Transcript Empowering Students to Become Autonomous Learners

Empowering Students to
Become Autonomous Learners
Lisa Phares Marchand
Professor of English as a Second Language
Cosumnes River College
Sacramento, California
The Starting Point for Every Course
Quick Exercise…
Reorder these teaching and learning factors so they make sense to you:
• Calculating Student Grades
• Students’ Skills at the beginning of the Course
• The Curriculum of Record
• Topics of Instruction
• Student Learning Outcomes
• Homework Assignments
• Tests and other Assessments
• The Required Text
Students Want to Get A’s
Align course syllabus to Course SLO’s
Student Learning Outcomes
#1
differentiate between English
and non-English sounds
Instructional Activities
Assessments
Vocal recordings: The teacher will
compare her observations to your
Listen to your own accent to identify pronunciation problems
comments about your English
pronunciation.
Quiz: Watch the speaker’s face and
-Learn about the organs of speech, kinds of speech sounds, and how
choose the written form of the word that
these sounds are produced in the human vocal tract
matches movements the speaker
makes.
-Practice “lip reading” with partners in class
identify some sounds
and/or words by
observing a speaker's
visible organs of speech -Use a mirror to learn where articulation errors are affecting your
English pronunciation
Speaking projects
Interviews with the professor
- Learn the International Phonetic Alphabet sound/symbol system
list the sounds of English
- Work with classmates from the same language background to
that do not occur in the
Quiz: Describe the English sounds that
determine the phonemic inventory of your primary language
phonemic inventory of
are difficult for you and explain why
the home language
-Compare the phonemic inventory of your primary language with that
of Standard American English
Another Example:
Student Learning Outcomes
SLO #1: EMPLOY "TOP-DOWN" COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES
 use context clues and structural analysis as aids to understanding
word meanings.
 infer meaning through application of previous knowledge.
 identify implied ideas in level appropriate texts.
SLO #2: DEMONSTRATE EXPLICIT COMPREHENSION OF LEVELAPPROPRIATE TEXTS
 recognize main ideas in intermediate level reading passages.
 locate topics and major supporting details of assigned readings.
 discuss and write responses to ideas from both fiction and nonfiction readings.
 answer literal comprehension and vocabulary-in-context questions
after assigned readings.
SLO #3: DISTINGUISH THE MEANINGS CONVEYED BY
FUNDAMENTAL ENGLISH GRAMMAR STRUCTURES
 recognize parts of speech from word forms and sentence
structure.
 analyze sentences for their component parts and recognize the
effect of word order on meaning.
Instructional Activities
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Lecture
Textbook assignments
Extensive Reading Assignments
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Lecture
Textbook assignments
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Reading: A Long Walk to Water
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Lecture
In-class practice
Textbook assignments
Vocabulary Journal
Assessments
Quizzes
Quizzes
Worksheets on
A Long Walk to Water
Vocabulary Journal
Quiz
Guided Self-Assessment
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What reading habits am I trying to stop? (mouthing words, translating, tracking with a finger or pencil, stopping to look
up words, reading one word at a time, etc.) How often do I still do these when I’m reading?
What ideas do I now understand?
o Did I learn about a new reading tool? When should I use this tool?
o Did I learn something new about English grammar? Can I see this when I read? Do I use this when I write?
o Can I remember the words I wrote in my vocabulary journal? Can I use them in sentences? Do they have different
forms (noun, verb, adjective, adverb)? Do I know all of them?
o Can I explain the new ideas to my study partners?
How do the new ideas I’ve been studying work with other things I’ve learned and know?
Why are the new ideas important for me to know? When will I use each of them. Which course learning outcome will
these ideas help me achieve?
Can I prove that I really know these new ideas?
What are my learning goals right now?
o Things I need to be able to do when I read—find information, understand main ideas, recognize facts and
opinions, “see” examples of grammar I’ve studied, etc.
o Things that will help me understand English—word forms, sentence structure, signal words, etc.
o Things I have to memorize—verb tenses, spelling, irregular verbs, irregular plurals, grammar rules.
What is my study plan to help myself meet my learning goals?
Being able to assess one’s own learning
is the goal. However, becoming able to
do this is a “whole ‘nother story.”
Students Make Wild Guesses About Meaning
• Practice with making inferences:
Example Inference Practice
One day, I watched Sam park his car. He got out of the car and started walking away
from his car. He suddenly stopped. He turned around and walked quickly back to the
car. I heard one “beep” sound. Then Sam left his car and started walking back along
the street.
Why did Sam go back to his car?
Here are some actual student answers:
• He got a phone call.
• He saw a man try to get into his car.
• He had to go some place.
• He turned around and walked quickly back to the car.
• He had an accident.
Students Need “Top Down” Strategies
• Using Knowledge About the World
• “Don’t believe everything you think.”
• Check thinking in TELESCOPING discussionl
Activity:
Unpacking Semantic Content
What do you think of when you read the word ‘elevator’?
Other words to ‘unpack’: weather; clothes; school; learn; love
Back to the Inference Practice
One day, I watched Sam park his car. He got out of the car and started walking away
from his car. He suddenly stopped. He turned around and walked quickly back to the
car. I heard one “beep” sound. Then Sam left his car and started walking back along
the street.
Activity:
The Mental Storage Room
Make a list of the facts.
1. The writer watched Sam.
2. Sam parked.
3. Sam got out of the car.
4. Sam walked away.
5. Sam stopped.
6. Sam turned around.
7. Sam walked back to his
car.
8. The writer heard one
beep.
9. Sam walked away from
the car.
WHICH IDEAS DO YOU STORE TOGETHER?
The writer
parked.
car
walked away.
stopped
turned around.
walked back to his car
One beep
away from
“beep”  things that
beep…how many times?
Park the car  brake on, turn off the car, open the
door, get out, close the door… walk away
Stop walking  turn around, walk back…
Common Student Assumptions
̴ Learning happens at school.
̴ Learning means that teachers and books transfer knowledge to
students.
̴ A good grade comes from doing all the assignments, answering
questions correctly…(and from the teacher)
̴ The primary avenue to successful learning is memorization.
̴ Answers to all questions can be found, fully formed, in the book.
Activity: A Telescoping Discussion
1. What is the teacher’s job?
2. Who is the best teacher you will ever have?
Use the ideas in the pictures to help you answer the question.
Students Depend on Translation
• Students attach English words to L1 words
• Students slow down or stop reading when they see a new word
• Students read English with a dictionary
How do you say…?
“What means this…?”
Read What You Understand
• Exercise: Scan and Cross Out “New” English Words
• Exercise: Use Grammar Knowledge to Aid Understanding
• Practice with nonsense words:
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The students sat at their shinders.
They porstuted to the teacher.
One student dropped her tinglet on the floor.
Another student’s pongrit rang.
The ring tone was rock ‘n roll lumtardle.
The teacher started zigwhumping.
The students all platered.
I stepped into the bathroom. The air in the hall was
warm, but when I went into the bathroom, the
temperature plummeted twenty degrees or more. It
was as cold as winter. I got goosebumps on my
skin, and my nose was filled with the strong,
pungent, smell of fresh blood. A second later, I
noticed the blood-spattered sink. Red gore was
everywhere – on the porcelain, on the walls, and it
was oozing down the sides of the sink and dripping
into a puddle on the floor.
Students Want to Get A’s
• Align everything that is done in class to the course SLO’s.
• Give students practice in relating what they are doing to their
progress toward attaining the course SLO’s.
• Assign grades on the basis of what a student can do rather than upon
what the student has done.
• Consciously design or select assignments that have relevance toward
building or demonstrating SLO attainment.
• Guide students toward becoming their own best teacher.
Encourage students to consciously construct English
versions of practical knowledge they first learned in
their home language.
Emphasize the practicality of staying in English as they
learn new information.