4.- …there are some words that appear again and again in the reading passage. I generally take them down and try to remember them.

This student is typically problem-oriented. He employs learning strategies when he faces some problems and he can explain how they tried and learned something. Another strategy is the memory strategy; techniques that help learners store and, when necessary, retrieve the stored information.

5. - I want to learn English because I want to know more about the English- speaking world-

The learner is clearly Field dependent; he/she wants to learn material with social content best. He/she follows the cognitive strategy because he/she wants to analyze the new language. Intrinsic motivation is another influence he/she uses to be engaged in the learning process. He/she displays Integrative motivation and has the desire to identify with and integrate into the target language culture.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN THE LEARNER’S DEVELOPMENT

2. - I’m only interested in Grammar. I don’t like pair and group work activities. It’s just a waste of time

This learner could be seen as field independent, under the category of “Not so socially” aware. Also he could be Analytic. I can say that this learner appears to be Authority-orientated learning style. He likes to be told what to do and how to do it. This learner seems to lack Social strategies.

3. - Reading short novels helped me get real daily life English.

The learner is really interested in learning a new language under the category of using Cognitive strategy. Field dependent seems to be his cognitive style. He/she is not influenced by the existing structure and wants to discover real language used in English spoken countries. Also this learner follows the Out-of-class learning strategy.

INDIVIDUAL FACTORS IN THE LEARNER’S DEVELOPMENT

Learning involves more than being in a classroom and in front of a teacher. Whatever their reasons for learning they have, it is sometimes tempting to see all students as being more or less the same. Yet there are marked differences, not only in terms of their age and level, but also in terms of different individual abilities, knowledge and preferences.         

I will try to explain what aspects of their learning the following learners attend to.

1. - I think one problem for me and perhaps everyone else learning a language is you have to be stimulated to learn.

Lack of motivation is what this student has. Various studies have found that motivation is very strongly to achievement in language learning (e.g. Gardner and Lamber, 1972; Garner, 1980). this comes from different sides, influenced by a number of external factors outside the classroom such us the attitude of society, family and peers or by a number of internal factors inside the classroom – this is the kind of motivation students bring to class and is activated by the teacher’s methods, activities, etc. H. Douglas Brown says motivation is something that can, like self- esteem, be global, situational, or task-oriented.

Syllabus

Types of syllabi

1. Grammatical: a list of structures such as the present tense, comparison of adjectives, relative clauses. These are divided into sections graded according to difficulty/importance.
2. Lexical: list of vocabulary items (words and their different associations + idioms).
3. Grammatical-lexical: very common. Both structures and vocabulary are listed (together or in separate lists).
4. Situational: it teaches the language needed for each situation; headings refer to situations or locations such as ‘at the restaurant’ ‘at the shop’.
5. Topic-based: headings are topic-based, e.g. pollution, marriage, food.
6. Notional: general notions (number, time, place, colour) and specific notions (man, woman, afternoon à like voc. items).
7. Functional- Notional: giving orders, asking, requesting, giving directions, promising. Purely functional syllabi are not quite common, that’s why the functions are combined with notions.
8. Mixed or multi-strand: modern syllabi combine different aspects including specifications of topics, tasks, functions and notions along with structures and lexis.  

What is Reflective Teaching?

Thank you Erin Lowry for the information you shared with us in Lima.She is an English language specialist from the United States.

Reflective Teaching is looking at what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it and if it works and it is a process of self-observation and self-evaluation

“It is a response to a past experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience as a basis for evaluation and decision making and as a source for planning and action “(Farrell 1995).

Reflection Sequence

n  Noticing a concern

n  Clarification or expression of the concern in some form

n  Response to the concern

n  (Explicit relation of the concern to other experiences or input)

n  (Collecting other responses or information)

n  Processing the response as a whole

n  Acting on the insights gained

Reflect on Your Role as a Teacher

n  “You have a set of beliefs about how the people of this world should behave toward one another.  You have convictions about the quality of life, the shape of liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…

We are not merely a language teacher who goes into the classroom and start teaching without thinking about the results of our lessons.                                      

We are  agents for change in a world in desperate need of change: change from competition to cooperation, from conflict to resolution,  from prejudice to understanding.”   

What do I do?   How do I do it?  Two questions that every teacher need to answer in order to reflect on his job.

How to set your goals:

1. Identify personal areas for improvement

2. Brainstorm with colleagues:            

- strategies to be implemented

- a method for evaluating whether or not goals have been achieved

Integrating language skills

Our principal goal is to have students understand somewhat of spoken and written English and that is why  we need to include language in context, to build language awareness and to include skills in our lessons. In order to reach this goal, much practice is necessary; however, our students have limited opportunity to observe English and practice outside the classroom. Therefore when teaching a language, we have to talk about skills. They are normally referred to the four skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing.

In the past, teachers followed a sequence in order to teach a foreign language. They said that students could not speak if they did not hear anything (first listening, and then speaking). In the seventies, it was common to teach and give practice in each of these skills in isolation. And even worse, writing and listening were omitted. This happened because of many factors; English was (  is still ) taught in two hours , students did not have books, teachers had to follow the curriculum, etc.

Nowadays, learning a foreign language is seen as a language of today’s World. Learners today are more likely than ever to use English to communicate with  non-native speakers in travel, business, and work.

Rebecca Oxford from University of Maryland states something important about integrating skills in our lessons.

 We need to keep in mind the following:                                                             

1. Teaching style             
2.   Learner motivation                                                                 
3.   Classroom setting   
4.   Language teaching               

Because students need to use L2 when they finish high school, teachers have to integrate language, context and language skills as well. Five things have to be considered for integrating skills in our lessons:

·         Get  information on how to integrate skills

·         See  and evaluate the language skills

·         Check the materials you have and if they include listening, speaking, reading and writing.

·         Do not teach   one skill in isolation  but integrate two or three of them.

·         Teach language learning strategies

In conclusion, including language skills in our lessons will give learners opportunities to experience   and notice the language.

Contextualizing

It means that we, as teachers have to provide students with enough language; grammar,vocabulary, and pronunciation in order to construct language for real communication in context.The topics and content should be according to our students´level, interest, and needs.The process of contextualizing a target language is to join two factors: cognitive and social aspects.Keeping in mind these two aspects our students will construct meaningful ideas or knowledge through pair or group work.In additon, we need to include culture elements to our lessons. For example, when talking to someone we need to have eye contact with the person,use a good tone of voice,be aware of the distance between the speakers,and develop good manners.