DESCRIBING

LEARNERS
By: Fatimah Firdaus

TADRIS BAHASA INGGRIS

TRENDS IN TEFL
 INDEX

Age
Learners Differences
Language Level
Motivation
 AGE
Young Children
Adolescent
Adult Learner
 AGE
YOUNG CHILDREN ( up to age of 9 or 10)

• Respond to meaning
• Learning Indirectly
• Learning from around them and variety sources
• Abstract ideas are hard to understand
• Enthusiasm and curiosity
• Need attention and approval
• Having topics they can relate
• Easily bored
• Bright and colorful classroom
 AGE
ADOLESCENTS
• Seen as problematic students
• Great ability for abstract thought
• Passionate commitment once they are engaged
• Search for identity and self esteem
• Peer approval
• Able to discuss abstract issues
 AGE
ADULT LEARNERS
•  they can engage with abstract thought.
•  they have a whole range of life experiences to draw
on.
• they have expectations about the learning process,
and may already have their own set patterns of
learning.
• adults tend, on the whole, to be more disciplined
than some teenagers, and crucially, they are often
prepared to struggle on despite boredom
 AGE
ADULT LEARNERS
•  they come into classrooms with a rich range of
experiences which allow teachers to use a wide
range of activities with them.

•  unlike young children and teenagers, they often

have a clear understanding of why they are learning
and what they want to get out of it.
 AGE
ADULT LEARNERS
However, adults are never entirely problem-free learners, and have
a number of characteristics which can sometimes make learning
and teaching problematic:
• they can be critical of teaching methods
• they may have experienced failure or criticism at school which
makes them anxious and under-confident about learning a
language.
• many older adults worry that their intelectual powers may be
diminishing with age - they are concerned to keep their creative
power alive, to maintain a sense of generativity.
 LEARNER
DIFFERENCES

Aptitude and Intelligence

Good Learner Characteristics
Learner Styles and Strategies
Individual Variations
What to do about Individual differences
APTITUDE AND INTELLIGENCE
(To Measure General Intellectual Ability)

Disadvantages:
• They measure the general intellectual ability more than
the linguistic talents
• They were especially suited to people who were
analytic-type learner
• They may discriminate between the most and the least
"intelligent" students and they are less effective
distinguishing between those who fall between these
two extremes
• Teachers tend to treat differently those students with
high scores from those with low scores.
GOOD LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS
LEARNER STYLES AND STRATEGIES
According to Tony Wright :
a) The ‘enthusiast’ ¾ looks at the teacher as a point
      

of reference and is concerned with the goals of the

learning group.
b) The ‘oracular’ ¾ also focuses on the teacher, but
      

is more oriented towards the satisfaction of personal

goals.
c) The ‘participator’ ¾  tends to concentrate on
      

group goals and group solidarity.

d) The ‘rebel’ ¾ is mainly concentrated with the
     

satisfaction of his or her own goals.

 LEARNER STYLES AND STRATEGIES
Converges · Prefer solitary than groups
· Independent
· Confident in their own abilities
According to Keith Willing:

· Analytic
· Cool and pragmatic
Conformists · Prefer to emphasize learning ‘about language ‘over learning to use it.
· Dependent
· Perfectly happy to work in non-communicative classrooms
· Prefers to see well-organized teachers
Concrete · Enjoy the social aspects of learning
· Like to learn from direct experience
learners · Interested in language use and language as communication rather than
language as a system
· Enjoy games and group work in class
Communicative · Language use orientated
· Comfortable out of class and show a degree of confidence
learners · Willingness to take risks which their colleagues may lack
INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS
• Neuro-Linguistic Programming(NLP)

· Visual ¾ we look and see;

         

· Auditory ¾ we hear and listen;

         

· Kinaesthetic ¾ we feel externally, internally,

         

or through movements;
· Olfactory ¾ we smell things;
         

· Gustatory ¾ we taste things.

         
INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS
•  Multiple Intelligences Theory (MI Theory)
we do not possess a single intelligence, but a range of
intelligences

·          Musical/ Rhythmic

·          Verbal/ Linguistic
·          Visual/ Spatial
·          Bodily/ Kinaesthetic
·          Logical/ Mathemarical
·          Intrapersonal
·          Interpersonal
What To Do About Individual Differences

• Observation
• Formal Devices (such as questionnaire)
• Define them into their learning preferences
LANGUAGE LEVELS

Methodology
Language, task, and Topic
ALTE
 MOTIVATION
· Extrinsic motivation: caused by outside factors
(passing an exam, having financial reward)

· Intrinsic motivation: comes from within the

individual (enjoyment of the learning process
itself, desire to make yourself better)
External Sources of Motivation

• The goal
• The society we live in
• The people around us
• Curiosity
The Motivation Angel

• Affect
• Achievement
• Attitude
• Activities
• Agency
The Motivation Angel
DESCRIBING
TEACHER
By: Fatimah Firdaus

TADRIS BAHASA INGGRIS

TRENDS IN TEFL
 WHAT IS ‘TEACHING’?

Teacher Actor – Orchestral conductor – Gardener

• Teaching means to give someone knowledge or to

instruct or train someone.

• Teaching means to show somebody how to do

something or to change somebody’s ideas
 THE ROLES OF A
TEACHER

• Controller (leading from the front)

• Prompter (encourage students to think)
• Participant
• Resource
• Tutor
• Observer
 ORGANIZING STUDENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Teacher as Organizer

Role of organiser:
engage ® instruct(demonstrate) ® initiate ® organise feedback
 TEACHER AS PERFORMER

Describing teacher performance styles

Team game : Energetically, encouragingly, clearly, fairly

Role-play: clearly, encouragingly, retiringly, supportively
Teacher reading aloud : commandingly, dramatically,
interestingly
Whole-class listening: efficiently, clearly, supportively
 RAPPORT

‘the relationship that the learners have with the

teachers and teachers have with learners’

Key characteristics :
• Recognizing students
• Listening to students
• Respecting students
• Being even-handed
 Teacher as teaching aid

Language Model:
we can model dialogues
in front of each of them
when required to speak
their lines

Mime and Gesture:
Expression to demonstrate
meaning and atmosphere
Provider and
comprehensible input:
Make sure the students
understand and make them
practice
 Non-Native Speaker
Teacher
Native Speaker Teacher
• Had the same experience
of learning as their • Linguistic confidence
students • Inability to communicate
• Maximize the benefits of in students’ L1
L1 and L2 to understand • Often seems as positive
context light to the students
• More familiar with local
mores and learning styles
DESCRIBING
LEARNING
CONTEXT
By: Fatimah Firdaus

TADRIS BAHASA INGGRIS

TRENDS IN TEFL
The Place and Means of Instruction

• School and language school

• In School and in-company

• Real and virtual learning environments

 Class Size

Teaching one-to-one

Advantages:
• Teacher focus in one person
• Student have all opportunity
to speak
• Can make the class what
exactly appropriate
• Student can have greatly
feedback
• Easier and flexible
Disadvantages:
• Some teachers find
individual student difficult to
deal with
• Students lack confidence
• Tired and sleepy
 Class Size
Teaching one-to-one

It is important to:
• Make a good impression
• Be well prepared
• Be flexible
• Adapt to the student
• Listen and watch
• Explaining and guidelines
• Don’t afraid to say no
 Class Size
Large classes

Key elements:
• Be organized
• Established routines
• Use different pace for different activities
• Maximize individual work
• Use students
• Use worksheet
• Pair work and groupwork
• Chorus reaction
• Take account of vision and acoustics
MANAGING MIXED ABILITY
WORKING WITH DIFFERENT DIFFERENT STUDENT
CONTENT ACTIONS

• Giving different • Different tasks

contents that • Different roles
students suit for • Reward early
finishers
BUT • Encourage different
students responses
• Problematic • Identify strengths
MANAGING MIXED ABILITY
WHAT THE TEACHER DOES REALISTIC MIXED ABILITY
TEACHING
• Ideal classroom: to
Treat different have time and
students differently opportunity to work
• Responding to with individual as
students individual
• Being inclusive • Teachers need to work
• Flexible grouping for what is possible
and what is not
 Monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual
Foreign-language students and their first
language
•English = medium of communication in a
classroom. Sometimes, students translate what
they are learning in their heads.
•Switching between L1 and L2 develops
naturally.
•Students' identity is shaped by their L1.
•Students operate in the classroom in their L1
and in the language they are studying.
 Monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual
The benefits of using the L1 in the L2
classroom

•Useful in planning, self-evaluation and learner

training.
•Useful for students to notice differences
between L1 and the target language.
•Use of translation activities.
 Monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual
Disadvantages of using the L1 in the L2
classroom

•The teacher may not share students' L1.

•It restricts students' exposure to L2.
•Sometimes teachers use the L1 language more
than they intended.
 Monolingual, bilingual, and multilingual
Taking a Stand

It is important to:
• acknowledge the L1.
• use appropriate L1 and L2 activities.
• differentiate between levels.
• agree clear guidelines.
• use encouragement and persuasion.
THANK YOU