Susan L. CheuvrontTanya de Hoyos

Basic Spanish course is 6 months.

Not nearly enough time to teach all that needs to be taught.

Time constraints have led to poor performance on the DLPT and a poor standing when compared with other languages.

Experience suggests that self-directed learning is a crucial ingredient for success in the course.

Knowles (1975): Students who take charge of their own learning learn more and learn better than students who sit passively and wait for their teachers to instruct them.

1. Self-regulation: Awareness of regulatory processes and learning outcomes and relationship between the two.

2. Metacognition: Thinking about thinking. Consists of:

A. Awareness

B. Formulation of goals

C. Self-evaluation/self-monitoring

Incoming students to the Spanish basic course need to be self-directed.

Those skills are not necessarily skills they already possess. They require more than just desire and motivation.

They are skills that need to be taught.

Two students in week 25 of the 26-week basic Spanish course were interviewed and asked questions about their abilities to self-regulate, to be aware of their needs, to set goals and to self-evaluate.

Evidence gathered in the two interviews suggests that self-directed learning is a crucial component to success.

Emerging themes:

1. Self-evaluation (metacognition)

2. Self-regulation

3. Formulating/working toward goals

(metacognition)

4. Awareness of thought (metacognition)

5. Self-efficacy: People’s beliefs about

their capabilities to bring about an

outcome (Bandura, 1986).

Brian: 22 years old Joe: 20 years old

Brian: All the ingredients were present—self-regulation, metacognition and self-efficacy. Engaged in self- directed learning.

Joe: All the components were absent. He lacked self-efficacy, which led to being unable to engage in self-directed learning. Not necessarily a lack of motivation to self-direct, but an inability to.

Self-directed behavior should be taught.

Students should be taught to self-regulate and self-evaluate.

Students should be taught to be self-efficacious.

Problem-based learning (PBL):

Concept first emerged in medical schools.

Students graduating were not prepared to

practice medicine because they were too

fact oriented

Students are given real world problems to investigate, solve and implement solutions.

Pajares (2002)

Cognitive theory: Instructors help students’ emotions, correct their thinking habits and self beliefs, improve their academic skills and behavior and adapt the school and classroom structures that work to undermine student success.

Hammond & Collins (1991)

Learners want to be fully educated without limitations of their own doing.

Bogdan (2000)

Metacognition: Thinking about thinking. Involves drawing conclusions from analysis, reflecting on and analyzing thoughts, and putting into practice the learned material.

Problem-Based Learning (PBL) as a consequence produces significant metacognitive material because the students need to perceive how they perform cognitive tasks such as remembering, learning, and problem solving.

Assists learners in

1. Constructing a flexible knowledge foundation.

2. Becoming efficient collaborators.

3. Developing problem-solving skills.

4. Becoming motivated to learn.

5. Becoming self-directed learners.

If parents or life circumstances cannot teach these behaviors, it is up to the school to teach them (Coleman, 1966).

Students entering the Spanish basic course need these skills to pass the class. They need to be taught in high school. The majority of the students have only a high school education.

• Ramsay (2007) Real-life scenarios to solve multifaceted problems related to old experiences and to find solutions.

• Karabulut (2002)PBL creates an atmosphere where students are active, taking responsibility for their own learning.

• Zimmerman (2002)PBL activates and sustains students’ thoughts, behavior, and emotions . Learners self-regulate their learning.

Knowles (1975) The students take initiative and diagnose learning needs, formulate goals, identify resources, select learning strategies, and evaluate learning outcomes.

Roberson (2005) Learner creates his/her own learning activities and goals.

1. Love of learning

2. Self-efficacy

3. Ability to handle risk

4. Ambiguity

5. Complexity in

learning and

creativity

6. Viewing learning as a life long process

7. Taking initiative and, understanding oneself

8. Being responsible for one’s own learning.

Candy (1991)

Main core in education. Self-management is the willingness and the ability of the student to handle his/her own learning. Refers to the process of autonomy in learning.

Bandura (1986)

Posits that people make sense of their experiences, discover their self-beliefs and thinking. Explore their own cognition and make sense of their experiences.

Sungur & Tekkaya (2006)

Students’ beliefs about capabilities to perform effectively. Self-regulated learners are self-efficacious about their abilities to master a learning task.

Bandura (1993)

The learner believes himself capable of performing the task. Provide own instructional strategies to enhance self-efficacy .

Bandura (1994)

Depending on the goal, learner adapts and modifies behavior to meet that goal.

Sungur & Tekkaya (2006)

Degree to which students metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally regulate their learning processes.

Bandura (1993) The learner believes himself capable of performing the task. Provide own instructional strategies to enhance self-efficacy.

Bandura (1994)Depending on the goal, learner adapts and modifies behavior to meet that goal.

Sungur & Tekkaya (2006) Degree to which students metacognitively, motivationally, and behaviorally regulate their learning processes.

PBL, because of its grounding in problem solving, teaches students to self-direct their learning.

A problem-based learning environment in a 4th year high-school English class.

Focal point of the curriculum will be classic novels that are part of a traditional 4th year English class.

Students will adapt novels to modern society, discovering and solving the problems that appear in the novel, but in a real-life context.