View Content #24057

By Julie Sykes, CASLS Director

It was my first year teaching Spanish. Caroline was sitting in my office, in tears, wondering what she possibly could’ve done wrong. She studied and studied and knew every word on her flashcards. I asked her to show me the cards, and quickly realized what had gone wrong. As she showed me el libro, she quickly said book, saying, see, I know the words. She had studied well and did know all of the words when she read them, but Caroline hadn’t flipped the flashcards over to move from their meaning to creating the actual words. More generally, she hadn’t been taught how to learn and she and I talked about three or four more strategies she could use to be sure she could both produce and comprehend the words when she needed them.  Caroline aced the next assessment and quickly spent more time figuring out how she best learns. I also adapted, reminding myself to teach my students how to learn and intentionally explaining why we did what we did in the classroom to facilitate the best language learning possible.

Explicit attention on “how to learn” can be highly beneficial for learners. As students become more aware of how what we do as language teachers in the classroom relates to their own learning experience, they can start to refine their own learning practices. As a result, they become more successful and motivated to continue. For example, when we explain why long grammar explanations related to language do not lead to better accuracy without practice, learners become more willing to accept shorter explanations along with the ambiguity needed to produce meaningful negotiation of meaning. Furthermore, as they reflect on proficiency benchmarks, learners gain a holistic view of “knowing” a language that moves beyond passing a chapter test.  Ideally, language learners get a small glimpse into language teaching and learning methods as part of their own learning experience. Ranging from specific language learning strategies, such as drawing picture to remember words or using titles to more comprehensive ideas such as explaining to learners why we set meaningful learning objectives, engaging learners with teaching and learning techniques can be highly beneficial to their overall development. It can reduce classroom anxiety around why things are done the way there are being done, can help instructors solidify their own motivations for classroom practice, and ensure learners are making best use of their own learning efforts.