Transcript How Age, Motivation, and Learning Styles Impact Secondary

ospewakiye
学ぶ
kujifunza
배우다
aprender
учиться
apprendre
‫تعلم‬
mälmäd
เรียน
lernen
सीखना
learn
学习
discite
By: Violet Eyanagho, Lori Granado,
Rachel Rhodes, and Janae Terry
Violet Eyanagho

Materials/Research on Learning Styles
 Fillmore & Snow, Ellis, Spada Connections

PowerPoint Preparation
Lori Granado

Research/Sections on Age

PowerPoint Preparation
Rachel Rhodes

Research/Sections on Learning Styles

General Beliefs/New Research/Connections

PowerPoint Presentation Design/Formatting

Quick-Write Activity
Janae Terry

Research/Sections on Motivation

Video Component

PowerPoint Preparation
 To
discuss, evaluate, and synthesize how age,
motivation, and learning styles affect English
Language Learners
 To
evaluate original and current research to
identify key findings and practices
 To
make connections from the research to
valuable classroom practices that enhance
ELL learning in the classroom
Cat vs. Fish
Find Out
Here
On a blank sheet of paper, please answer the
following questions.
Remember/Recuerde

Why is it important to learn a second
language?
Don’t worry too much
about grammar.
Just write as much as
you can letting your
ideas flow.

If applicable, what has kept you from
learning a second language? (ie: Age, Culture,
etc.)

If applicable, what were some difficulties
that you had learning a second language?

What helps you learn the best?
Age
The Critical Age Hypothesis
Children are more apt to
acquire a second language than
adults.
 Innate ability to learn
 The brain is configured to
acquire language more
efficiently
 Learned under social
constructs
There are critical
points/ages in which students
must acquire a second language
or fluency in that language will
not be developed fully.
Motivation
Learning Styles
Instrumental-Reasons to learn a
second language are functional
and thus related to career,
academic, social factors
• Extrinsic-External Influences
Learning Styles- “an
individual’s natural, habitual, and
preferred way of absorbing,
processing, and retaining new
information and skills” (Kinsella,
1995, p. 171).
Integrative-Reasons to learn a
second language are more
internal. There is positive
attitude, a level of empathy, a
wish to be assimilated into the
language group
• Intrinsic-Internal Influences
Integrative and InstrumentalIntegrative and instrumental were
the key types of motivation and
the most focused upon by teachers
in order to encourage student
learning
Samad, Etemadzadeh, and
Far,2012, p. 433.
Learning Strategies- “Specific
mental and communicative
processes procedures that
learners employ in order to learn
and use language” (Wong and
Nunan, 2011; Chamot, 2005).
Based on a student’s preferred
learning style, he/she will use
one or more learning strategies to
complete an academic task.
“It is believed that learners
who have developed skills in
learning-how-to-learn will be
better able to exploit classroom
learning opportunities effectively,
and will be more adequately
equipped to continue with
language learning outside the
classroom” (Wong and Nunan,
2011).
This is a
focus for
SLA
Educators
There are many different ways to characterize or categorize
learning styles.
Cognitive
Style
Sensory
Style
Personality
Style
Oxford’s
Style Guide
Field Dependent
vs. Field
Independent
Willing’s
Language
Learning
Styles
Visual
Extravert vs.
Introvert
Visual vs. Auditory
Communicative
Auditory
Sensing vs.
Intuition
Read/Write
Thinking vs.
Feeling
Kinesthetic
Judging vs.
Feeling
Global vs.
Particular
Holistic vs.
Analytic
Deductive vs.
Inductive
Focus on Meaning
vs. Focus on Form
(Saville-Troike, 2012)
(Fleming, 1992)
(Myers, 1962)
Extroversion vs.
Introversion
Intuitive/Random
vs. ConcreteSequential
Closure-Oriented
vs. Open
Global vs. Analytic
Oxford, 1993
Analytical
AuthorityOriented
Concrete
Willing, 1994
Age
Age may not be a significant
factor in hindering secondary
language acquisition.
Adults have…
• Greater analytical ability
• More motivation to learn
• Greater real-world
knowledge
• Stronger pragmatic skills
Motivation
Attitude may be another
contributing factor. Thus, new
research is being conducted to
determine its impact on the
motivation to learn.
According to Orujlou and
Vahedi (2011) there are many
factors in describing attitudes
including:
• students’ past
• Religion
• Their family associations
• Where they work
• Where they live
• What their goals are
• How much money they
make
• Where they went to
school
Orujlou & Vahedi, 2011, p.997)
Learning Styles
Proponents argue that learning
styles are…
•Excellent tools for
teachers to use in designing
instructional activities to
meet student learning
needs
•Are important for learners
to identify in order to
recognize their strengths
and thus expand their
learning potential.
(Oxford, 2003, p. 271-278))
Opponents, argue that learning
styles are…
•Conceptually confusing
•practitioners
•Encourage a cultural
tendency to look for
explanations for behavior
and attainment in the e
wrong place
(Scott, 2010, p. 5-17)
Age
Motivation
The critical age hypotheses is
challenged in numerous ways.
o The measures of success is
not defined
o Adults have higher
cognitive abilities.
The new research is extending the
search more into attitudes. Orujlou
and Vahedi (2011) speak of attitudes
as “as an important factor that we
are only now beginning to
investigate…”(p.997).
“One reason for the apparent
inconsistency in research finding is
that some studies define relative
“success” as initial rate of learning
(where, contrary to popular belief,
older learners have an advantage)
while other studies define it as
ultimate achievement (where
learners who are introduced to the
L2 in childhood indeed do appear to
have an edge.” Saville-Troike 2012,
p.87
Samad, Etemadzadeh, & Far
“emphasized the dynamic dimension
of motivation and believed that
“research should evolve over time.”
The essence is that motivation
concerns the fundamental question
of why people think and behave as
they do, and we should never assume
that we know the answer”(Samad et
al, 2012, p.433).
Learning Styles
There is still a debate raging about
the effectiveness of learning styles
upon student learning, and recent
research doesn’t provide a clear
answer.
As Scott (2010, p. 5) explains,
“Research conducted over the last 40
years has failed to show that
individual attributes can be used to
guide effective teaching practice.”
Dunn, Pratt-Johnson, and
Honigsfeld (2008, p. 33) counter,
“ELLs need many varied
opportunities to master the language
and content necessary to succeed in
school. Listening to the teacher
needs to be supplemented with a
range of learning-styles based
instructional activities.”
Age
Motivation
Learning Styles
“Textbooks on child development
often claim that by the age of five
or six children have already
mastered the grammar of their
native language, and that although
they expand their vocabularies in
school and add literacy skills, for
the most part children have
acquired language before they go to
school.” Snow and Fillmore, 2000,
p.7.
“Teachers who respect their
students’ home languages and
cultures, and who understand the
crucial role they play in the lives of
the children and their families can
help children make the necessary
transitions in ways that do not
undercut the role that parents and
families must continue to play in
their education and development.”
Snow and Fillmore, 2000, p. 12.
“Teachers are responsible for
selecting educational materials and
activities at the right level and of
the right type for all of the children
in their classes.”
“All children have a long way to
go developmentally before they can
function as mature members of their
speech communities.” Snow and
Fillmore, 2000, p.7.
“Teachers who do not recognize
the validity of other ways of
speaking can undermine their
students’ confidence in their own
communicative abilities.”
Snow and Fillmore, 2000, p. 5.
“As they progress through the
grades, children will acquire the
grammatical structure and strategies
for the more sophisticated and
precise ways of using language that
are associated with maturity, with
formal language use, and with
discussing challenging topics.” Snow
and Fillmore, 2000, p.7.
“Teachers need to understand
how to design the classroom
language environment so as to
optimize language and literacy
learning and to avoid linguistic
obstacles to content area learning.”
“American school culture is
greatly concerned with individual
differences in learning ability, and
judgments about ability are often
based on teacher evaluations of
children’s language behaviors.
American educators take seriously
the idea that people differ in
abilities and aptitudes, and they
believe that such differences
require different treatment in
school.”
Age
Motivation
Learning Styles
“Language learning, whether it
occurs in a naturalistic or an
instructed context, is a slow and
laborious process. Children
acquiring their first language take
between 2 and 5 years to achieve
full grammatical competence,
during which are exposed to
massive amounts of input. The
same is undoubtedly true of
second language acquisition. If
learners do not receive exposure
to the target language, they
cannot acquire it.” Ellis, 2008
“While it is probably true that
teachers can do little to
influence students’ extrinsic
motivation, there is a lot they
can do to enhance their intrinsic
motivation.” Ellis, 2008, p. 5.
“Teachers can cater to
variation in the nature of their
students’ aptitude by adopting a
flexible teaching approach
involving a variety of learning
activities. They can also make
use of simple learner-training
materials designed to make
students more aware of their own
approaches to learning and to
develop awareness of alternative
approaches. Studies of good
language learners suggest that
successful language learning
requires a flexible approach to
learning. Thus, increasing the
range of learning strategies at
learners’ disposal is one way in
which teachers can help them to
learn.”
“…the best motivational
intervention is simply to improve
the quality of our teaching:
•
*instructional clarity
•
*explaining things simply
•
*teaching at a pace that is
not too fast and not too slow.”
Ellis, 2008, p. 5
Age
Motivation
Learning Styles
“In general, older, learners,
especially those with experience
in the study of their own or other
languages, are more receptive to
isolated grammatical
instruction.” Spada, 2013, p.
198.
“Teachers should not prevent
learners…from combining a
concern with language use with
worry about formal accuracy in
terms of specific language
items.” “….for some learners at
least, feedback that comes
during communicative
interaction may have a positive
effect on motivation.”
Spada, 2013, p. 189.
“Other factors such as
individual learning styles and
previous experience learning
languages can also lead to
different preferences for
learning”
Adult learners, in a variety of
language learning contexts, have
been shown to be more aware of
integrated FFI as feedback on
language form.” Spada, 2013
“The importance of isolated
lessons will be determined by
differences in the specific
language feature that is being
taught as well as by differences
in learners' and teachers'
characteristics, abilities, and
preferences”
Start With These Ideas.
1.
With each activity, ask yourself, “How can I use
this to help my students develop more
language?
2.
Create an environment where a student’s home
language or L1 is included and valued
3.
Become a second language learner yourself.
Here is a checklist that we’ve compiled for you
to possibly use in the classroom
 Levine’s
Teaching
Key Ideas to Remember While
In a nutshell, here is what you can take away.

Age- There is still debate on the critical period on the linguistic and
language development in the ability to acquire a second language. As
educators we have to take into consideration the age group of the
students we are working with and what strategies we will use.

Motivation-“Learners need quality instruction, input, interaction, and
opportunities for meaningful output, not only to make progress, but also
to maintain motivation for language learning”(Orujlou & Vahedi, 2011, p.
995).

Learning Styles-While the research may not lead to a conclusive answer,
learning styles may still be a valuable resource for you to use when
teaching. Nevertheless, keep yourself updated with the latest and most
reliable research. Consider, even, working with researchers to share your
experiences.
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