1. Learner autonomy: It can be taken as a synonym with self-directed learning.

An autonomous learner is someone who is able to learn in his or her own. Students can only learn if they want to learn and take an active role on their learning process. In this way, teachers should help students learn providing opportunities but considering that they cannot learn for their students. Autonomy itself has a positive effect on motivation, if learners feel good about learning English, they should be motivated to continue to make the effort to learn. 2. Self-directed learner: A self-directed learner is one who is self-motivated, one who takes the initiative, one who has a clear idea of what he wants to learn, and one who has his own plan for purposing and achieving his goal. There are some characteristics of self-directed learners that we can take into account: Know their needs and work productively with the teacher. Learn both inside and outside the classroom. Know how to use the resources independently. Learn with active thinking. Adjust their learning strategies when necessary to improve learning. Manage and divide the time in learning properly. Dont think the teacher is a god who can give them ability to master the language.

3. Learner strategies: Strategies are ways of learning. They are an elaborated and systematic plan of action adopted by learners to improve their learning process. There are 4 categories: Cognitive strategies: are processes used directly in learning which enables learners to deal with the information presented in tasks and materials by working on it in different ways. -Analogy can be seen as a more general strategy of deductive reasoning, that is, looking for rules in the second language on the basis of existing knowledge about language. -Memorization, another cognitive strategy, is when the learner finds that both visual and auditory memory are important: Visual: the word as a visual form, whether printed or hand written is memorized. Auditory: the sound of the item reverberates somehow in the mind even though silently. Ex:

Imitating a model, making guesses about the form or meaning of a new language item, etc. Metacognitive strategies: involve planning for learning, thinking about learning and how to make it more effective, self-monitoring during learning, and evaluation of how successful learning has been after working in some way. Ex: Read carefully through the teachers comments on their written work, review the notes they have made during class, etc. Communication strategies: when learners use gesture, mime, synonyms, paraphrases, and cognate words from their first language to make themselves understood and to maintain a conversation. Ex: a conversation between a native speaker of English and a Swedish student in which the student is trying to explain something and he makes gestures so as the native speaker can understand. Socio-affective strategies: are those strategies which provide learners with opportunities for practice. Ex: initiating conversations with native speakers, collaborating on tasks, listening to the radio or watching TV programmes in the language, etc.

4- Research findings about learner strategies: Research into learner strategies has made an important contribution to the field of ELT by highlighting the possibility of learners becoming more self-reliant in their learning, and by generating discussion of how learners can be trained to take on more responsibility for their learning. Much of the research has tried to establish whether it is possible to facilitate learning through the use of certain strategies, or whether learners can modify their strategies and learn new, more effective ones. One of the studies was made in the US with three groups of students. They were asked to present a brief oral report on a subject. One group worked with no strategy training, another received training in the use of a Metacognitive strategy and socio-affective strategy of co-operation with peers. And the last group received only training in co-operation. The results suggested that skills were improved through strategy training and the groups which received the training, improve relative to the untrained group. 5. Characteristics of a good learner: Self-reliant. A good risk taker. A good guesser. Motivated and enthusiastic. Unafraid of making mistakes. Unafraid of what she or he doesnt know. Willing to assume responsibilities. Confident in his/her ability to learn. Positive in his/her attitude to English language and culture.

Teachers should encourage students to be good learners following these characteristics.

6. Considering autonomous learning, it is important to reflect the idea of educational thinking, where the concept of self-determination has been focus of debate for many years. Self determination suggests that the learner can reflect, make choices and arrive at personally constructed decisions. This also implies that learners should not be passive recipients of knowledge; they should use their abilities for judging and deciding to take on more responsibility for their own learning. In the case of societies, it has often been said that democratic societies protect their ideas through an educational process which has as its goal not only the acquisition of knowledge and skills but also the development of independent and responsible people. But the question is how this goal can be achieved through a classroom process in which the role of the teacher has traditionally been to instruct transmit and regulate, and that of the learner has been to receive and absorb. The teacher should be responsible for the students successful learning and the role of the student should be let the teacher instruct him or her carefully and control the steps of the learning. Authors suggest that there are two necessary preconditions for the autonomization of learning. First, the learner must be capable of making decisions about learning; second, that there must be a structure for learning within which a learner can take responsibility for those decisions. 7. Psychological preparation can be described as a change in perception about what language learning involves and a change in the expectation that language can only be learned through the careful control of a specialist teacher. The concept of practical preparation involves acquiring a range of techniques with which learners can enhance their learning. Together, these two types of preparation can be called learner training.

This can be defined as a set of procedures or activities which raises learners awareness of what is involved in learning a foreign language, which encourages learner to become more active, involved and responsible in their own learning and strengthen their strategies for language learning. Learner training can lead to More effective classroom learning. Self-access learning. Independent learning at home.

8. The aim to promote learners to reflect on learning: Encourages independent learning, (active , empowered, self-reliant) Increases pupil self-esteem. Develops skills to recognize quality. Improves pupil understanding.

Activities: A) Make students think about: The most important thing I learned was What I found difficult was What I enjoyed most was What I want to find out more about is What I need more help with is What still puzzles me is

B) Learning journals: Students can keep a learning journal to track the development of their own learning. For example, after each task or key stage of a class, they reflect in the journal on the things they are doing well or not so well, and consider what they could do to improve in later stages of the task or class. Learning journals are also an effective way for the teacher to monitor the learners learning process. C) Discussion: many students welcome the chance to share their inner speech with their classmates. Whole group, and more intimately, small group and paired discussions, provide varied formats for students to assess their learning, share opinions, and discuss concepts about a particular activity. D) Art: Many students are much better expressing their ideas visually rather than verbally or in writing. Drawing and painting, may be a more appropriate way to elicit reflection and analysis about a particular topic or series of events, especially for students who have some level of discomfort communicating orally or through the written word. 9. ACTIVITIES WHICH ENCOURAGE LEARNERS TO MONITOR AND CHECK THEIR OWN PROGRESS. Self- assessment is an alternative or addition to traditional forms of assessment for the classroom teacher .It aims to help students develop those characteristics of the good language learner, which involve the ability to assess their own performance and the ability to self-critical. A learner performing the activity can ask the questions: -Did I make myself clear? -Did my listener ask me to repeat anything? -Am I happy with my performance?

-What do I need to improve on? In this way learners can increase their awareness of their individual progress not only in knowledge of the language but also in their ability to perform it. Example of Self-Monitoring Activity: -Task 1: Imagine that you are in these situations. What would you say in English? How well could you express yourself? SITUATIONS: -Request permission from your employer to leave work early. Give reason. -Ask a friend if you can borrow her car to take some friends to the seaside. -Someone has opened the window in the railway carriage and it is very could. Ask if you can close it.

-Task 2: Students can use CAN-DO STATEMENTS to assess their own abilities, such as: -I can write a simple email to arrange a meeting. -I can make a two minute presentation about scientific topic. - Task 3: Teachers can ask students to take part in peer evaluation (peer assessment) so that they grade each others tests.

-Task 4: After the everyday lessons teacher could encourage students to answer different questions such as: -today we learnt.. -I found .difficult/easy. -I need to get better at.. Etc.

10. ROLE OF SELF-ACCESS FACILITIES IN LANGUAGE LEANING: The self access facilities can provide extra work materials for students; they can decide which skill they want to improve. The ultimate aim of the self-access facility is that eventually learners will be able to use it in their own way, according to self formulated goals. These facilities include, for example: -Using written texts. -using listening cassettes. -using the library. -using radio and TV.

-using grammar bank. -using language games. -using exam materials. Etc. Once students have been prepared in the necessary skills and oriented to the possibilities offered by self-access learning students will be able to: - Create their self study programmed learning. -Work on individual needs and interests. -Monitor their own progress. -Increase their commitment in their learning.

11. WE CAN MENTION THE FOLLOWING SELF-ACCESS FACILITIES IN THE JOSEFINA CONTTE: Fortunately we have an excellent library in the establishment, with a wide range of materials which are available for students. Moreover, we have access to computers with internet, both in the library and through the personal computers. There are tape recorders, cassettes, CDs, books, magazines, DVDs, projectors, etc. Many facilities that we can use to excel ourselves at in the second language.

12. EXPERIENCES OF SELF DIRECTED LEARNING: We can say that since we have started studying English, we have experienced different self directed strategies according to the level of our proficiency in English. In addition, it should be mention that teachers always have guided us to increase the responsibility for our own learning. As a result, through all these years we have incorporating many features necessaries to become autonomous learners. For example, we were persuade to learn both inside and outside the classroom, to use the resources independently, to try with different strategies to improve learning, practice different skills, to manage and divide our time, etc. That is to say that we know and we are still learning to become good language learners to be in the future good language teachers

13. A distinction has to be made between perceptions of learner training for effective classroom learning, and learning training for self directed learning in context other than the classroom. Some teachers are interested in strategy training simply because they want to improve their students capacity to work effectively with classrooms methods and materials. Materials and procedures designed with this goal in mind will change learners in more self-reliant approaches. Where learner training is preparation for forms of self-reliant learning, such as selfaccess work or project work, or using resources in the community, it is also possible to make a distinction between those adults who are already active in their approach to learning and those who are more passive. It would be a mistake to assume that all adult learners need persuading to adopt independent approaches.

Many come to classes with every intention of using the class as one resource among several to be exploded in learning English. Students with this natural positive motivation are often quick to pick up further ideas from peers or from the teacher, can respond well to strategy training and may be keen to use any selfaccess resources offered. For students who already have positive attitudes, the task for the teacher will probably be to discover the effective strategies they already possess, to build on these, to provide further ideas which might be helpful, and to facilitate activities where students can learn strategies from each other. It is with students who have learned passivity form their previous educational experience that we may see most value in learner training. With these students we need to decide whether we have a legitimate role in helping them to break down resistance, particularly when that resistance might come from cultural notions of the respective roles and responsibilities of teacher and learners which have fostered certain habitual styles of learning. In some cultures, like Asian culture the ideas about independent learning are not easily applicable. There are some sayings that come from eastern cultures that have been much quoted in ELT literature on autonomous learning as it is the case of the Chinese proverb: Tell me and Ill forget; show me and Ill remember; involve me and Ill learn and the Confucian proverb If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Although it is important not to invade or impose on the cultural values of other social groups, there are strong hints that the cultural positions are less compatible than might be supposed. Many Asian teachers believed that their role is to mediate between cultures to find a way forward. In Chinese culture, the use of a tutor for the preparation of groups of students was quiet effective. These students had no experience of self-study and had a deep mistrust of anything that does not involve the teacher. The tutor acted as a guide to the materials and their demands. The idea of the tutor was to form a self-access class preparatory for more independent work. Ninety per cent of the students found pathways useful and seventy per cent felt that they received appropriate levels of guidance. This is an example of the need of support through the early stages of more self-reliant learning when the educational tradition has not provided students with experience of this. All in all, we can say that the concept of learner autonomy and learner training vary according to the culture. They are more applicable in western cultures rather than eastern cultures.

14. New opportunities is a book with the following characteristics At the beginning of each unit we find the goals to be achieved which are important because they enhance students motivation. The book shows a good balance between the different skills. The four skills appear in the different units. It encourages a lot the use of the dictionary. Example: Look at the photos and the key words. Use your mini dictionary to check the words you dont know It also encourages students to guess the meaning of words from context. Example: Work out the parts of the underlined words below. Can you guess the meaning of the words from the context It provides them a list of words.

They have to guess and write the meaning reading a text. Then there is another exercise that states Sometimes you can join words with compound adjectives. Find phrases with compound adjectives in the text which means Students are given the definitions and they have to find the words in the text. In the section Vocabulary, students are asked to rely in their previous knowledge either to form words or to classify them. Example: You can often make opposites of adjectives using a prefix. Use the prefixes to make opposites of the adjectives in italics. They have to use what they know about prefixes to form the opposite. They are encouraged to use the language outside the classroom and to investigate about different topics. Example: Compare travelers or explores from your countrys history with the explorers in this module. Work in pairs. Chose your person. Look information in magazines, books, encyclopedias and on the internet. Decide which part you will each talk about. Tell the others what you have found out. What are the differences and similarities between your explorer and the ones in this module. Another activity asks them to find information about visiting Britain. They have to consider interesting places, adventure holidays, shopping, going out at night. Before starting a unit students are provided with schema building activities to make use of their previous knowledge and brainstorm some ideas about the topic. Example: The book shows some images of an actor and actress and then asks Do you know the actor in the photo? Have you seen any of the films? What kind of film do you think the photo is from? Students are given strategies to apply for each skill. Example: Speaking strategies: Dealing with mistakes. If you think you have made a mistake but are not sure, dont worry. Continue speaking. If you know that you have made a very simple mistake, correct yourself. If someone does not understand you, try to say it again using different words. Use expressions: I mean/ What I mean There is a lot of pair and group work also. This is important are compelled to use the language in a creative way in unpredictable and authentic situations. Example: Work in pairs. Tell your partner a funny story from your life There are instances of personalization in which students can bring their own experiences and knowledge of the world to the class. Example: Personalization: Write about things that you started doing in the past and havent finished yet. Use the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous At the end of each unit, a Review section is presented as an instant of self assessment where students have to deal with grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation exercises such as fill in the gap chose the correct form, mark the stress and the like. In addition students has got a site called Check you progress where students have to reflect about their own learning process such as: Which activities do you enjoy most? Which activities did you have problems with? Which grammar area do you need to practice more?

15. Superman vs. Smoking

Reading activities: Students have to answer some questions like: Why is Superman chosen for this smoking campaign? How is the fight against smoking presented? Why is the advertising directed exactly to children? Why does it say that the campaign is a long term project? What are the dangers that smoking involves? They are given the main events of the situation presented in the text and they have to put them in order. For example _Superman is chosen to be the main character of the advertising _Children watch the advertising _ A research shows that 80 per cent of the children who smoke regularly grow up to be smokers. _ The cartoon commercial is produced and shown in television _ The Health education Council decides to carry out a campaign _ Children write supporting Superman Look for the meaning of the phrase: An apple a day keeps the doctor away and then relate it to the advertising. Think about other characters that could be use in to make a campaign. Write down what they would say in order to make children aware of the dangerousness that smoking involves.

Trabajo Prtico de Didctica Especial II

Learner Autonomy and learner training

Alumnas: De la Rosa, Mercedes. Gonzalez, Virginia A. Solis, Cintya. Torres, C. Magali.

Profesora: Graciela Tutuy.

Curso: 3er ao.

Ao: 2013