Tuesday's Tip for Language Learning #23: Tactics and Strategies - Thinking Like a Good Language Learner
Excerpt from Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star
Thinking Like a Good
Language Learner
Extensive
studies, beginning in the 1970s, have been conducted about what makes a good
language leaner (Reeves, 2019; Rubin & Thompson, 1994; Stevick, 1990; among
many others). From those studies, we have learned many of the common traits and
actions that help learners succeed at language learning. If you are interested
in learning more about the results of these studies than there is room to
include here, check out the list of books recommended in the previous pages.
Strategies
Thinking of
strategies as long-term plans to reach ultimate objectives, then those
strategies need to focus on bringing your traits (attitudes and behaviors) into
alignment with the traits of good language learners. These are not things you
do; these are things you become.
You will need to
assess who you are and what you have already become. What traits do you already
have in common with good language learners? A lot? Great! But you can always
find more. Only a few? Well, you know what you have to do.
Here are some of the
strategies that many learners who ultimate achieved success have used:
· Develop courage: learning language is risky
business; you have to speak in front of your classmates and you will sound
funny, at least at first; you will not always get the grammar or vocabulary
correct either because you do not know it and have to guess (better to
circumlocute, guessing is not a precise science), you learned it wrong, or you
experience a retrieval error; all of this can make you feel awkward in front of
peers, so have courage—develop it.
· Develop metacognitive control: learning to
think about thinking automatically and always will allow you to steer through
rough waters and smooth ones because you can objectify your experiences, owning
them and not letting them own you.
· Routinize good study habits: once you know
what the good study habits are (changes are you know already and have known
since elementary school), you need to make them automatic reactions.
· Develop good observation skills: if you want
to improve, you need to be aware of how you are performing; if you want to
emulate native speakers, you need to notice what they do.
· Be curious: curiosity may kill cats, but it
will bring life to your learning experience.
· Increase your creativity: all of us are born
with a flair for creativity, but school experiences that force you into being
just like everyone else can send creativity into hiding; work on bringing out
your creativity.
· Use what you know to good avail: much of
language learning is not entirely new—perhaps some of the grammar parallels
your own language or another language you have studied, and as you gain
knowledge of your new language, you will be able to use what you already know
to figure out new information, especially once you understand word-building and
grammar patterns.
· Develop greater patience: language learning
takes time; those ads that say if you buy a particular book you will speak like
a diplomat in 30 days are disingenuous; diplomats spend six months to two years
in full-time training (depending upon the language).
Copy-catting good language learners =
becoming a good language learner
Tactics
Those are great
goals you may think, but how can you get there? What tactics or actions will
help?
Here are some
activities that fit with the strategies recommended above:
· Courage:
o Courage does not mean not being afraid; it
means doing something in spite of being afraid.
o So, just do it, whatever it is (participating
in a role play, reading a poem aloud, guessing at the meaning of a word or how
to form one).
o Realize that the first time doing anything
that you are worried will cause others to laugh at you will be the hardest since
you will develop both skill and greater courage as you “just do it” again and
again.
· Develop metacognitive control:
o In
the classroom, pay attention to what you are doing.
o Figure
out what works for you.
o If
you don’t understand something or fall behind, don’t panic but rather put in
extra effort or get help to catch up.
o Monitor
your progress and reward yourself when appropriate.
· Routinize good study habits:
o Do
homework while you are still rested.
o Go
beyond minimal effort and do more on your class project or write a story in
your language to share with the class or teacher.
o After
you finish your assigned homework, review previous lessons to keep old language
fresh.
o Find
ways to use your language outside the classroom.
o Learn
something extra every day.
o To
help you routinize these things, put times on your calendar and a checklist on
your desk.
· Develop good observation skills:
o Pay attention to errors you make that are
corrected by your teacher or that you see by comparing your response to an
authentic text.
o Look for patterns in the language in how
words are formed and related to each other and how the grammar works.
o Look for non-verbal cues that show, beyond
what someone is saying, how they say it—facial expressions, head movements,
body movements and the like can help you figure out meaning when you “don’t
have a clue.”
· Be curious:
o Ask a lot of questions.
o When you read something on a new topic, look
up more information on line.
· Increase your creativity:
o If you have a penchant for it, write short
stories or poems, using language you have just learned; it will help store it
in memory better.
o Improvise when you do not know how to say
something: use paraphrasing and circumlocution, or even change the topic
(if/when you can) to one you do know.
o Figure out yourself and how you learn and
move toward adapting your lessons to the way in which you learn best (the next
section in this book should help you with that).
· Use what you know:
o When encountering something new, check your
memory for similar things you have recently learned in the language.
o Use context to figure out meaning.
o Use your own background knowledge of the
topic to figure out what you do not understand, e.g., is the topic about
science, and do you already know the scientific principles in the text you are
reading? Or perhaps you are reading about some oddities in elections in the
target country and you have already read about some of them in your home town
newspaper—use that information to advantage.
o If you do not have any background information
on the topic, research the topic online in your own language in order to
understand the concepts; then, all you have to deal with is a set of foreign
words and perhaps some new grammatical forms.
o When all else fails, you do know how t use
logic, right? Use logic to figure out what something cannot mean so that
whatever possibility remains is very likely what it does mean.
o When you speak, be conservative; don’t try to
be as erudite as you are in your own language, which forces you into a lot of
guessing and paraphrasing; rather, use what you do know to speak accurately, if
simply. Sophisticated expression will come later as you grow in proficiency.
· Develop greater patience:
o Nothing contributes more to language
acquisition than time on task, so spend as much time as possible with your
language.
o Keep in mind when you think you are making no
progress that language has to marinate and that language proficiency
development takes time—so give yourself time, patiently.
taking frequent little actions
over time = making big gains over time
For every good-learner strategy, there is a set of good learner tactics; use good-learner tactics to become a good learner.
See more posts about/from this book.
See more posts about language learning.
See more Tuesday tips.
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