THE CONCEPT

OF VISIBLE LEARNING
AND ITS APPLICATIONS
IN HUNGARIAN
BILINGUAL EDUCATION
Mihaela Birescu, PhD
2022
Visible Learning:
What are Hattie`s key messages?
– John Hattie believes the fundamental role of a
school is to help students exceed their potential.
– Visible Learning identifies the most powerful
influences on teaching and learning, those most
effective for student learning. Teachers act very
deliberately using practices that are known to
improve students` learning and their ability to
learn.
The mantra of Visible Learning relates to:

• Teachers seeing learning through the eyes of the

students

and also

• Students seeing themselves as their own teachers.

Visible Learning for Teachers:
Maximizing Impact on Learning
• When teaching and learning are “visible” – that is,
when it is clear what teachers are teaching and what
students are learning, student achievement
increases.
• Why I chose this book:
– By synthesizing over 50,000 studies related to
achievement in school-aged students, Hattie
conducted the biggest ever evidence-based
research project in education.
What is “visible learning”?
• First, it refers to making student learning visible to
teachers so they can know whether they are having an
impact on this learning.
• Further, it also refers to making teaching visible to the
student as well, so that students learn to become their
own teachers, an important component of becoming
lifelong learners – something we want students to value.
• The ‘learning’ part of visible learning -- and a common
theme throughout the book -- is the need to think of
teaching with learning in the forefront and with the idea
that we should consider teaching primarily in terms of its
impact on student learning.
The evidence from Visible Learning (2009)
• The ideas in this book are based on the preponderance
of evidence that comes from Hattie’s earlier book, Visible
Learning. That book was based on over 800 meta-
analyses (a method of combining results from different
studies to identify patterns) of 50,000 research articles
and about 240 million students.
• An effect size of 0.40 is about the average effect we
expect from a year’s schooling. Therefore we should aim
to implement those interventions of 0.40 and above
because those are the ones that will truly improve
student achievement.
Hattie`s Barometer on Influence

Hattie`s Barometer on Influence

Visible Teaching and Learning

• Teaching and learning are visible when the learning

goal is not only challenging but is explicit.
• Furthermore, both the teacher and the student work
together to attain the goal, provide feedback, and
ascertain whether the student has attained the goal.
MOTIVATION, STUDY, APPLICATIONS
• Based on Hattie`s Visible Learning(2008) and on Jeremy
Harmer`s theory (How to teach English, 2001), a group of
Romanian-Hungarian bilingual institutions` teachers,
along with several students, stated these goals (for
preschool and primary school):
– Objective-oriented students
– Motivated students
– Very active classroom
– Applying a method which can bring up to 200%
productivity of the taught materials
 MOTIVATION, STUDY, APPLICATIONS
There are 3 main phases in a lesson:
• 01 MOTIVATION
– There is a warm-up moment
– Students begin thinking in Romanian, without even noticing it
– We prepare learning IN Romanian, before accessing new content
– There are lots of games, images, discussions, songs, vocabulary brainstorming, short stories – which motivate
and engage the students.
• 02 STUDY
– We begin the lesson with students that have a wish to learn more
– During this phase, new content is approached, or older knowledge is developed
– Worksheets, well structured materials, drills, digital applications are used – anything that improves and clarifies
new knowledge in Romanian (based on students` specific learning assessments)
– At the end of this stage, students are provided with a suggested learning map, in which they are invited to asses,
to fill in the missing parts, to match, or put ideas in order.
– Feedback is essential; but the recovery actions are more important. This part is for the teachers, as well as for the
students.
• 03 APPLICATIONS
– Students USE the information from the Study part
– There is a lot of TALKING, in Romanian, but it is student talk, not teacher talk
– We use lots of role playing, conversations, debates, opinion polls etc.
– USING Romanian language is essential at this phase
– Teachers: set the pace, and applies the ERROR-ing technique – they force reactions, demonstrations, error
acknowledging, self-improvement, constructive criticism etc.

• The phases can alternate and they can be used more than one time during a lesson.
 The lesson flow

• Too often, professional development focuses on how

to teach, not on how students learn. Researchers who
studied how frequently teachers were teaching
students strategies to help them learn found they did
so very infrequently; instead they found that teachers
taught content and memorization of that content.
 What makes a teacher an expert?
FROM Teacher - To Learner

• CARE - My teacher really tries to understand how students feel about things
• CONTROL – Students in this class treat the teacher with respect. Our class
stays busy and doesn`t waste time.
• CLARIFY – My teacher explains topics in a variety of ways and makes difficult
things clear and easier.
• CHALLENGE – In this class, we learn a lot, almost every day. We learn from
our errors; we learn to correct them.
• CAPTIVATE – My teacher makes lessons interesting. I like the way we learn in
this class.
• CONFER – Students speak up and share their class work. My teacher respects
my ideas and suggestions.
• CONSOLIDATE – My teacher checks out, to make sure we understand.
Comments about my work help me to understand how to improve.
 Strategies of Learning
• When teachers know where students are in the
different levels of thinking suggested in these models,
and teachers know the next higher level of thinking
toward which students should be working, this is
where they can intervene to optimize students’ growth.
Given such a wide variety of ways of learning, and the
diversity of levels students will be on, this suggests the
importance of differentiation.
• Homogeneous or heterogeneous?
Lavery, 2008, lists the relative effects of some of
the learning strategies
Organizing and transforming
Self-consequences
Self-evaluation
Help-seeking
Keeping records
Goal- setting/planning
Reviewing records
Self-monitoring
Time
with the highest impacts in the chart below (excerpted from pp.105-106).
Overt or covert rearrangement of instructional Making an outline before writing a 0.85
materials to improve learning paper
Student arrangement or imagination of rewards Putting off pleasurable events until 0.70
or punishment for success or failure work is completed
Setting standards and using them for self- Checking work before handing it 0.62
judgment in to a teacher
Efforts to seek help from either a peer, a teacher, Using a study partner 0.60
or another adult
Recording of information related to study tasks Taking class notes 0.59
Setting of educational goals or planning sub- Making lists to accomplish during 0.49
goals and planning for sequencing, timing, and studying
completing activities related to those goals
Efforts to re-read notes, tests, or textbooks to Reviewing class textbook before 0.49
prepare for class or further testing going to lecture
Observing and tracking one’s own performance Keeping records study output 0.45
and outcomes, often recording them
Estimating and budgeting use of time Scheduling daily studying and 0.44
 Deliberate practice and concentration
• Sometimes learning is not fun. It can take years of practice to
become an expert in something. Malcolm Gladwell popularized
the idea that it takes 10,000+ hours of practice to become an
expert. However, this practice is not repetitive skill and drill
practice, rather, it is deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is
different from just practice. Deliberate practice involves
concentration and someone monitoring and providing feedback
during the practice.
• Error-ing. It is absolutely fine to make mistakes and use them as
springboards to better, higher learning – this is the way teachers
communicate valuable lesson for life in general. By not expecting
perfection the first time every time, the teacher reinforces the
notion that people can grow smarter, better, and more capable.
 Lesson mapping for students
• Students need to be able to answer three important
questions:
1. Where am I going?
2. How am I going there?
3. Where to next?
 Hopelessness

• Refers to – The students expecting that achievement gains will

not occur for them and that they are helpless to change the
situation (p.50).
• Occurs when
– The students avoid and do not engage in achievement tasks
– The students protect their sense of self, by gaining reputation
or success from other activities (i.e. naughty behaviors)
– The students do not see that achievement gains are due to
their actions or in their control.
– The students learn to devalue school learning
– Contexts are harsh, overly demanding or punitive.
 GIVE DOLLOPS AND DOLLOPS OF FEEDBACK!

• We don`t mix praise with feedback.

• Rapid formative assessment is more effective than a
longer school day, more rigorous math classes, class-
size reduction, and 19 other influences. And it is the
most cost effective!
• Reflections
– We do not observe and control TEACHERS!
– We observe STUDENTS and what they know. See
them IN ACTION!
 References

• Harmer, J., (2001), How to teach English, PEL Essex.

• Hattie, J., (2008), Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over
800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement,
Routledge.
• Hattie, J., (2011), Visible Learning for Teachers:
Maximizing Impact on Learning, Routledge.
• Hattie, J., (2023), Visible Learning: The Sequel. A
Synthesis of Over 2,100 Meta-Analyses Relating to
Achievement, Routledge.