My own way to excellence in ELL

ELBA MNDEZ GARCA ACADEMIC IN-PROGRESS RESEARCH REPORT

MEXTESOL 39TH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION PUERTO VALLARTA, JALISCO, MEXICO OCTOBER 18TH - 21ST, 2012 LEADING THE WAY TO EXCELLENCE IN ELT

My own way to excellence in ELL

ELT

English Language Teaching

ELL English Language Learning

Learners do excel at language learning

While L1 acquisition is relatively free of substantial

individual variation, the opposite is true of the learning of an L2 (Drnyei, 2009:180).

My own way to excellence in ELL

This report acknowledges individual learner

differences, as well as individual learner challenges and achievements.

My own way to excellence in ELL

Individual differences (ID) seem to have a greater

effect in the acquisition of an L2 than the L1 The list of IDs relevant to SLA is long and continues to grow. Deconstruction of broad concepts such as aptitude and motivation (Sanz, 2005:105)

My own way to excellence in ELL

Each learner has his/her own excellence parameters

It is our job to help them find those excellence

parameters Challenge your learner (s) within (their) his/her excellence parameters

My own way to excellence in ELL

Three learners who might be considered low

proficiency learners (Cruz, Mendez, Rosas, 2011) To determine learners (learners) excellence parameters To challenge each learner within his/her own excellence parameters.

My own way to excellence in ELL

Elo (Business Hardworking, forgetfull,

Administration) abroad estudents.wmv [sic] http://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=ONBU9evL5 fM&feature=youtu.be

not good at networking with classmates. Good at immitating, following instructions and copying models. Keeps materials handy Covers face with hair and avoids eye contact. Finds it hard to articulate a string of words loudly enough to be heard.

References
Learners may have the sophisticated thoughts and

emotions of an adult, but the language of a child in which to express them (Horwitz et. al. 1986 in MacIntyre p. 67) Qualitative research has demonstrated the intense anxiety felt by some students, who have reported feeling like an idiot, a babbling baby and a total dingbat. Anxious learners will tend to remain anxious because they tend to withdraw from situations that might increase their proficiency.
MacIntyre (2002)

My own way to excellence in ELL

Beln (Law School) Vdeo bienvenida Outgoing, talktative,

http://www.youtube.c

om/watch?v=8m6LRf -I1lU

sociable, hardworking Good at working and interacting with others, likes to write in English Changes seat enthusiastically, finds it easy to catch up. Finds it hard but achievable to articulate a string of words

References
Robinson argues that all adult L2 learning is

fundamentally similar, drawing on conscious information processes under executive control, and that individual differences in the extend of learning can be predicted by measures of IDs in cognitive resources, but importantly, only when those cognitive resources are drawn on by the processing demands of specific learning task conditions which implicate them.

(Robinson, 2002:221-222)

References
Learners may have the sophisticated thoughts and

emotions of an adult, but the language of a child in which to express them (Horwitz et. al. 1986 in MacIntyre p. 67) Qualitative research has demonstrated the intense anxiety felt by some students, who have reported feeling like an idiot, a babbling baby and a total dingbat. Anxious learners will tend to remain anxious because they tend to withdraw from situations that might increase their proficiency.
MacIntyre (2002)

My own way to excellence in ELL

Laura1 Spontaneous talk Has a brother who speaks

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=Zw7QLyCkKTs&f eature=autoplay&list=PL7 919C79556507CB2&lf=plp p_video&playnext=2 (BA in ELT) A2+ a B1 / B1 / B1

English (immigrant to the USA) Wont speak to brother in English (embarrassed, nervous, afraid of mistakes) Shy, finds it hard to make eye contact. Hardworking, good at note-taking (good listener), following instructions and imitating

My own way to excellence in ELL

Diana1 Spontaneous talk Likes going to school and

http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=Si8ltYKW8k&list=HL13505350 04&feature=mh_lolz (BA in ELT) A2- / A2 / A2+

talking to friends, dedicated, good at following instructions and working in a team, hands in all assignments. Shy, a bit childish and too self-aware at times. Seems to believe her strengths and weaknesses are a permanent state. Finds it hard to describe events and give reasons.

My own way to excellence in ELL

Drnyei (2009)

Claims that ID (individual differences) has become

increasingly insufficient to understand the complexity of learner-based performance variation. Proposes that the learners contribution to the learning process can be best understood within a dynamic systems theory (DST).

My own way to excellence in ELL

MY STUDENT (NAME) Prepared talk Spontaneous talk Likes , good at ... A bit ... Wont easily. Seems to believe ...

Reasons to learn

Finds it hard to ...

English
Common European

Framework band (A2- / A2 / A2+ / B1-)

Uniqueness
People differ from each other in virtually every one of

their attributes and every way of functioning.

FLA relatively free of individual variation?

Areas of L1 competence such as vocabulary size or

pragmatic skills display considerable inter-individual differences. Drnyei (2009)

References
Cruz, S. Mendez, E. Rosas, M. (2011). Assessing oral skills

development in low-level proficiency students: BUAP BA in ELT. IV International Qualitative Research Conference Approaches To Qualitative Research Guanajuato, Gto. June 7, 2012 Drnyei, Z. (2009). The psychology of second language acquisition. Oxford University Press. MacIntyre, P. D. (2002). Motivation, anxiety and emotion in SLA. In Robinson, P. 2002 (ed.) Individual Differences and Instructed Language Learning. John Benjamins Publishing. Robinson, P. (2002). Effects of individual differences in intelligence, aptitude and working memory on adult incidental SLA. In Robinson, P. 2002.(ed.) Individual Differences and Instructed Language Learning. John Benjamins Publishing. Sanz, C. (2005). Adult second language acquisition. Washington, D. C. Georgetown University Press.