CHAPTER REPORT BAB 3: Who to teach? Learners

Name                           : Rezki Firdaus

Student’s ID                : 1407335

Topic                           : Who to teach? Learners

Date                            : September 30^th, 2014

A.      Introduction

The entire chapter, as the title shows, discusses Learner Characteristics: age, learner differences, proficiency levels, motivation (definition, initiating and sustaining), individual language learners (what they do), and good language learner (what they do).  To begin with, it is necessary to determine the terms to make us – the writer, the assessor, as well as the readers section - clear. Learner is a person who is still learning something (advanced learner’s dictionary). So, every human who still studying or learn about something it can be said as a learners. Learning, from a constructivist perspective, is the active building of knowledge by the learner (Morris and Adamson, 2010 in Annie Tong as ELT Research, 2011).

The introduction part or part A – this part – will focus on the importance of the topic and aspect covered in the report as well as the critical review of the topic; Part B will explain the body or main discussion of the report – that is Who to Teach? Learners itself; Part C will specifies on synthesis or comments –that is critics and comments; Part D will issue the conclusion; and Part E will show the reference books or bibliography. The organization of the writing shall follow the syllabus of EFL Methodology (See Nenden. S.L. EFL Methodology, 2014: 4).

The importance and aspects of the topic

Learner characteristics and motivation – with which the subject study and activities in the learning process in covered - are two of the most important things in EFL/ESL teaching and learning process. Students are directed to achieve their goals or objectives of individual language learners and how to be good language learner. Students of all ages are learning to speak English, but their reasons for wanting to study English can differ greatly (Harmer. J. 2007a: 11). That’s why all the children have they own way to learn.  For example: the character of children, age, divergent of learner, and their motivation to learn languages are some factors to make learner start to learn English or don’t want to learn it. Sometimes, Some students, only learn English because it is on the curriculum at primary or secondary level, but for other, studying the language reflects some kind of choice. (Harmer.J. 2007a:11)

Short overview about the topic

This chapter provides EFL/ESL learners with practical guidance reasons for learning, the different contexts for learning, learner differences, the importance of students’ motivation and responsibility for learning.

B.       Who to Teach: Learners

  Learner Characteristics: age, learner differences, proficiency level, and motivation.

Ä  Learner Differences in Age

One of the main beliefs about age and language learning is that young children learn faster and effectively than the older age. We will look at the three ages: very young learner (2 to 5) / children (2 to 14)/ young learners

(5 to 9), adolescents / sensitive period/critical periods (12 to 17) and adults (16 and 20 years) (Jeremy Harmer, 2007a:14). Children, is a crucial characteristic of young learner is their ability to become competent speaker of a new language with remarkable facility, and provide them to get enough exposure to do it.  At this age, teacher of young learners need to be spend more time to understand how students think and act. They need to be able to pick up on students’ interests, so they can use it to motivate the children learn English well. Adolescents, is a young person who is developing into adults (Cambridge: 2003). When the children in the process of adolescents they were developed their thinking capacity for an abstract as they have grown up. They have great modals for learning, to enrich their thought and try to make commitment with their interest. Adults, is a person that has grown to a full size or strength (Cambridge: 2003).

Become Adults is different with adolescents and young learners. As adults, they have a wider life experience to draw on, both as an individual learner and as learners than young learners do. They are more disciplines than adolescents and apply themselves to do task of learning in spite of it’s so bored. When they were adults, their good and bad experience is determine what will happen next. Its means that ‘their’ experience would be influential with their act, attitude, the way to learn, and their daily life continuous.

Ä  Proficiency Level

           

	A1	A2	B1	B2	C1

There are 3 basic levels or categories to describe students’ knowledge, Beginners, Elementary and Advanced. Beginners are those who don’t know any English (J.Harmer, 2007b: 16-19). False Beginners is reflected the fact that latter can’t really use any English but actually know quite a lot which can be quickly active; they are not real beginners. Elementary students are no longer beginner and are able to communicate in a basic way. They can string some sentences together, construct a simple story, or take part in simple spoken interaction. Pre-intermediate students have not yet achieved intermediate competence, which involves greater fluency and general comprehension, of some general authentic English. They become more structures and lexis of the language. Upper-intermediate students have competence of intermediate students plus an extended knowledge of grammatically construction of English and skill use. They have accuracy and depth improvement knowledge which colleges required. And as advance learners, these students already know a lot of English. For example, advanced level students can use language appropriately (using a right language in a right place). Connotation (whether the negative or positive tinge) and Inference (how we can read behind the words to get writer’s true meaning), it means that these students can transform the language by they own understanding. (J.Harmer, 2007b: 16-19)

  Motivation: Definition, Initiating, and Sustaining.

Ä  Definition

Motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to do some things in order to achieve something (J. Harmer, 2007a:98). Motivation can be divided into part that is extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation or we can be said that ‘outside’ and ‘inside’ income. Extrinsic motivation is comes from individual itself and extrinsic motivation is the outcome factor from the individual development such as, hope of reward, dreams, to pass examination, to get a best grades, and so on.

Ä  Initiating

How do we initiating motivation? To answer this question, there are four way which the students can engages the learning process. The first one is goal; however students may a have a goal to reach their dreams. Such as a desire to be fluent in English, or to be able to use English as well as ‘professor’ for example, or to get a better job and salary, or to understand English language in using a web. Then, the society where we live in, if the society where we live carry on with our English learning, they should be support us learn that as our second languages. If they won’t, we have to find a society that supports us to learn to be better Speaker or thinker of English. Next, the people around us, why do I say like this, because the same like a society people around us should be support what we have learn. When we got a good people around us who has the same idea with us, it can enrich our English very well. And the last one is curiosity, why? Curiosity, if we become a curiosity person we know what we want to search. Not only about the lesson, also the culture, historical story, mysterious place and so on that we don’t know before, we can find it as well as we can find a difficult words.

Ä  Sustaining

How about sustaining our motivation? I think that, to sustaining our motivation there are a few things that we have to concern, such as the goal of motivation, the society where we live in, the people around us and our curiosity of learning a language. How do we affect with feelings. What is the achievement we got if we finished it as soon as? Act as confidence as we know what we are talking about, although we don’t know the meaning is but we have courage to speak up or write it down. To provide our activities to engage with learning process. The agency term borrowed us from social science become appropriate to mean something similar to agent of passive sentence. In the words of some grammarian, the person or thing “that does”.

  Individual Language learners and what they do?

Individual language learners can be indicating that they have their own ways of brain work. For such perceived individual variation, and which teacher have attempted to use the benefit of their language (J.Harmer, 2007a: 89-95).

1.      Neuro-Linguistic Programming

Neuro-Linguistic Programming means that a number of primary representational systems’ to experience the world. These programming can be describe as “VAKOG” which means Visual (we look and we see), Auditory (we hear and listen), Kinesthetic (we feel externally or through movement), Olfactory (we smell things) and Gustatory (we taste things). To get the point of view from the other people students shoulbe more effectively communicate and interact with other.

2.      MI Theory (Multi – Intelligence)

(Gardner, 1983) listed that there are seven kind of Muliti – Intelligences: Musical/rhythmical, Verbal/Linguistic, Visual/spatial, Bodily/Kinaesthetic, Logical/mathematical, Intrapersonal and Inerpersonal.

  Good language learner and what they do?

If we can narrow down a number of characteristic that all good learner share, then we can cultivate these characteristic in all our students. Neil Naiman and his colleagues included a tolerance of ambiguity as a feature of good learning, together with factors such as positive task orientation (being prepared to approach task in a positive fashion), ego involvement, (where success Is important for a student’s self-image), High aspiration, goal orientation and perseverance (Naian et al 1978).

(Lightbown and Spada, 2006: 55 in J. Harmer, 2007a: 87) Good learner characteristic:

1.      Learner is willing and accurate guesser

2.      Learner tries to get a message across even if specific language knowledge is lacking

3.      Learner is willing to make a mistake

4.      Learner constantly looks for patterns in the language

5.      Learner practices as often as possible

6.      Learner analyze his or her own speech and the speech of others

7.      Leaner attends to whether his or her performance meets the standards he or she has learned

8.      Learner enjoy grammar exercise

9.      Learner begin learning in childhood

10.  Learner has an above average IQ

11.  Learner has good academic skill

12.  Learner a good self-image and lot of confidence

C.      Comments

Investigates from language teachers’ perception on their personal development through the language learners experiences got. Information was collected through reading a books and personal experience of writer. Findings indicate that, to develop language, teachers or learners need to be life-long learning and should adapt to student needs. According to experienced language learners, teacher education appears to be good enough for entry into the profession but also new motivation and impetus are necessary for someone to remain a language learner.

D.      Conclusion

To be a good teacher we should know, the criteria of the learner that we want to teach. Especially, the characteristic of our learners such as their age is all the class has the same age. Because when the age is not same they can’t be learn like the younger one. And then, their proficiency level is it the same or not, during the process we can find it where is the proficient learner or not. And don’t forget their motivation to learn, are they motivated or not. Are they individual learner or a good learner? It will help us to when we start to teach them.

E.       Bibliography

Brown, H.Douglas. 2001. Teaching by Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs:  Prentice Hall.

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007a. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Malaysia: Pearson Education Limited.

Harmer, Jeremy. 2007b. How to Teach English. China: Pearson Education Limited.