Part One: What Are Language Learning Strategies?

2. Part One:What Are Language Learning Strategies? Anna Uhl Chamot, Ph.D. The George Washington University Washington, DC

3. Purposes • Define language learning strategies; • Describe research on role of learning strategies in SLA • Present a content-based model integrating learning strategies; • Share list of content and language learning strategies.

4. Definition of Language Learning Strategies: What students do

5. Learning Strategies ARE: • Thoughts and actions that learners use to help them complete a • learning task. • Ways to understand, remember, and recall information. • Ways to practice skills so that they are mastered more easily.

6. Learning Strategies are NOT: • Not fixed and permanent. • Not teaching strategies. • Not learning styles. • Not used only by “good language learners.” • Not always good strategies!

7. What Does the Research Say? • All second language learners use strategies - BUT • “Good” language learners use more varied strategies and use • them more flexibly. • Frequent use of learning strategies is correlated to higher self- • efficacy. • Strategy instruction improves academic performance.

8. The Role of Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition Research Overview

9. Research on LanguageLearning Strategies • Types of Research: • Descriptive • Intervention • Classroom Applications

10. Descriptive Studies • Research methods • Early studies • Later Studies • What we have learned

11. Intervention Studies • Research methods • Learning vocabulary • Listening and reading • Speaking and writing • What we have learned

12. Classroom Applications • Instructional models • Teacher development • Materials development • What we are learning

13. Classification Schemes • Rubin: Direct and Indirect • Wenden: Metacognitive • Bialystok: Inferencing, Monitoring, Formal Practice, Functional • Practice • O’Malley & Chamot: Metacognitive, Cognitive, Social/Affective • Oxford: Direct and Indirect • Cohen: Language Learning and Language Use • Chamot: Metacognitive and Task-Based

14. Metacognitive Framework • Planning • Monitoring/ Problem-solving • Evaluating

15. Some Research Issues • Control of variables • Appropriate instrumentation • Instructional methodology • Language of instruction • Type of task and goals

16. Challenges…and…Solutions • Transmission teaching • Student passivity • Students prefer rote • strategies • Difficulty with transfer to • new tasks • Assessment of learning • strategies

17. Challenges…and…Solutions • Interactive teaching/ • learning • Set learning goals • Conduct mini-experiments • Provide explicit instruction • Focus on self-evaluation • Transmission teaching • Student passivity • Students prefer rote • strategies • Difficulty with transfer to • new tasks • Assessment of learning • strategies

18. Research Directions • Younger language learners • Longitudinal studies • Transfer of strategies - L1 to/from L2 • Impact of culture and context • Intervention studies • Development of teacher expertise

19. Learning Strategies in Content-Based Language Courses • An Instructional Model

20. CALLA: The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach • COMPONENTS: • Authentic Content Subjects • Social and Academic Language • Learning Strategy Instruction

21. Five Instructional Principles in CALLA • Access students’ prior knowledge. • Provide meaningful communicative and academic tasks. • Engage in interactive teaching. • Focus on learning processes and strategies. • Help students become autonomous learners.

22. PREPARATION EXPANSION CALLA’S FIVE PHASES SELF-EVALUATION PRESENTATION PRACTICE

23. Learning Strategies for Content and Language • Metacognitive Strategies • Task-Based Strategies • Use What You Know • Use Your Senses • Use Your Organizational Skills • Use a Variety of Resources

24. Web Sites • www.nclrc.org • www.calla.ws • www.carla.umn.edu

25. Part Two: Teaching Language Learning Strategies Anna Uhl Chamot, Ph.D. The George Washington University Washington, DC

26. Purposes • Provide rationale for teaching learning strategies. • Describe models for learning strategy instruction. • Explain how to identify students’ current learning strategies. • Suggest how to present a new learning strategy. • Present guidelines for teaching and assessing learning strategies.

27. Rationale for Teaching Learning Strategies • Show students how to be better learners. • Build students’ self-efficacy. • Increase student motivation for learning. • Help students become reflective and critical thinkers.

28. Models of Learning Strategy Instruction • Oxford (1990) • Cohen (2011) • Grenfell and Harris (1999) • Chamot (2009) • Chamot et al. (1999)

29. Common Features of Models • Instruction needs to be: • Explicit; • Integrated into language class; • Modeled by the teacher; • Assessed by teachers and students.

30. Identifying Students’ Current Learning Strategies • Classroom discussions • Student polls • K-W-L-H activities • Small group interviews • Think-aloud interviews • Learning strategy diaries

31. Presenting a New Strategy • Teacher models the strategy through a think-aloud; • Students describe the teacher’s modeling; • Teacher asks, “Why did I do that?” and “Do you ever do that?” • Teacher names the strategy; • Teacher explains when and how to use it.

32. GUIDELINES FOR TEACHING LEARNING STRATEGIES USING THE CALLA MODEL

33. FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING LEARNING STRATEGIES FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHING LEARNING STRATEGIES PREPARATION EXPANSION CALLA’S FIVE PHASES SELF-EVALUATION PRESENTATION PRACTICE

34. Preparation • Elicit prior knowledge about lesson topic and strategies. • Develop key vocabulary. • Provide advance organizer for lesson topic and strategies.

35. Presentation • Show and model the strategy. • Name and explain it. • Tell when and how to use it. • Students tell how they use it. • Use visuals and realia!

36. Practice • Choose a challenging learning task; • Name the strategy to practice; • Remind students to use a strategy; • Ask students to identify strategies. • Encourage students to use strategies independently. • Call attention to spontaneous use of strategies.

37. Self-Evaluation • Have students: • Discuss how they used the strategy; • Keep learning strategy logs; • Identify and defend preferred strategies; • Reflect on themselves as strategic thinkers.

38. Expansion • Find new uses/contexts for the strategy. • Survey strategies used by others. • Teach a learning strategy to a friend or sibling. • Collect tips on using strategies. • Make a Learning Strategy Book for other students.

39. Developing Metacognition • Model your own thinking. • Students explain their thoughts about learning. • Students describe their plan for completing a language task. • Students explain how they monitor a task. • Students evaluate their own performance on a task.

40. Assessing Content, Language,and Learning Strategies

41. Aligning Instructional Objectives and Assessment • Write 3 types of objectives (content, language, learning • strategies); • Identify an assessment for each objective; • Develop activities that prepare students for the assessment of • each objective.

42. Some Assessment Tools • Rubrics • Performance tests • Teacher observation • Student self-evaluation • Test-taking strategies • Standardized tests

43. Conclusion Discussion and Questions Thank you!