Teaching English as a Second Language

Reporter | Sopphia Faye Chloe F. Calope, LPT

Unit IV: Focus on the Learner
LANGUAGE LEARNING STYLES AND STRATEGIES

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Key Terms
• Second Language: a language studied in a
setting where that language is the main vehicle
of everyday communication and where
abundant input exists in that language.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Key Terms
• Foreign Language: is a language studied in
an environment where it is not the primary
vehicle for daily interaction and where input in
that language is restricted.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Key Terms
• L2: the term used to refer to either a second or
a foreign language.
• ESL: English as Second Language.
• EFL: English as Foreign Language.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

What is a learning style?

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Styles
• Are the general approaches – for example,
global or analytic, auditory or visual – that
students use in acquiring a new language or in
learning in any other subjects

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Styles
• Are “the overall patterns that give general
direction to learning behavior” (Cornett 1983,
p.9)

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Styles
• The biologically and developmentally imposed
set of characteristics that make the same
teaching method wonderful for some and
terrible for others (Dunn & Griggs 1988, p.3)

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

WHAT ARE THE FOUR DOMAINS OF LEARNING
STYLES?

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

LEARNING
STYLES
SENSORY
PREFERENCES

PERSONALITY TYPES

DESIRED DEGREE OF
GENERALITY
BIOLOGICAL
DIFFERENCES

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

1
SENSORY PREFERENCES
• Refers to the physical, perceptual learning
channels with which the student is the most
comfortable.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

1 SENSORY
PREFERENCES

VISUAL AUDITORY

KINESTHETI
C
TACTILE
(touch-oriented)
(movement-oriented)

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

VISUAL Students
• They like to read and obtain a great deal from
visual stimulation.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

VISUAL Students

STIMULATIO
NS
CONFUSIONS
• CONVERSATION
• WORDS • ORAL
• IMAGES
INSTRUCTION
• MOTION • LECTURES
PICTURES
• LIVE
PERFORMANCES

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

AUDITORY Students
• They are comfortable without visual input and
therefore enjoy and profit from unembellished
lectures, conversations, and oral instructions.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

AUDITORY Students

STIMULATIO
NS
CONFUSIONS
• Written works
• Conversation
• Oral instruction
• Lectures
• Classroom
interactions

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

KINESTHETIC & TACTILE Students
• They like lots of movement and enjoy working
with tangible objects, collages, and flashcards.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

KINESTHETIC & TACTILE Students

STIMULATIO
NS
CONFUSIONS
• Sitting
• Tangible objects
• Collages
• flashcards

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 2 PERSONALITY TYPES
Often called psychological type which is based
on the work of Carl Jung, Ehrman, and Oxford
(1989,1990)

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 EXTROVERT
ED
VS
INTROVERT
ED

2
INTUITIVE-
RANDOM
VS SENSING
SEQUENTIAL
PERSONALIT
THINKING Y TYPES
VS
FEELING

CLOSURE-
ORIENTED/
JUDGING
VS
OPEN/PERCEIVING

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 PERSONALITY TYPES
EXTROVERTED INTROVERTED
• Energy from external world • Energy from internal world
• Enjoy interacting with • Seeking solitude
people and making friends

WAYS TO LEARN TOGETHER

Enforcing time limits in the L2 classroom can keep extroverts enthusiasm to a
manageable level. Rotating the person in charge of leading L2 discussions gives
introverts an opportunity to participate equally with extroverts.
Language Learning Styles | Strategies
 PERSONALITY TYPES
INTUITIVE-RANDOM SENSING-SEQUENTIAL
• Think in abstract, futuristic, • Like facts rather than
large-scale, and non- theories
sequential ways • Want guidance and specific
• Like to create theories and instruction from teachers
prefer to guide their own
learning.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 PERSONALITY TYPES
INTUITIVE-RANDOM SENSING-SEQUENTIAL

WAYS TO LEARN TOGETHER

Offer variety and choice; sometimes a highly organized
structure for sensing-sequential learners and at other times
multiple options and enrichment activities for intuitive-
random students.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 PERSONALITY TYPES
THINKING FEELING
• Oriented toward the stark • Value other people in
truth personal ways
• Want to be viewed • Show empathy and
component and do not give compassion
praise easily
WAYS TO LEARN TOGETHER
L2 teachers can help thinking learners show greater overt compassion to their
feeling classmates & can suggest that feeling learners might tone down their
emotional expression while working with thinking learners.
Language Learning Styles | Strategies
 PERSONALITY TYPES
CLOSURE-ORIENTED/JUDGING OPEN/PERCEIVING
• Reach judgments or • Take learning less seriously,
completion quickly treating it like a game
• Enjoy being given specific • Dislike deadlines and like to
tasks and deadlines have a long time soaking up
• Desire for closure information by osmosis

WAYS TO LEARN TOGETHER

They both provide good balance to each other. Create cooperative groups since
they can benefit collaboration from each other.
Language Learning Styles | Strategies
3DESIRED DEGREE OF GENERALITY
• This strand contrasts the learner who focuses
on the main idea or big picture with the learner
who concentrates on details.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 Desired Degree of
Generality

GLOBAL/
HOLISTIC ANALYTIC

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 Desired Degree of Generality
Global or Holistic Analytic
• Like socially interactive, • Concentrate on grammatical
communicative events details
• Feel free to guess from • Do not take risks guessing
context from contexts
• Tend to make grammatical
mistakes A balance between
generality and
specificity!

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

4BIOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES
Differences in L2 learning style can also be related to
biological factors.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 SU
S
THM

ST
EN
RHY

AN
BIO

CE
BIOLOGICAL
DIFFERENCE
S

LOCATION

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 BIORHYTHMS
• Learners have their best time for studying.
• Some perform well in the morning; some
perform well in the evening.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 SUSTENANCE
• The need for food and drink while learning
• Quite a number ofL2 learners feel very
comfortable learning with a candy bar, a cup
of coffee or a soda in hand while some tend to
be distracted from studying.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 LOCATION
• Involves the nature of environment
• Temperature
• Lighting
• Sound
• And even the firmness of the chair

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 WHAT ARE LEARNING
STRATEGIES?
SIX MAIN CATEGORIES OF LEARNING
STRATEGIES?

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Strategies
• Specific behaviors or thought processes that
learners use to enhance their learning

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Strategies
• The word strategy comes from the Ancient
Greek word “strategia”, which means “steps
or actions generals take for the purpose of
winning the war.”
• Control and goal-directedness

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Strategies
• A strategy is neither good or bad.
• A strategy is useful if:
a. The strategy relates well to the L2 task at hand
b. The strategy fits the particular student’s learning
style preferences to one degree or another
c. The student employs the strategy effectively and
links it with other relevant strategies.
Language Learning Styles | Strategies
Learning Strategies
• “make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable,
more self-directed, more effective, and more
transferable to new situations.”

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

Learning Strategies
• Enable students to become more independent,
autonomous, lifelong learners.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 SIX MAIN
CATEGORIES
COGNITIVE
STRATEGIES COMPENSATORY
STRATEGIES

METACOGNITIVE
STRATEGIES AFFECTIVE
STRATEGIES

MEMORY-RELATED
STRATEGIES
SOCIAL STRATEGIES

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

COGNITIVE Strategies
• Enable learners to manipulate the language
materials
• Example: through reasoning, analysis, note
taking, summarizing, outlining, reorganizing,
etc.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

METACOGNITIVE Strategies
• Identifying one’s own learning style
preferences and needs
• Manage the learning process overall

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

MEMORY-RELATED Strategies
• Help learners to link one L2 item or concept to
another, but do not always involve deep
understanding.
• Enable learners to learn and retrieve
information in an orderly string.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

MEMORY-RELATED Strategies
• Learners need such strategy mush less when
they become better.
• Has significant negative impact in test-taking

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

COMPENSATORY Strategies
• Guessing from context in listening and
reading.
• Use synonyms and “talk around” the missing
word to aid speaking and writing
• Use gestures or pause words
• Help learners to make up missing words

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

AFFECTIVE Strategies
• Identify one’s mood and anxiety level
• Use deep breathing or positive self-talk
• Students who progress toward proficiency
seldom need it.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

SOCIAL Strategies
• Work with others and understand the target
culture as well as the language
• Intensive interaction with people.
Example:
Asking questions to get verification, asking for
clarification of a confusing point, asking for help
in doing a language task, etc.
Language Learning Styles | Strategies
IMPLICATIONS FOR L2 TEACHING

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

• L2 learning strategy use is significantly related
to L2 learning motivation, gender, age, culture,
brain hemisphere dominance, career
orientation, academic major, beliefs, and the
nature of the L2 task.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 F
IMPLICATIONS
O for classroom practice
1.UAssessing styles and strategies in the L2
classroom;
2.RAttuning L2 instruction and strategy instruction
to learners style preferences;
3. Remembering that no single L2 instructional
methodology fits all students; and
4. Preparing for and conducting strategy instruction.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 Assessing styles and strategies in the L2
one classroom
• Assessment leads to greater understanding of
styles and strategies used by the teacher.
• Teachers also need to assess their own styles
and strategies to be aware of their preferences
and of possible biases.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 Attuning L2 instruction and strategy
two instruction to learners style preferences
• The more that teachers know about their
students’ style preferences, the more
effectively they can orient their L2 instruction,
as well as the strategy instruction.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

three Remembering that no single L2 instructional
methodology fits all students

• Instead of choosing a specific instructional

methodology, L2 teachers would do better to
employ a broad instructional approach that
contains a combined focus on form and
fluency. It allows deliberate, creative variety to
meet the needs of all students in the class.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

four Preparing for and conducting strategy
instruction

• L2 teachers should consider various ways to

prepare to conduct strategy instruction in their
classes.
• Helpful preparatory steps: taking teacher dev’t
courses, finding relevant info. (print/internet),
and making contacts with specialists.

Language Learning Styles | Strategies

 fin
Reporter | Sopphia Faye Chloe F. Calope, LPT