HELPING LEARNERS DEVELOP LEARNING

STRATEGIES

Task for students:• Read the article

• briefly describe the content without

referring to the article

DISCUSS:What are the possible problems students may face?

Task for students:• Read the article

• briefly describe the content without

referring to the article

DISCUSS:What learning strategies would they probably use?

GROUP DISCUSSION:

What are “learning strategies”?

WHAT ARE LEARNING STRATEGIES?

Learning strategies are:how students choose to learn new content.

Some strategies are:visible (e.g. highlighting key words in a text);invisible (e.g. making associations between L1 and the target language).

GROUP DISCUSSION:Why should we help our learners develop learning strategies?

WHY SHOULD WE HELP STUDENTS DEVELOP LEARNING STRATEGIES?

• Encourage independent learning

• Make learning effective

STAGES AND STRATEGIES WHEN CARRYING OUT A TASK• BEFORE /PRE E.g. analyse the task and what has to be done.

• DURING (WHILE) E.g. identify key content vocabulary.

• AFTER/POST E.g. comparing work with peers.

ACTIVITY 2Examples of strategies used before doing a task

Selecting and setting learning goals Deciding on criteria to measure how

well a task can be done Analysing the task, its purpose and

what has to be done Working out timing of stages

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

ACTIVITY 2Examples of strategies used while doing a task Identifying key content

vocabulary Predicting meanings of

content vocabulary and predicting text content

Guessing meanings of new words

Asking for clarification Paraphrasing Drafting work Organising work Personalising learning

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

Risk taking and experimenting with new concepts and language

Using some L1 for a specific purpose, e.g. checking a concept, looking up a bilingual dictionary, checking meaning of vocabulary with a peer

Note taking

ACTIVITY 2Examples of strategies used after doing a task Deciding how to remember new words and

concepts Making visual prompts to aid memory Reviewing work alone or in small groups Exchanging work with a partner and asking for

feedback Comparing work with previous work and deciding

how it has improved Editing work Summarising work

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS

Test yourselfLook at the learners’ comments and the three methods to help learners develop learning strategies listed A, B and C. Two of the learning strategies will help the learner. One learning strategy will NOT. Mark the option (A, B or C) which will NOT help the learner.

I’m not sure how to present the main facts about the project that we have undertaken for the last one and half months.A Draw a timeline with short notes about the process.

B Draw two tables showing the changes before and

after the

project.

C Draw a picture of the project so far.

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Test yourselfLook at the learners’ comments and the three methods to help learners develop learning strategies listed A, B and C. Two of the learning strategies will help the learner. One learning strategy will NOT. Mark the option (A, B or C) which will NOT help the learner.

We need to learn the key subject-specific technical words to help us write accurate notes on the description of the equipment.A Suggest learners write word banks for each part of the

topic studied.

B Suggest learners predict or guess meanings of content

vocabulary.

C Suggest learners write a glossary of main terms from

the unit.

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Test yourselfLook at the learners’ comments and the three methods to help learners develop learning strategies listed A, B and C. Two of the learning strategies will help the learner. One learning strategy will NOT. Mark the option (A, B or C) which will NOT help the learner.

Sometimes I don’t understand the instructions in the discrete mathematics book.

A Ask for clarifications from the teacher.

B Compare understanding with a friend.

C Categorize words into groups.

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