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Why is the learning styles of learners important essay
Learning styles research paper introduction
An essay about learning styles
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The present reaction paper is based on the article called Language Learning Strategies in a Nutshell: Update and ESL Suggestions, written by Rebecca L. Oxford (2004). In her article, the author refers to learning strategies in and out of the field of second language (henceforth L2). She defines strategies as the conscious plans or actions taken by learners to improve their progress in developing L2 skills and their communicative abilities. Oxford claims that according to research, explicit instruction on language learning strategies is beneficial for students in one of two main areas: overall proficiency or specific skill improvement. From this perspective, it is believed that explicit instruction on language learning strategies allows students to become good language learners who know, and understand that the use of strategies can be beneficial and even transferable to other fields of study.
In relation to strategy use, there are two types of learners: expert and novice. Expert language
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Some of them include: to know the students’ learning styles and think of them as individuals with different needs. This is something teachers may take for granted, thinking that it is not necessary to identify each student’s learning style or preference. Furthermore, it is important to teach students how and when to use these strategies and to help them orchestrate their use in relation to their own learning preferences. In other words, this effectiveness depends on how well can the language learners select and/or combine the use of strategies according to a particular task and other variables, such as their learning styles, maturity and previous experiences. And finally, educators should consider the variables that may influence strategy use and that are controlled by teachers, such as the language
All of these strategies rely on students paying an active role in the process of learning a role, there is no passive reception of definitions or explanations and the teacher is not merely telling the student to rely on
Of the several challenges that ELL students may face at school, one of the most important to remember is that these students not only have the pressure of learning at the same pace of their peers that have most likely spoken English their whole lives, but they have to do so while attempting to understand the English language. Graves' makes a paramount point on page 411 of his text where he states "it is not that English language learners come to school with a language deficit. They come with a lack of knowledge of the particular language that is used in the schools they will be attending-English."1 Therefore, it is easy to assume that even the most ready-to-learn student will have huge amounts of trouble trying to learn everything in a language that is foreign to them.
For example, when students are just learning about an unfamiliar topic, they need to develop strategies that will help convert the information into something they can easily store and accurately refer to and access whenever they want (Miller, 2011). Since students have different ways of accomplishing these tasks, each strategy will be unique. How each student stores information is also related to their age, for example, common strategy used by 7 years olds are mnemonics, which is when they repeat information taught to them that helps improve their memory. By the time they reach adolescences, students are now able to store information by elaborating on to what they already know since they have more knowledge of the world (Snowman & McCown,
One of the most important skills that students need to learn is how to learn. Knowing specific techniques and strategies to help with learning can enable students to become strategic, effective, and lifelong learners (Sturomski, 1997). Strategies used for learning can be simple or complex, cognitive or metacognitive. Simple strategies are strategies that many of us use. Simple strategies may include asking questions, taking notes, or rereading a passage that is confusing to us. Complex strategies, on the other hand, may be a set of several strategies used together. For example, a complex strategy for writing might include three simple strategies of prewriting, writing, and editing. Each complex strategy includes several simple strategies in and of itself. Strategies can also be categorized as cognitive and metacognitive. Cognitive strategies help a person process and manipulate information. Much like simple strategies, cognitive strategies are very task-specific and are useful when learning and performing certain tasks such as filling out a chart and answering specific
In order to be an effective teacher there needs to be an understanding that we all learn differently, this means that no single teaching strategy is effective for all students/learners all the time. This makes teaching a complex process because you need to understand and meet the requirements of all of your learners. Students learn best when they aren’t asked to simply memorise information but when they form their own understandings of what is being taught. When a student has successfully learnt a new idea they are able to then intergrate this information with their previously learnt information and make sense of it. To be an effective teacher you need to work jointly with students to asses where they are at, be able to give feedback on how the student is going and ensure that they are understanding the lesson (Killen, 2013) According to Lovat and Smith (2003) students learning must result in a change in a student’s understanding of the information being taught. In order to show understanding they must be able to share this information with others and want to learn more (Killen, 2013). In order to have a deeper understanding of what is being taught they need to be aware of the relationship that exists between what they knew previously and the new information that is being learned (Killen, 2013).. Students need to be given goals that they can achieve in order to feel a sense of mastery over their own learning, this gives students motivation that they are able to complete tasks and to keep going.
Andrew Sampson states that total proscription of mother tongue is detrimental to some extent, suggesting that code switching of mother tongue and English, under a good strategy of control, is useful for academic needs and even communicating purposes by concluding, “The results of this study suggest that code-switching is not necessarily connected to learners’ ability level and rarely signals an unwillingness to communicate in L2, but rather serves communicative classroom functions such as expressing equivalence, discussing procedural concerns, floor holding, reiterating concepts, and forming group relationships” (302). Code-switching not only improves the learner’s proficiency in English, but also allows the students to learn. In most cases, English language is meant for English-speaking students’ at level L2 or L3. Therefore, teachers should help non-native English-speaking students to code-switch in their communications. Code switching would improve the learner’s ability to identify his or her mistakes and correct those mistakes while she or he continues to learn English. At the same time, if possible, the teachers might use code switching to illustrate particular concepts and subjects. In other words, the teachers themselves can use the learner’s L1 or any other language to explain concepts or offer examples on the subjects in the learner’s L1. However, the teachers should avoid using oversimplified English words and vocabularies. This is because such approach would not help the learner to perfect his or her English
A teacher’s responsibilities are to ensure that every student gets the education that they deserve from a well-structured curriculum and materials. Within the teacher’s responsibilities a strong foundation of instruction has to be implemented, this is why instructional strategies are significant in a teacher’s career. The strategies for instruction vary from teacher to teacher; as a result there are no specific ways to employ strategies within instruction. The main purpose of this essay is to display knowledge of methods that are involved in teaching second language instruction for various ages and levels of students. This essay will also develop from the following components that methods and techniques are important to encourage tactical instructional strategies. These components are comprehensible input, feedback that is on-going, specific and immediate, grouping structures and techniques, building background and vocabulary development along with student engagement.
Ausubel’s Meaningful Learning Theory has greatly influenced my teaching style. I have learned that when teaching ESL students one of the main things that helps students is being able to build off of past knowledge. According to Brown (2000), “David Ausubel contended that learning takes place in the human organism through a meaningful process of relating new events or items to already existing cognitive concepts” (p. 83). Finding something that can relate a student 's past knowledge to their present knowledge can be very helpful for someone trying to learn something completely new, like English. Learning is a process and it is necessary for students to be able to connect the past and present in order for information to stick.
WORKS CITED Krashen, Stephen. The. Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Pergamon Press, 2003. 1982 Omaggio, Alice C. Teaching Language in Context.
As the global communities migrate from their native home lands to new countries and regions, the need to learn a new language becomes an imminent requirement. Learning second language for an individual with not back ground to the language can be a serious proposition which can results in seriously straining the individual. This makes it very important to select a learning strategy very carefully to prevent complicating the learning process and also one which will help speed up the entire learning process (Bitchener 2007). With this in mind there are three main approaches linked to learning a 2nd language namely the behaviourist, Halliday’s and Chomsky’s approaches. Each of these adopts different learning theories but that all promote
best learning style for each person, there does seem to be a best way to present different types of information. For most kinds of material there is an overwhelming better way to teach it” (Jacobs,
Thus, the book answers numerous practical questions that teachers have often struggled with; for example, how to increase the chances of academic success for language learners, how to use technology to teach language effectively, or how to teach language and content material concurrently. From the preface, the author makes it very clear that the book is designed to support language teachers in their journey as new teachers and throughout their teaching careers. In total, the book contains eleven chapters, which have been divided into four parts. The first part, "What Do Language Teachers Think About?" includes topics of foreign/ second language acquisition theories and language teaching methodologies. This part introduces the background knowledge readers will need in their journey as language teachers. The second part, "How Do You Teach a Language?" introduces approaches to teaching and learning that improve students’ writing, listening, speaking and reading abilities. Each chapter in this part includes suggestions for how students can be motivated and describes teaching and testing approaches to assess students ' language skills and academic literacy. The third part, "How Do I Know What to Teach?" is instrumental in helping teachers adopt teaching practices to particular teaching settings. The fourth part, "Where Do I Go from Here?" helps teachers gain a clearer perspective of what language teaching is all about; this section also considers teacher 's self-assessment and personal
In a classroom, a teaching strategy is a generalized plan for a lesson which includes structure, instructional objectives and an outline of planned tactics, necessary to implement the strategies. Reece and Walker (2002) describe a teaching strategy as a combination of student activities supported by the use of appropriate resources to provide particular learning resources. It is that procedure by which new knowledge is fixed in the minds of students permanently. For this purpose, a teacher does extra activities in the class. These activities help the teacher to take shift from one strategy to another. A method of teaching on the other hand is directly related to the presentation of the lesson. The choice of the teaching method depe...
It is necessary to draw a distinction between foreign language and second language learning. According to (Wisniewski, 2007), a language lear...
Ultimately, students become strategic learners when they realize that their successes or failures are a product of the strategies they used. Flexibility in strategy choice is important for students to become successful learners (Cukras, 2006). Study skill courses can be highly beneficial to students, especially those who have not yet found strategies that arrange for the most