teaching4. Consider motivational issues5. Prepare materials and activities6. Conduct completely informed SI7. Evaluate the SI8. Revise the SI

(Oxford, 2004)

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Warm-Up Activity

Audrey Keiko Azuma

A short film directed by

Stanley Nakazono

*What is an asianphile?*What are the two metaphors used

*What is the story about?Q: What strategies did you apply to help

yourself understand the film?

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Strategies Used In Various Situations:

• When listening to a passage,…• When speaking to foreigners,…• When reading a paragraph,…• When writing an essay,…• When memorizing a list of words,…• When preparing for a trip abroad,…• When studying in an EFL context,…

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Listening

• Depending on the contexts or situations• Determining your purposes• Making use of any resources available• Getting the whole picture v.s. listening for

details (top-down v.s. bottom-up)• Selecting materials that fit i +1• Practicing makes perfect!

Rae Lan, 2007 29

Speaking

• Depending on the contexts or situations• Using verbal / non-verbal communication• Applying compensation strategies• Listening carefully (receiving input) for sp

eaking appropriately (strategizing output)• Consciously using new vocab/expressions

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Giving Oral Presentations

• Setting your goals• Highlighting your strengths and eluding

your weaknesses (improving later)• Avoiding reading from your paper• Applying technologies (power point slides)• Using attention-getters• Opening, closing, manners, CONFIDENCE! Its’ a learned skill, not a natural talent.

Rae Lan, 2007 31

Reading

• Depending on the contexts or situations• Applying pre-, during- and after-reading stra

tegies• Using stickys, taking notes on the margins,

underlying, • Predicting, questioning, clarifying and summarizing http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/r

eading%20strategies%20index.htm

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Writing

• Depending on the contexts or situations• Employing pre-, during-, and after-writing

strategies • Process writing stages-

– Prewriting– Drafting– Rereading– Peer-revising– Revising

• http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/main/prewrite.htm

http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/main/prewrite.htm

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Memorizing A List of Words

• Identify what strategies you are already using and see how they work for you

• Brainstorming on a vocabulary task with other learners

• Exchange ideas and experience• Expand your strategy bank• Practice

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Vocabphobia – a Think-aloud Prtocol

• Arachnophobia• Social Phobia• Aerophobia• Agoraphobia• Claustrophobia • Acrophobia• Emetophobia• Carcinophobia• Brontophobia • Necrophobia

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Strategy Mascots

• Planning Panda• Picturing Penguin• Cognates Camel• Monitoring Monkey• Cooperative Cow• Researching Raccoon• Hands-on Hippo• Checking Chick• Background Bear• Singing Seal (Robins, 2005)

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Conclusions-

• Take initiatives in exploring learning strategies used for all discipline• Identify your own strategies that work• Expand your strategies• Being metacognitively aware of your strategy use• Use strategies that fit your learning style• Employ strategies at the right time in the right place on the right task to the right person• Reflect and evaluate your strategy use• Practice, self-esteem and motivation!

rae lan, 20071 a fish or a fishing rod- language learning strategies for successful language...

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