TOP NOTCH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERIES

Issue 4

FROM AWARENESS
TO APPLICATION
Five essential aids to learner training
Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher

A STRUCTURED PEDAGOGY
Can learner training help students learn
English more efficiently?
FOR LEARNER TRAINING
We begin by considering two questions concerning the teaching
of English to young adult and adult learners:
1. Working towards goals
• Which aspects of learner training relate most specifically to the
2. Observing progress learning of a new language?
and self-assessing • What teaching approaches can help students move from awareness
of helpful practices to taking the initiative and responsibility of
3. Being aware of the applying them?
instructional process This article will suggest a structured pedagogy for learner training that
will build students’ awareness of practices that aid in language learning
4. Reflecting on one’s
and enable them to apply those practices as they use and continue to
language learning
learn English.
5. Making strategies
a habit From Awareness to Application

It is generally agreed by language educators that providing opportunities

for students to work towards goals; to access prior knowledge; to practice
classic learning strategies such as planning, self-assessing, predicting, etc. will have positive results on students’
ability to learn. Although many believe that creating content and lessons that include these practices aids the
learning of language, students will not incorporate them into their own learning initiatives if they are unaware of
them or their value. Following are suggestions for building learner awareness—an awareness that leads to active
application of strategies that work.

1. Working towards goals

At the beginning of each term, before beginning instruction, it is a good idea to probe students’ individual goals in
learning English. Such a discussion can be conducted in English or in the students’ native language, depending on
their level. Common goals will be: for professional reasons, for travel, for academic study, etc. It is important to

© Joan Saslow and Allen Ascher

show how the course and/or course book will help students directions? What did you learn today?” and so on. When
reach these goals—for example, by helping them learn to students confirm that the goal was achieved, they value
understand and communicate in spoken and written the class, study, and instruction. Since language in classes
English. is learned very much by “doing,” observing progress
reinforces the value of paying attention and participating.
It is also worthwhile to encourage students to brainstorm
what they want to be able to do in English in more Then, at the end of each study unit or lesson in your
practical or specific terms. Students might generate a textbook, and before assessment, it is worthwhile to ask
list such as this, which could be posted on the board in students what they have learned in the unit. One
the class: approach is to prepare a list of “can-do”*
statements for students to check, indicating
• order meals
Although many that they have achieved each goal. Can-do
• check into hotels
believe that creating statements should be worded in the same
• read academic journals or articles way as the goals and can be written on
• write emails or letters
content and lessons the board or photocopied for students.
• discuss news and current events
that include these An example follows.

• have social conversations practices aids the Now I can

• use the Internet learning of language,  understand a menu in English

Almost all English course books include students will not  order a meal in a restaurant
 use the vocabulary of foods
topics and skills, so you can show students incorporate them
and drinks
how what they will learn to do, discuss,
into their own  use count and non-count nouns
understand, read, etc. support the goals
they listed. Topics and skills are usually learning initiatives correctly
easily located in the scope and sequence if they are unaware  discuss healthy and unhealthy foods
chart at the beginning of most course books.
of their value. Benefit: Students consciously observe
their progress, which validates their
But most importantly, throughout the
effort and encourages perseverance in
course don’t lose sight of those goals. At the beginning of
studying English.
each class session, be sure to tell students (or post on the
board) the goal(s) for the day: Today we’re going to learn
how to give and get directions. Alternatively, for a less 3. Being aware of the instructional process
teacher-centered approach, ask students to take a few Students should become aware that the language
moments to look over the course book page or pages you presentations and activities used in class and assigned for
plan to do that class session and ask them to infer the work outside of class (homework, projects, laboratory
goal for the day. activities, on-line assignments) are not random or
accidental. They should be led to see how each one of
Benefit: Students see a practical purpose for each
these has an additive and integrative impact on their
lesson and are motivated by how each lesson will help
learning of English.
them attain their own goals.
For example, if the communication goal of a class is to
2. Observing progress and self-assessing extend, accept, or decline invitations to events, then the
grammar or vocabulary presented during that class
If each class begins with the statement of an achievable
session should be essential to achievement of the
goal, it then becomes easy for students to observe and
communication goal. One such plan follows:
confirm their progress. One simple way to ensure this is
to ask them, “Did you learn how to give someone
* Can-do statements are used as assessment criteria by the Council of Europe’s
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

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COMMUNICATIVE GOAL: EXTEND, ACCEPT, AND It is our experience that students will not be aware of
DECLINE INVITATIONS this without prompting.

A. Model Conversation (to exemplify the goal) Benefit: Students become aware that language
presented and practiced contributes to their being
A: Are you free on Friday? Married on able to achieve a communicative goal.
Main Street is at the Film Forum.
B: Really? I’d love to go. What time? 4. Reflecting on one’s learning
A: At 7:10.
There are a number of hurdles that must be overcome in
OR the learning of a foreign or a second language. One such
B: Really? I’d love to go, but I’m busy on hurdle that interferes with progress is not knowing the
Friday. difference between understanding the meaning of a word
A: Too bad. Maybe some other time. and being able to translate it into one’s own language.

Learners instinctively attempt to translate word for word

B. Grammar (to support the goal) everything they hear. Such an effort is futile for two
reasons: first, no one can possibly translate word for
1. Questions with When, Where, and What time
word quickly enough to follow a speaker speaking at a
2. Prepositions of time and place natural pace. And second, languages don’t equate in a
Students will then, through pair work, personalize the word-by-word way. Moreover, exact translations don’t
conversation and thus achieve the communication goal help for idioms, expressions, metaphors, or figurative
(to extend, accept, or decline invitations to events). They language. In order to build students’ awareness of this
should be encouraged to see that they will be able to reality, we must help them see that, when faced with
personalize the conversation because they have learned words they haven’t heard or seen before, they can in fact
the grammar they need. derive both general and specific meaning from them.

C. Pair Work (to permit students to observe how the The following example from a Spanish class for English
model and the grammar are essential in achieving speakers illustrates learner confusion between
the goal) “understanding” and “translating” and suggests a way
to build student awareness that understanding is possible
A: Are you free _____? _____ is without translation.
playing _____.
A picture in an intermediate level Spanish-as-a-second-
B: Really? I’d love to go. _____? language textbook showed sugar cane growing in a sugar
cane field. The caption read: La caña de azúcar crece en
un cañaveral. (“Sugar cane grows in a sugar cane field.”)

Merely offering students a lesson in which the parts

contribute to the achievement of its goal may be good
language teaching. However, if students can develop a
cognitive awareness of the value of the lesson’s parts in
achieving its communication goal (in the case above, the
grammar), the lesson will make them better language
learners.
In order to ensure this cognitive awareness, ask students
to study the pair work before actually personalizing the
model conversation. Say, “We’ve just studied prepositions The instructor pointed at each part of the picture that
of time and place and questions with When, Where, and depicted the new vocabulary, asked students to repeat it,
What time. Where do you need to use that grammar?” and asked questions (in Spanish) to be sure the students
3
understood. At the end of the activity, a student raised strategies, so they become a habit and result in the
her hand and said, “We don’t know what we’re saying.” following internal monologue: “When I do x or y, I am
The students, however, did in fact “know what they were more successful.”
saying,” but were simply unable to translate the words
directly into English. Although the strategy set that underpins successful
language learning is large and well appreciated, we
To build awareness of the dichotomy between will concentrate in this example on one strategy that
understanding meaning and being able to translate, the has great value to language learners: compensating for
instructor pointed at the sugar cane and asked students, inadequate vocabulary.
“What’s this?” They answered, “Sugar cane.” (Caña is a
cognate for cane, so students didn’t perceive this as a lack Canale and Swain (1980) classify communicative
of understanding. They probably silently translated, competence into four categories: grammatical
“Sugar cane” to themselves.) competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic
competence, and strategic competence. This last ability
Next, the instructor asked students, “What’s the sugar is what enables learners to express themselves even when
cane doing?” Students answered, “It’s growing.” (This lacking the necessary language to do that correctly or
was understood because in the presentation, the well. Even though students may become aware that
instructor had gestured “grows” with a rising hand, and languages don’t necessarily translate word for word, one
there’s an exact equivalence of the verbs crece and grows. to another, they still will need assistance applying that
knowledge when they seek to express their own ideas.
Next she asked students, “Where’s it growing?” They
responded “In a … a cañaveral.” The instructor asked, Learners must accept that, although few people ever
“What is it you don’t understand?” Students said “a acquire the breadth of vocabulary in a foreign or second
cañaveral!?” When the instructor followed this with, language that they have in their own language,
“What’s a cañaveral?” students said, “It’s the place where communication is nevertheless possible even when one is
the sugar cane grows.” missing an essential word or phrase. To help students
build the skill of compensating for missing vocabulary,
From this process, students became aware that even we can work with them to help them restate their ideas
though they had no equivalent English word for using language they do know.
cañaveral, they knew what a cañaveral was—the place
that sugar cane grows. One activity might be to ask students to “define” words
after learning them. For example, assume students have
This is a profound awareness that every learner of a new learned the names of foods and drinks through the use
language needs to reflect on. It creates the desire and need of an illustrated list. Students could then take turns
to depend on context to infer meaning, promoting the describing the foods and asking others to guess the name
development of one of the most important strategies for of the specific food they are describing. An example
language learners—understanding meaning from context. follows.
Benefit: Students gain confidence that they can S1: It’s a vegetable. It’s orange and long.
gather meaning from context and extrapolation and It’s good for your eyes. (The other students
other clues. guess carrot.)
S2: I drink it for breakfast. It’s dark brown,
5. Making strategies a habit almost black. I like it with sugar and milk.
We characterize “strategies” as actions learners choose to (The other students guess coffee.)
take to be more successful. In order for them to make the
choice to use a strategy, they have to have observed that This activity can be done with students of all levels and
the strategy is effective. Only with repeatedly with individual words, phrases, or collocations. For
experiencing these successes will students transfer the instance, in a lesson about travel problems, students learn
strategies to other learning opportunities. For that reason, the following phrases: have an accident, have mechanical
we advocate multiple opportunities for students to apply problems, miss the train, and get seasick. Once students
4
have learned this vocabulary, they can break into two
teams, with one team working together to formulate a S: (doesn’t know the word cruise) I would like
definition and the other team guessing the phrase. to go to Hawaii, on a … a ... How do you
say [word for cruise in native language]?
Team 1: We arrived at 3:00. The train left at T: What would you like to do? How would you
2:45. (The other students guess “You like to go there? Would you like to take an
missed the train.”) airplane?
Team 2: We traveled on a boat. The weather was S: No. I would like to take a boat.
bad. The boat moved a lot. We felt very,
very bad. (The other students guess
Certainly, using a dictionary is an important aspect of
“You got seasick.”)
learner training, but in a real conversation outside of an
English class, it’s impractical to look a word up on the
Becoming skillful at defining words and phrases is
spot. Knowing how to “talk around” an unknown word
important because it allows one to be able to describe
is very valuable. Giving students frequent practice with
what a word means in order to elicit that word from
this skill ensures that they will make it a habit and elect it
others. Alternatively, if one is speaking with someone
as a strategy when necessary.
who doesn’t know the right word either, the definition
itself can get the idea across. An example follows: Benefit: Students learn that they are able to express
themselves on a variety of topics in spite of deficits
S: (doesn’t know the word superstitious) I am
in vocabulary.
a … how do you say it … I am afraid of black
cats. I am afraid of the number 13. I worry
that some things bring bad luck. What is the Summary
word for that kind of person? This article has focused on classroom practices that help
T: Superstitious. students move from cognition to behavior. We have
sought to suggest concrete ways to instill awareness,
S: (doesn’t know political terminology) My generate reflection, and, therefore, promote the habitual
husband is very different from me. He doesn’t transfer and application of these effective practices. The
like new ideas. He doesn’t like change. Is there five aspects of learner training covered in this article offer
a word for that? a pedagogical approach that we hope will motivate
students and promote more successful language learning.
T: Yes. He’s conservative. What about you?
S: I’m the opposite. I like new things and
change. What’s the word for that?
T: Liberal.

In this way, if students can describe and explain what

they mean, they can compensate for the vocabulary
they are lacking. If students develop this skill, they
will apply it as a strategy when challenged with a lack
of knowledge.
References
In teacher / student interactions, we can also discourage
Canale, Michael & Merrill Swain (1980). Theoretical bases of
students from expecting us to be their “dictionaries.” communicative approaches to second language teaching and
While in many cases it’s simplest and fastest either to give testing, Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47
the student the word, to suggest the student look it up in O’Malley, J. Michael, Anna Uhl Chamot, Gloria Stewner-Manzanares,
a dictionary, or to ask other students to provide it, we Rocco P. Russo, and Lisa Kupper (1985). Learning strategy
applications with students of English as a Second Language.
suggest at least some of the time encouraging students to TESOL Quarterly, 19/3, 557-584
“talk around” the word they don’t know. An example
follows.
5
 About the Authors

Joan Saslow Allen Ascher

Joan Saslow has taught in a Allen Ascher has been a teacher
variety of programs in South and teacher trainer in China
America and the United States. and the United States, as well as
She is author or coauthor of a academic director of the intensive
number of widely used courses, English program at Hunter College.
some of which are Ready to Go, Workplace Plus, Mr. Ascher has also been an ELT publisher and
Literacy Plus, and Summit. She is also author of was responsible for publication and expansion of
English in Context, a series for reading science and numerous well-known courses including True Colors,
technology. Ms. Saslow was the series director of NorthStar, the Longman TOEFL Preparation Series, and
True Colors and True Voices. She has participated in the Longman Academic Writing Series. He is coauthor
the English Language Specialist Program in the U.S. of Summit, and he wrote the “Teaching Speaking”
Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and module of Teacher Development Interactive, an
Cultural Affairs. online multimedia teacher-training program.

Ms. Saslow and Mr. Ascher are frequent presenters

at professional conferences and have been
coauthoring courses for teens, adults, and young
adults since 2002.

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