LANGUAGE LEARNER PROFILE FOCUSED ON LLS

Authors: Diego Garrido R and Carolina Rebolledo M.

Date: 7 de Noviembre de 2014
Subject: Metodologa de la Enseanza del Ingls
como Lengua Extranjera
Teacher: Mg. Roxanna Correa

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

English is worldwide known as one of the language most used around the world and it is
taught in almost every country; however, it depends on the country and your purposes to
realize if you are learning English as a Foreign Language or as a Second Language. It
may sound quite similar, but the difference is in where you learn this language and the
context. When we talk about English as a Second Language, we are talking about
English learnt in a country where it is one of the main languages spoken. For example,
when an Italian person lives in England and starts learning English, this person is learning
English as a second language. English as a Foreign Language is when a person learns
English in a non-native speaking country, for example here in Chile. Oxford (2003) makes
an explicit example of the differences of these concepts mentioning that:
A second language is a language studied in a setting where that language is the main
vehicle of everyday communication and where abundant input exists in that language and
a 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.
It is important to make the difference between these two concepts, because of the cultural
background of the learner and also to give a simple way of understanding. By knowing this
we can develop better the idea of learning English.
Learning styles are important and relevant while learning a language, specially learning an
L2, but why is it? It is because these are the approaches that students use when learning
or acquiring another language or subject and give general directions to learning behavior
(Oxford, 2003). Styles make students to be more aware of the way they could learn and
according to this their learning process becomes easier. The styles and the strategies
work side by side while learning a language or a subject. When the student realizes his
learning style and is aware of learning strategies, it makes the process of acquiring or
learning simpler. According to Oxford (2003) there are four dimensions of learning style
and are divided in sensory preferences, personality types, desired degree of generality
and biological differences.
The main focus will be the first one mentioned before, Sensory Preferences. This style is
mainly about physical, perceptual learning channels in which the student is more

comfortable (Oxford, 2003) and it is divided into three main categories. The first one is
visual. Visual learners think of picture and learn best using visual aids (Pourhossein,
2012). This means that visual learners are more related with the sense of vision rather
than the other ones. The second is auditory and it is related with the sense of audition.
According to Pourhossein (2012) this type of learners are more willing to learn through
listening and interpreting information by the means of pitch, emphasis and speed. The
third category/style of learning is kinesthetic. These types of learners are more aware of
learning in the physical world (the environment) and sometimes it is difficult for them to be
in a classroom, because they do not feel very comfortable with learning theory and their
way of learning is mainly through practice.
In the case of Language Learning Strategies (LLS), these are well defined from several
authors as "behaviors of a learner that are intended to influence how the learner processes
information" (Mayer, 1988), "the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help
them comprehend, learn, or retain new information" (O'Malley and Chamot, 1990). It is
also defined by Pearson Hall (2009) as a persons approach to learning and using
information. According to the previous authors mentioned, it can be seen that students
use Learning Strategies to help them understand information and solve problems. In the
process of learning a target language (L2), it is seen as a way to develop the language
competences of the students in the areas of listening, speaking, writing and reading. The
objective of the Learning Strategies is to encourage students to be more active in the
classroom as learners and to reach certain goals to be successful at school. Students who
do not know or use good learning strategies, often learn passively and ultimately fail at
school. Richards (2008) also argues that strategies can also be used to reinforce a
concept in a way that provides a tool to help the student retrieve the known information. In
the area of language teaching, it is very relevant for teachers who would like to develop
their students level of competences in a L2 to understand how LLS work.
There are many types of strategies (LLS) that students normally use, but the most
common ones according to Oxford (1990) are divided into direct, which are cognitive,
compensation and memory. There are also indirect strategies, which are related to the
interaction, motivation and attitudes from the students. These are Metacognitive
strategies, Affective strategies and Social strategies. In the case of direct strategies,
cognitive strategies, as Chinn (2009) explain are referred to set goals that help students to
perform at school in general or specific situations. These can be for example summarizing,

brainstorming or any type of resources. Compensation strategies, according to the British

Council, are communication strategies used by learners to compensate for limitations in
their language. An example for this given by the British Council is guessing the meaning
when there is something that students do not understand well or using gestures to explain
them. Memory strategies help students to be mentally engaged and to pay complete
attention on something specific. On the other hand, indirect strategies such as
metacognitive, which comes from the term metacognition and it is referred to being
aware of what we already know and do not know from a topic and also what will be
needed to know to develop a certain task. Social and Affective strategies according to
L.Smith enhance the process of learning when people interact with each other to clarify a
confusing point or when they participate in a group discussion or cooperative learning
group to solve a problem. In fact, its main concern is the emotions and both classifications
of strategies must be linked each other.
As it is cited in Shafaei (2010), according to the importance of teachers and LLS, Graham
(1997) indicated that L2/FL teachers can help students understand good LLS and should
train them. Teachers should be focused on the context and specific LLS that are relevant
to the students, the material we manage and our own teaching style. Teachers must also
provide the students the moment to monitor themselves, to be responsible of their own
learning and also if the strategies taught really help them to succeed in the tasks.
Teachers have to bring this variety of options and then students will incorporate the most
appropriated ones according to their facilities and to think of improving the upcoming
lessons. Graham (1997) also argues on Shafaeis book that teachers who have developed
their own strategies, and thought carefully about them during their own learning of a
language can have great succeed at the moment to develop the strategic competences of
their students in the future. As students of an L2, this is the moment to be aware of the
strategies used for each skill and it will be exposed throughout this whole study working on
a lesson plan designed to cover this area.
LLS are very important in terms of teaching students communicative approaches and
according to Lessard-Clouston (1997) LLS can help learners to develop communicative
competence in the target of L2. The role of LLS in learning English as a foreign language
is to make students communicate, acquire and learn the language with less difficulties
becoming better language learners. The role of teaching this is mainly focused on making
teachers aware of how the students can learn the target language and develop their

performance of the different competences and skills. Within all the facilities that LLS can
create in a classroom, we can also observe that using strategies makes a class more
successful in terms of motivation, confidence and creativity. The students may feel
motivated to learn using strategies and applying them in self-assessments, also making
them more confident at the time of applying communicative competences. In creativity we
can make references in the teaching process, developing the teacher skill of having an
interesting class for students. For this LLSs have an important role in learning and
teaching English as a foreign language, always relating in a proper way.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDENT

The student who was given the task and the one to one lesson is Laura Espinoza. She is
18 years old and she is a First year student from English Pedagogy in Universidad
Catlica de la Santsima Concepcin. Before she joined this university, she studied at
Liceo Vicente Palacios V in Tom. She argues that she got interested in learning English
since she joined high school. She discovered that reading and speaking are the skills that
she manages best, and writing is the one that still needs improvement. What Laura
expects from being a future teacher is to show the students how fun is to learn English as
a way to motivate them. Laura also thinks that the lack of motivation and probably the
methodology that teachers use in the lessons provokes a bad performance in the students
nowadays.

SPEAKING TASK
OUTLINE: The student will be asked to express orally opinions about a specific topic. In
this case it will be about movies. The teacher will provide some questions related to this
topic and the student will have 1 minute to read each of them and think of her possible
answers. The student will be able to express herself with no time limit on her answers.
This task will be assessed by the teacher through a rubric.

1 Thinking: Read the questions below about movies and think of your possible
answers.
1. What was the last movie you saw?
2. What was this movie about? (Explain)
3. What kind of movies do you prefer to watch? (thriller, comedy, action,etc). Why?
4. Do you prefer old movies or contemporary movies? Explain why.

Speaking Task Rubric

Fluency

Accuracy

Pronunciation
and
Suprasegmental

Coherence of the
topic

Very Good
The student
speaks very clear
and in an
adequate speed
using connected
speech.
Uses appropriate
vocabulary and
connect the
ideas. *

Good
The student
speaks clear and
in a moderate
speed. *

Average
The student
speaks clear, but
needs to improve
connected
speech.

Use vocabulary
related with the
questions and
often connects
the ideas
correctly.

Has a great
pronunciation of
the ideas related
with the topics
stressing
correctly most of
the words.
The ideas
developed are
related with each
question and has
coherence. *

Has a good
pronunciation of
the ideas
stressing
correctly some of
the words.

Use some
vocabulary
related with the
questions and
sometimes
connect the
ideas correctly.
Has an average
pronunciation
and needs to
improve. *

Below Average
The student does
not speak clear
and have
problems with
connected
speed.
Use little
vocabulary
related with the
questions and
does not connect
the ideas
correctly.
Has a deficit in
pronunciation
and needs to
improve.

The ideas are

related with the
questions, but
still difficult to
understand.

The ideas are not

related with the
questions and
has a little of
coherence.

Most of the ideas

are related with
the questions
making coherent
sentences.

Analysis and Assessment of Speaking Task 1

According to the task we applied to the student and the results of the rubric we
designed, we could analyze that the main issue is the pronunciation of some words and
the stress of them. We also noticed that the student had a good performance according to
her level while answering the questions and she did not have any big complication. She
could give coherent responses and has good level of fluency.
To start analyzing in deep, we will begin to analyze in parallel the results with a
rubric. The first dimension of the rubric was fluency. We classified Lauras performance in
good and her level of fluency for a first year student was rather good at her level, and she
can surely still improving it. In the second dimension accuracy, the student performance
was also very good and we classified it in the first level very good. As we had a listen
once again to the recording, we could identify a good use of vocabulary related with the
topic and a coherent connection of ideas. The third dimension was pronunciation and
suprasegmental. This dimension is the one we focused the most after listening to the
recording. We placed the student in the Average level. The reasons for this are mainly
because of the students stress of the words and sentences. This dimension is the one we
are going to focus then on our lesson plan and one to one lesson. Finally in the last
dimension coherence, we placed the student in the first level very good. This is
because of her capacity to be coherent on her responses to our questions, in which we
noticed a good level on the construction of sentences.
An example of the words that we found that need improvement in terms of word
stress are:
STUDENTS PRONUNCIATION

CORRECT PRONUNCIATION

Expert: /kspt/

Expert: /eksp3t/

Contemporary: /kntemprr/

Contemporary: /kntemprr/

Conjuring: /kndr/

Conjuring: /kndr/

PROCEDURES: ONE TO ONE LESSON

CONTENT AREA: Phonetics and Phonology
LEVEL: Pre - intermediate
TOPIC: Pronunciation - Practicing Stress
AIM: Improving pronunciation by focusing on the stress of the words
LINGUISTIC CONTENT: Suprasegmental focused on the pronunciation of the stress of
words.
ACTIVITY: Awareness raising followed by oral exercises
STRATEGY OBJETIVE: By the end of the lesson, the student will be able to apply the
strategy of Sound Out and Access Information Sources for checking the right
pronunciation of the words in the English Language.

LESSON PLANNING FORM (CHAMOT)

PREPARATIONS:
-

In the beginning of the lesson, the student will be given a handout in which she will
have to read a list of words that according to a PET and also from Advance Oral
Proficiency Class. These words tend to be mispronounced.

PRESENTANTION:
-

Once the student has stopped reading, the teacher will ask her to read the right
answers, which contain the same words, but with the correct pronunciation. Then
the teacher will explain to her the importance of stressing the words correctly in the
English Language and also which are the strategies that she could use to avoid the
mispronunciation of words. These are Sound Out and Access Information Sources.

PRACTICE:
-

The student will be given few more words and will have to look for the correct
pronunciation with no help. After she finds the correct pronunciation she will have
to confirm through dictionaries or listening to the well pronounced words. Then, the
student will have to repeat the words and vocalize in order to remember the
sounds.

EVALUATION:
-

The student will repeat the same group of words already seen during the practice
step without any guidance as a way to self-evaluate if there is any improvement in
her pronunciation.

EXPANSION:

Whenever we learn any target language, these strategies are very useful to be
applied as a way to be aware of how words are pronounced, because the stress of
each word depends on many aspects that vary on the language. Combining the
study of these words with vocalizing and drilling would benefit in an appropriated
learning.

Lesson adapted from Fiona Ross FindYourFeet.de

http://www.findyourfeet.de/usr/doc/FyF_cm_wordstress.pdf

DISCUSSION

After the application of this one to one lesson, we could notice that before the
presentation of the strategies, the student began to read the list of words without
any previous research. It could be seen that in the first step of the lesson she read
the words according to what she thought they would sound like, but there were
mistakes in the pronunciation (stress). Even though she had a good level of
accuracy and fluency, we could notice that there also was a tendency to confuse
the stress in certain words that are written in the same way, but according to the
part of speech they do not. Once we checked the dictionary and the phonetic
transcription of the words with her, she knew perfectly where the stress was placed
and it was not a big issue to understand that, but at the same time she was not
aware enough of the importance of checking the words on a dictionary or any
resource to find out the right pronunciation. Every aspect of the pronunciation is
crucial at the moment to set words in a context and to communicate properly, and
even though teaching fonetics is not a subject for a first year student of a L2 yet, it
is always useful to accompany our learning by using (dictionaries, media) to
improve our skills and being accurate.

CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

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http://www.education.com/reference/article/cognitive-strategies/

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http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/knowledge-database/compensation-strategies

Lessard-Clouston, M. (1997). Essays in Languages and Literatures. Language

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