WEEKLY REPORT PRESENTATION
An Essay of a Weekly Report Presentation on
October 6th, 2015
Submitted as the Requirement to Fulfill an Assignment
of
English as Foreign Language Methodology Course
Under the Direction
of Prof. Dr. Hj. Nenden Sri Lengkanawati, M. Pd
Written by:
Rezki Firdaus
1407335
ENGLISH EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT
SCHOOL OF
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
INDONESIA UNIVERSITY
OF EDUCATION
2015
This written is a weekly
report presentation of The good Language Learner and what they do, Learning
styles
and good language learners, and Strategies and good
language learners material in
Johnson’s book in 2001 and Griffiths’s book in 2008. It was written to fulfill the EFL Methodology
assessment. In writing this weekly report
presentation on October 6th, 2015, the writer would recall
all of the third reading report presentation, question – answer, and give some comment
as part of it. This weekly report presentation presented by Nur Intan Asmara as
the first presenter, Imas Suparsih as the second presenter and Novia Tri
Febriani as the last presenter.
1.
Report Summary of the Presentation
a.
First Presenter (Nur Intan Asmara); Good Language Learner and What They Do
At
the beginning of the presentation, before she told us so far about the characteristics
of good language learner. Asmara gives some information according to good
language learner. First, related to the personality variables of good
language learner. She said that there are two kinds of individual
personalities; Extrovert and Introvert. Extrovert personalities as she mentions
that this kind of personality who likely more sociable, has many friends, or
doesn’t like to studying by himself. We can say that who has a learner’s
personality like this, she/he is kind of open minded person. Introvert
personalities quite different from extrovert. Introvert also kind of
personality with a quite person, introspective, fonder of books rather than
people; he/she is reserved and distance except with intimate friends. Next, she
discussed about Tolerance of Ambiguity of
learners. There are
differences between Tolerance and Intolerance of ambiguity. Some learners are
quite happy with the class, even though they may not understand everything that is
being said by the teacher. They are categorized as tolerant of ambiguity. But
other learners are upset by not understanding, that the teacher does not use
the L1 to help communication where necessary. They are categorized as
intolerant of ambiguity. Continually, she explains about Empathy/ego
permeability and sensitivity to rejection,
it means that some individuals
may be said to be open to the personality of others; their egos are permeable.
And the last was about Cognitive style and field dependence/ independence,
When someone find their own
preferred ways of tackling a problem, these ways of thinking are sometimes
referred to as ‘cognitive styles’. In other word, some individuals seem more
able than others to extract things from the context in which they are met, and
to see them as separate entities. People who can do this easily are said to be
‘field independent’, while those who do not are ‘field dependent’.
The field independent subjects
seemed to be better learners.
After finished her explanation about
the
personality variables, she continued with Good Language Learner Studies.
Based on Stern (1975) and
Rubin (1975) conducted a further study. There are seven hypotheses about good language learning; The good language learner is a willing and accurate
guesser, The
good language learner has a strong drive to communicate, or to learn from
communication. He is willing to do many things to get his message across, The
good language learner is often not inhibited. He is willing to appear foolish
if reasonable communication result. He is willing to make mistakes
in order to learn and to communicate. He is willing to live with a certain
amount of vagueness, In addition to focusing on communication the good language
learner is prepared to attend to form. The good language learner is constantly
looking for patterns in the language, The good language learner practices, The
good language learner monitors his own and the speech of others. That is, he is
constantly attending to how well his speech is being received and whether his
performance meets the standards he has learned, The good language learner
attends to meaning. He knows that in order to understand the message it is not
sufficient to pay attention to the language or to the surface form of speech.
The last part of
her understanding of reading report was about Learning Strategies. Oxford (1990) states that learning strategies as
specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more
enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new
situations.
There
are five examples of learning strategies that were stated by Oxford (1990); Taking risk wisely, Remembering new language information according to its
sound,
Finding out about language
learning,
Cooperating with peers,
and Repeating.
Based on related
theories from other book she read. Wenden (1990) listed the characteristics of
good language learner; Good language learners find a style of learning that
suits them, Good language learners are
actively involved in the language learning process, Good language learners try to figure out how the
language works, Good language learners know
that language is used to communicate,
Good
language learners are like good detectives,
Good
language learners learn to think in the language, Good language learners realize that language learning is not easy, Good language learners are also good culture
learners aware of the very close relationship between language and culture, Good language learners have a long term commitment
to language learning. They are realistic in realizing that it takes time and practice.
According to Rubin and Thomson (1983), a good language learner possesses some of these 12 characteristics: They usually find their own ways and take charge for their learning. They organize the
information about learning. They are creative and usually
make experiment in their learning.
They
find their own opportunities for practicing language both outside and inside
the classroom. They use memory strategies
to recall what they have been learned.
They
do not feel it a mistake to make errors in their learning. They use the linguistics knowledge including
knowledge of their first language.
They
use contextual clues to help them comprehending the target language. They make intelligent guesses. They formulate language chunk as whole to help their
performance. They learn certain
strategies that help to keep conversation going. They learn certain production strategies to fill in the gaps in their own
competence. They learn different style
of speech and learn to vary their language based on the situation. They learn not to get flustered by continuing to
talk or listen without understanding every words.
Lightbown and Spada’s (1997)
categorize the characteristics of a good
language learner into twelve: Good learners are willing and accurate guessers, Good learners are willing to make mistakes, Good learners try to communicate even without
language, Good learners look for pattern, Good learners practice whenever possible, Good learners analyze their own speech, Good learners pay attention to their own standards, Good learners enjoy grammar, Good learners begin learning in childhood, Good learners have above average of Iqs, Good learners have good academic skills, Good learners have good self images and self
confidence.
Griffiths (2008) in her study states that higher level students do,
indeed, report significantly more frequent use of language learning strategies
than do lower level students.
According
to the result of her study, the students who make the most rapid progress (good
language learners) tend to be characterized by particular behaviors, summarized
below: Strategies to manage their own learning (metacognitive), Strategies to expand their
vocabulary, Strategies to improve their
knowledge of grammar, Strategies involving the use of resources (such as TV or movies), Strategies involving all
language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking).
Furthermore, Hedge (2000) listed the
characteristics of a good languge learner focused on ‘Self Directed
Learner’. Hedge’s characteristics of a
‘Self-Directed Learner’: Self –directed learners know
how their needs and work productively with the teacher towards achieving their
objectives, Self-directed learners learn
both inside and outside the classroom,
Self-directed
learners adjust their strategies as needed,
Self-directed
learners manage and divide the time in learning properly, Self-directed learners learn with active thinking, Self-directed learners don’t think the teacher is a
god who can give them,
This is the last part of her presentation. Its about the related research
report. The first report that she conducted was from Kusumayanthie (2011). The participant of the research were the 8th
semester students who were taking the English for job seeker program as one of
the three-month extracurricular program supported by one of the universities in
Bandung. She categorized three kinds of participants
namely: low achiever, middle achiever and high achiever. The categorization of
the participant achiever level was based on the students’ average speaking
scores.
From her study, it is found that the
high and the low achiever students tended to employ meta-cognitive strategies
the most for learning English. While, the middle achiever students used the
meta-cognitive strategies as the second group employed the most in developing
their speaking skill. The meta-cognitive strategy that the high, middle, and
low achiever students tended to use was noticing their mistake when speaking in
English and then using that information to help them to do better in developing
English speaking skill. This strategy is known as self-monitoring strategy. They employ the strategy because they
considered that this strategy could help them to provide the information about
their mistakes when speaking in English, so that the strategy would enable them
to avoid making the same errors later. It also found that the middle achiever
also implied the other strategies to develop their speaking skill which were:
(1) paying attention when someone was speaking English, and (2) trying to find
out how to be a better learner of English. The middle achievers informed that
they would pay attention to their lecturer or to more proficient learners when
they spoke in English in order to develop their proficiency in speaking
English. Moreover, in order to find out to be better learner in English, they
would search the information from the internet or ask more proficient learners.
The middle achiever added that they used all of these strategies especially to
improve their pronunciation.
The next report was from Kemala (2014).
In her research also tries to find out the characteristics and the strategies of the
autonomous learner. The result of the study
shows that a successful learner have learned how to learn. She also made a
conclusion that the implication of learning autonomy is that gives learner an
opportunity to select and implement appropriate learning strategies in order to
allow them to learn at their own pace. It also give students an opportunity to
play a considerable role in setting the goals of learning, in organizing the
learning process, and fulfilling it.
The last report was from Noviantoro (2014).
She explains that: the condition of being demotivated, for some students, may
trigger their awareness to employ self-regulated learning strategies in-class
or out-of-class.
b.
Second Presenter (Ima Suparsih); Learning Style and Good Language Learners
In her presentation of reading
report about Learning Style and Good
Language Learners. She explain three types of learning styles namely: Dunn
and Dunn Learning Style, Kolb’s Learning Styles and Reid’s Learning Style. Dunn
and Dunn (1993), devided five demension of learning styles:
1.
Environmental preferences; regarding sound, light,
temperature, and classroom design,
2.
Emotional preferences; addressing motivation,
persistence, responsibility, and structure,
3.
Sociological preferences; for private, pair, team,
adult, or varied learning relations,
4.
Physiological preferences; related to perceptual
strengths, intake, time, and mobility,
5.
Psichology preferences; related to visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic.
According to Kolb’s learning styles, he described as a
four-stage of learning styles:
1.
Accommodative (Active
Experimentation /Concrete Experience),
2.
Divergent (Concrete
Experience/Reflective Observation),
learn from feeling and watching
3.
Assimilative (Reflective
Observation/Abstract Conceptualization), learn
from thinking and watching, and
4.
Convergent (Abstract
Conceptualization/Active Experimentation),
learn from thinking and doing.
According to Reid’s learning
style, he identified four basic perceptual styles of preferences:
1.
Visual for instance
reading, charts, movie, etc.
2.
Auditory for instance
lectures (listen from their friends),
tapes, music, etc.
3.
Kinesthetic involving
physical activity, and
4.
Tactile for instance
building models or doing laboratory experiments (e.g: mechanical skin tauching experimental at laboratory)
After she finished presenting of
these three types of learning style. She continued to explain about the research into learning style. According
to Reid, (1987, p. 101) cited in Nel. C in Griffith, (2008, p. 50) suggesting
stylistic preferences are relatively stable, students need to be adaptable,
since research shows that “the ability of students to employ multiple learning
styles results in greater classroom success.” Suparsih also state that in a few countries have a different types and
style in learning of their learners. For example, in Japan most of research
found that learners in Japan learn by an auditory learning and in Korea,
learners learn from a visual.
She explain that there are three kind of learning style
instrument that have been specifically developed by many language researcher.
First, according to Reid (1987) who used the perceptual learning styles
preference questionnaire. The perceptual learning styles preference
questionnaire consists of five randomly arranged
statements on each of six learning style preferences, those are: visual,
auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group, and individual. Secodly by Oxford
(1993) used the Styles Analysis Survey (SAS) to determine learners’ general
approach to learn. The SAS consists of five parts: 1) Physical
senses to study or work (visual, auditory, and hands-on), 2) Dealing with other
people (extroverted versus introverted), 3)
Handling possibilities (intuitive versus concrete-sequential), 4) Approaching tasks
(closure-oriented versus open) and 5) Dealing with ideas (global versus
analytic).And the last, Ehrnman and Leaver
(2003) used the Ehrnman and Leaver learning styles questionnaire.
The advantage of such instruments for language teachers is they enable to compile a multidimensional profile of
students’ learning styles using the most commonly identified dimensions so that
they can plan, where necessary, and modify their teaching according to their
student’s needs. For students, such
instruments can heighten self-awareness and empower them to maximize their
learning opportunities.
The implications for the teaching and learning situation. She present that to make a great successful in
implementing the teaching and learning situation we should pay attention for
this term. First, Instructional planning
and presentation, This mean, classes with a
majority of male students may have a different dominant style from a mainly
female class, and may require different types of activities for their needs.
The key for teachers in planning instruction is to be aware of the multiple
ways students learn best. In order to identify students’ learning styles,
teachers might use language style instruments to measure and identify the learners’
styles. Second, Teaching/learning environtment, In
addition to recognizing and valuing the uniqueness of learners, teachers need
to look at their teaching/learning environments, the students’ feel safe, valued, and
comfortable whether the learning environment is supportive and language
learning is stimulated regardless of style. They also need to consider what
they can do to make the teaching/learning environment more attuned to the
various needs of their students, given institutional or other constraints. Third, Assessment. The
assessment tool can take many forms, including regular assignments, individual
or group projects, online or inclass quizzes, student oral presentations,
research essays, and term papers. The formats of the tools should be appropriate
and may include filling in the blanks, multiple-choice questions,
identification of terms, a variety of short and essay questions for the
students to select from, and writing papers. In addition, the teacher should
provide a variety of appropriate hints and instructions, such as diagrams,
tables, or verbal description, to suit a variety of styles. Fourth, The
interaction of learning style and teaching style. Understanding
students’ learning styles, and being flexible regarding their own teaching
styles, teachers can heighten their awareness to be more sensitive in their listening,
observation, preparation, presentation, and interaction. Though teachers cannot
be all things to all students, they will be more effective if they can provide
more variety and choice to accommodate the stylistic differences of their
students.
c.
Third Presenter (Novia Tri Febriani); Strategies and Good Language Learners
Before she started
to present the reading report about Strategies
and Good Language Learners. She give the outline of her presentation;
definition of strategy, language learning strategies, and good language
learners, classification of good language learning strategies, characteristics
of good language learners, and related studies.
Starting with definition of strategies, Porter
(1996:6) state that strategy is the creation of a unique and valueable
position, involving a different set of activities. It means that when the
strategy was set, it should be a foundation to the learner to make them easily
in accepting the information. In business dictionary (2015) define a strategy
as” a method or plan chosen to bring about a desire future, such as achievement
of a goal or solution to a problem.”
Next, the definition of language learning
strategies. According to Oxford (1990) language learning strategies means a
specific action taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more
enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to knew
situations. So, when that language strategies was set well by the learners
hopefully they would be become a good language learner. As the classification of language learning
startegies she provided from Rubin (1987), O’Malley et al (1985) and Oxford
(1990). According to Rubin (1987), she divided the strategies into two group;
direct and indirect. Direct means the learner can directly learn from what they
see, hear and feel by five sense.
Indirect means that learner not only by using their five sense but also from
their feeling. While O’Malley et al. (1985) divided the strategies into three
groups metacognitive, cognitive, and social. Metacognitive here to manage their
own learning. As the cognitive they use to improve their knowledge and social
means involving all the language skills.
On the other hand,
Oxford (1990) gathered a large number of language learning strategies and
created a self-report questionnaire known as the Strategy Inventory for
Language Learning (SILL). The strategy items of the SILL are divided into six
groups; memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social.
Almost the same with O’Malley but Oxford adding some point such as memory,
compensation, and affective in his book.
According to
Griffiths’s (2008), she divided six definitions of language learning strategies.
She give the perception about language learning startegies, such as; 1) Language
learning strategies are what students do, suggesting an active approach. 2) Consciousness
is argued by many to be a basic characteristic of language learning strategies.
3) Language learning strategies have been described as “optional means for
exploiting avaible information to improve competence in a second language”. 4)
Strategic behavior implies goal-oriented, purposeful activity on the part of
the learner. 5) Learners use language learning strategies to regulate or control
their learning. 6) The goal of language learning strategies is the facilitation
of learning, a target which distinguishes learning strategies from skills, a
concept with which they are often confused.
Moreover, good language
learners tend to use a large number of language learning strategies or
activities consciously chosen for the purpose of regulating their own language
learning. Griffiths (2008) divide the characteristic of strategies choosen by
the learners into 5 item, they were; strategies to manage their own learning
(metacognitive), Strategies to expand their vocabulary, Strategies to improve
their knowledge of grammar, Strategies involving the use of resources ( such as
TV or movies), Strategies involving all language skills (reading, writing,
listening, speaking).
According to Rubin’s
(1975) that mentioned seven strategies to be a good language learner: first,
the good learners are willing and accurate guessers. It seems that the good
language learners are both comfortable with uncertainty (indeed they may enjoy
it) and willing to try out their guesses. The good guessers use all the clues
which the setting offers them and thus are able to narrow down what the meaning
and intent of communication might be. They also use their feel for grammatical
structures, clues from the lexical items they recognize, clues from redundancy
in the message. Second, the good language learners have a strong drive to
communicate, or to learn from a communication. They are willing to do many
things to get their message across. If by explanation doesn’t work, they will
try to use gestures to express their meaning. Third, the good language learners
are often not inhibited. They are willing to appear foolish if reasonable
communication results. They are willing to make mistakes in order to learn and
to communicate. Fourth, in addition to focusing on communication, the good
language learners are prepared to attend to form. They are constantly looking
for patterns in the language. They attend to the form in a particular way,
constantly analyzing, categorizing, synthesizing. Fifth, the good language
learners practice. They may practice pronouncing words or making up sentences.
They will seek for out opportunities to use the language by looking for NS,
going to movies or to cultural events. The last, the good language learners
monitor their own and the speech of others. They are constantly attending to
how well their speech is being received and whether their performance meets the
standards they has learned.
So, the good
language learners attend to meaning. They know that in order to understand the
message, it is not sufficient to pay attention to the grammar of the language
or to the surface form of the speech. They attend to the context of the speech
act, they attend to the relationship of the participants, they attend to the
rules of speaking, they attend to the mood of the speech act.
There are 3 resources related to the
related studies of Strategies and Good
Language Learner. The first one was from Griffiths (2008) who investigate
the language learning strategies used by a private language school for
international students in Auckland, New Zealand. She found that the students
who participated in this study reported an average frequency of strategy use
over all ELLSI items. When the students were divided into lower level and upper
level, it was discovered that lower level students reported a lower average
frequency of strategy use than did higher level students.
Higher level learners frequently use a
wide variety of language learning strategies, in reading newspaper for
instance. Higher level learners report reading newspaper considerably more
frequently than lower level learners.
However, newspaper language is often difficult for those learning a new
language, and may well erode confidence and reduce motivation for learners who
find it discouragingly difficult. So, the teachers will need to consider the
implications of the strategy use in their teaching to facilitate effective
learning.
The second one by Chang, Liu, Lee (2007) A Study of language learning strategies used by
college EFL learners in Taiwan. The findings of the study were
generalized as follows: (1) There was not a great difference among the
frequency of each strategy that Taiwanese college EFL learners report using,
all in medium-use level. (2) Statistically significant differences were found
in the use of cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies, social strategies
and overall strategies with regard to gender. (3) Statistically significant
differences were found in the use of six subcategories of language learning
strategies and overall strategies with regard to major.
The last was by Zare (2012) entitle Language Learning Strategies among EFL/ESL Learners:
A review of Literature. She found that language learning strategies facilitate and improve language learning,
assist language learner in
different ways and she also
found that a direct correlation exists between language proficiency and
language learning achievement.
2.
Question and answer
a.
Can we say a
sucessfull learner are a good language learner?
A good language learner not only the criteria to use in,
but also the act of it. Sucessfull learner is a result being a good language
learner by using their language strategies in a class.
b.
Does both
characteristics of personality (Extrovert and introvert) can be said as a good
language learner or not?
Extrovert is being a sociable, like parties, has many
friends, need to have people to talk to, and doesn’t like studying by himself.
Introvert become a quite person, retiring sort of person, introspective, fond
of book rathet than people; he is reserved and distance except with initimate
friends. Based on this book, Johnson (2001: 140) says that extrovert tend to be
to make a good language learner, and for the introvert student should be
motivated. If we find some introvert students’, we could discusse it with a
counseling teachers.
Prof. Nenden
answered: learning style is a gifted or
tallented that were aquired by the learner. So, we should accepted with
that. According to the extrovert and
introvert learners, extrovert learner is a kind of learner that not shy to
learn including from intra or inter sources. Introvert learner is a kind of
inter language learner which means that he/she is a kind of learner that cannot
study in a crowded way.
c.
What kind of learning
style that were used commonly in Indonesia?
Almost the learner mostly use visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic style. But, related to the research in Indonesia lessly done so I
can’t say what kind of learning style that were used commonly in Indonesia.
d.
Is it possible to
have two learning style?
Of course its available and possible the learner used two
kind of learning style. Maybe by using more than one style it could help them
easily to understand the knowledge.
Prof. Nended
answered: Teach them the strategies to the
learner how to be a good language strategies. Any kinds of strategies to
improve their learning strategies, e.g: learning schedull.
e.
What is the teacher
need (strategies) to cope with a big classes?
Teacher should understand the students’ language style,
based on the individual need. Then, related to the classroom environtment could
support the learner well. Classroom should be variate with the language learner
style.
f.
How to make
integrated English among the GBA and 4 skills (listening, reading, writing, and
speaking)? This question will be answered for the next meeting related to the
same materials (Prof. Nenden answered).
3.
Comment
After listen
to the first presenter regarding the good language learners and what they
do, I have a simple understanding that a good language learner is the learner
that are motivated to learn and they believe that they are capable of learning.
Typically, they have a high tolerance of ambiguity, are patient with
themselves, aware of their own learning styles and cognizant of effective
learning strategies and they are not afraid to ask questions or make mistakes. Most of these learners have
good organizational skills and willingly accept suggestions of how to become
organized. The good language learners I know are either aware of how to record,
remember and retrieve new information, or quickly learn the skills, and they
readily seek opportunities to use it. They tend to become more involved with their
host families and their community, practice English and built lasting
relationship. Of course, not all of these ‘good language learners’ have
possessed all of these qualities simultaneously, but at least they have their
own strategy.
I believe that good language learners are capable of learning without a
teacher’s guidance but when a teacher is available, they are able to use her as
a resource and benefit from the relationship. Rather than seeing the teacher as
‘all-knowing’ and someone never to be questioned, these learners see the
teacher as a facilitator or an equal partner. In my opinion, with
motivation, encouragement and support, anyone can learn to be a better learner.
Strategies that we use in our first language, as well as those from other skills
areas, can be applied and/or modified when learning a second language. Students
become better language learner when students begin to understand their own
learning process and can have some controls over these process. Students who
think and work strategically are more motivated to learn and have a higher
sense of self-confidence in their own learning ability.
I have some conclusions about the overall presentation
of Asmara:
1.
People are different and, therefore, need different
things in order to learn well
2.
Some people need more encouragement, in the form of
praise, suggestions and reminders
3.
Everyone is able to acquire new strategies if they
are presented in a systematic.
4.
We need to encourage students to believe in
themselves. Helping them to lower their anxiety, and making ourselves available
to listen to them. Those can help to promote students’ positive-image
For the second presenter, I found
that she were not discover some related studies according to his material in
her presentation. Then, have to practice more and more how to be good in
pronouncing some word because we are as an English teacher. Based on what have
been already she presented, I only can conclude that earning styles are deal with general characteristics
such as learners’ personality. Learning styles have been defined by many people
including experts and researchers. Learning styles not really concern to what
learners do in learning, but how they perceive in learning. Learning styles
also show the conditions in students’ favorite ways in learning and sometimes
students tend to show possibility to like and dislike the teaching method which
is applied by the teachers. Learners will like teaching methods which are
suitable with their learning style. In contrast, learners will dislike teaching
method which are not appropiate with their learning styles.
I agree that
every learners have different ways in their learning. There are many types of
learning styles based on different aspects. I believe that visual, audio, and
kinesthetic are useful ways to know learning style because most of the experts
and researchers defined learning styles similar to them. Visual divided into
two, visual (non-verbal) learners are remember best what they see such as
picture, diagrams, film and demonstrations. Visual (verbal) learners understand
new information best through written and spoken word. Auditory, learners learn
easily through listening, their understanding depends on hearing and speaking,
they also enjoy group work discussion and presentation, the last one is
kinesthetic, learners prefer to have
real activities and direct practices.
As the
conclusion of her presentation, I
do believe that there is no the best language learner.
Language learner never be able to reach the definition of perfection in their
ability to learn, but learner can improve their learning style efficiently to
be good language learners. Learning styles are not
black or white, present or absent. Learning styles is generally operate on
multiple. In learning styles a person might be equally visual and auditory but
with lesser kinesthetic and tactile involvement because each individual brings his or her personality. No one the best learning
styles, all of the learning styles based on leaarners personality.
Creating a definition of the
best language learner is a potentially impossible task. The good learner may
simply be the learner who has an open mind, willingness to try new learning
strategies and always learning how to learn. The teachers' job is to give
students a toolbox of styles and strategies. Teacher shoud understanding the
issues relating to good language learners because it is an important step in
helping students learns more efficiently and help students become better
language learners.
For the
last presenter, she presented better that the second presenter. Eventhough,
during her presentation she missed a few point but as soon as possible go back
with missed point explain it again. Based on the
previous explanation about strategies and
good language learners, it seems to be that being good language
learners cannot be separated with the strategies use. A good language learner
will always have a strategy (can be some strategies) that help them in
acquiring knowledge. Learning
strategies were seen as special ways of processing information that improve
comprehension, learning, or retention of the information. Regarding of
“learner” itself, it has broad meanings. Learners can be different in terms of
levels, goals, focus, needs, etc. So, every learner must have their own style
and strategies in learning the target language.
The selected strategies should be able to
cover up or solve the problems encountered during the learners’ learning
process. Moreover,
a given strategy can be good or bad for the learners. It can give positive
effects if the strategy gives valuable contribution to the language learners,
such as: the strategy related to the target language, the strategy fits to the
learners’ style in learning the language, and the learners can use the strategy
effectively in helping them acquire the knowledge.
Meanwhile, the language
learning strategies also can give negative effect if the strategies make the
learners losing their motivation and confidence in learning the target
language. For example, a teacher is teaching in a classroom with students that
have various background of study. Some of them get additional course outside
the school. When the reading class begins, the teacher asks the students to
read a newspaper and make a paper without checking the level of difficulty of
the newspaper. There will be no problems for the students who are familiar with
English. But for the others who don’t, they will feel anxious and lose their
confidence in doing the task. In the end, they can feel desperate and decide to
copy their friends’ assignment. This will be happen if the teacher cannot
select the appropriate strategies for the students.
So, as a learner we have
to be wise in selecting which strategies that suitable for our learning
process. It’s not a good decision if just because many people use a certain
strategy, so we follow them. Pick the strategies that fit to our level and
needs. For a teacher, it should be considered about strategies that applicable
for all the students, so they will enjoy their learning process.
As the
conclusion of the third presentation, language learning
strategies can help us in identifying and understanding materials that we want
to learn for easier learning. They are like a media that help us to transfer
the information to our brain. Not only for understanding, can language learning
strategies also help us in memorizing materials as well.
Individuals are infinitely variable, and
there is no strategy that universally applicable for all. In addition to
strategies, many other learner variables (aptitude, learning style, motivation,
age, beliefs, culture, gender, personality, metacognition, or autonomy), and
learning variables (vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, function, skills,
teaching/learning method, strategy instruction, error correction, or task) have
the potential to affect the outcome of language learning efforts.
