TODAY’S ESL LEARNERS: AN ATTEMPT AT

CHARACTERIZATION

Cecilia M. MendiolaPhilippine Normal

University

Why don’t learners

learn what teachers teach?

Learners/Learning

Language/Culture Teacher/Teaching

Figure 1. Diagram of a Language Teacher’s Task (Larsen-Freeman and Long, 1991)

“Language teachers’ decisions about the

teaching process should, to a large

extent, be informed by knowledge of the

subject matter they are teaching (i.e. the

target language and culture) and by

knowledge of the unique group of

learners with whom they are working and

of the language-learning process.”

“No improvement in language teaching could be expected

unless the characteristics of the

second language learners and the

learning process were better understood.”

-H. H. Stern

Do good learners

tackle the language

learning task differently from poor learners?

Do learners have certain

characteristics which

predispose them to good

or poor learning?

Good language learners are:

1. Willing and able to guess accurately; comfortable with uncertainty

2. Strongly driven to communicate

3. Willing to make mistakes

Good language learners are:

4. Can distinguish relevant from irrelevant clues

5. Eager to seek opportunities to use the language

Good language learners are:

6. Able to process information whether or not being called on to perform

7. Can go beyond surface forms and can consider social factors to get at meaning

“Good language learners take advantage of potentially useful learning situations, and if necessary create them. They develop learning techniques appropriate to their individual needs.”

A successful language learner has to:

1. Find his/her own way.

2. Organize.

3. Be creative.

4. Make opportunities for practice.

5. Learn to live with uncertainty.

6. Use mnemonics.

7. Learn from errors.

8. Use linguistic knowledge.

A successful language learner has to:

A successful language learner has to:

9. Get help from the context.

10. Make intelligent guesses.

11. Learn some word strings as wholes.

A successful language learner has to:

12. Adopt formalized routines.

13. Learn production techniques.

14. Use different styles of speech.

Teach the 10 Commandments

for good language learning.

- H.D. Brown (2001)

Make learners

learn how to learn.

“Ten Commandments” for good language

learning

1. Fear not!

2. Dive in.

3. Believe in yourself.

“You can’t learn without goofin’.”

- Burt and Dulay

“Ten Commandments” for good language

learning

4. Seize the day.

5. Love thy neighbor.

6. Get the BIG picture.

“Ten Commandments” for good language

learning

7. Cope with the chaos.

8. Go with the hunches.

9. Make mistakes work FOR you.

10. Set your own goals.

THE FILIPINO AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

LEARNER

02468

1012141618

Figure 2: Areas covered in the study

TYPES OF DATA

Oral and written L2 production

Self – reports

Test – generated data

Technology – generated data

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Give short responses and ask factual questions

Perform more and varied communicative acts using L1 in small group discussion

High achievers use more learning strategies than the low achievers.

Less successful learners do not use chaining strategies

Use metacognitive strategies most frequently

Are good comprehenders, interactive readers and risk takers as shown in Think–Aloud protocols

s

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Use culture–bound strategies, e.g., risk taking, empathy, relying on Divine Providence, grade–consciousness

View reading as meaning–focused and goal-oriented

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Find difficulties in summarizing - constructing a synthesizing statement, combining/deleting ideas

Are not strategic in processing expository text and in dealing with vocabulary problems

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Display emerging behavior patterns in reading, e.g., translating,

re–reading, questioning, using prior knowledge, and agreeing

Less proficient readers possess limited repertoire of strategies.

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Show better comprehension in the familiar text than in the

unfamiliar one

Experience problems in text processing due to lack of prior knowledge and inadequate grasp of English

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

ESL learners compose texts in linear and recursive fashion.

ESL writers display emerging composing patterns -- quick writing of substantive essays, slow starters’ writing pattern, the highly recursive pattern, slow-but- sure writing, unproductive writing pattern and the strategists’ writing pattern.

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Elementary pupils’ written output is wanting in content, format and grammatical accuracy.

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Manifest learners’ communicative difficulties in oral production through

gap marks, namely gestures and facial expressions

Bridge oral production gaps by using communication strategies

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Some computer students experience lathophobic aphasia.

Use Tagalog–English (codeswitch variety) in cognitively oriented academic discussions

Pupils’ English ratings significantly correlate with learning opportunities.

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Females are better critical thinkers and more language proficient than males.

Highly proficient language learners are better critical thinkers, but not better academic achievers.

Motivational behavior remains learner’s significant determinant of achievement.

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Learners’ motivational behavior is influenced by goal setting, valence, and self-efficacy.

Learners’ communicative competence may be influenced by language facility, vocabulary and communicative practice.

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Learners respond positively to intervention programs.

Show improved performance using computer-assisted grammar materials

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

Demonstrate improved composition through process writing

Display improved attitudes toward technical writing using computer-assisted

materials

FILIPINO SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS…

‘ONLINE’ PROCESSING OF IDIOMS

Emergent Pattern (Familiar Idiom)

Idiom: “Our cornicks are selling like hotcakes. We don’t ever have to advertise.

TAP: So ‘selling like hotcakes’ So hotcakes are, the nature of hotcakes, very popular.It’s ahh… tawag dun, masyadong

mabenta.Masyadong sikat na hindi na kailangan ng advertisement.So selling like hotcakes means ‘popular.’It is very well known.So parang there is a trademark.

Identifies idiom

Focuses on key word (hotcakes)

Gives meaning in Tagalog (mabenta)

Paraphrases idiom 3x

Strategy Loop

Emergent Pattern (Unfamiliar Idiom)Idiom: Guingona was plagued by a problem that he is a politician

and was virtually a babe in the woods in the foreign office. He bungled his job and blundered his way early in his term.

TAP: So pa’no ba ito?Siguro, kung titingnan natin in Filipino translation, ahm,

‘sanggol sa kakahuyan’So alam naman natin ano yung characteristic ng isang

sanggolKumbaga, walang kapasidad na gawin ang isang bagayWalang kakayahanSalat sa karanasanKumbaga lacks experienceAhm, is an expert of nothingKung ilalapat dito sa ano sa sentence ditoKumbaga na si Guingona umano has less experience or lacks experience in handling ah the said office or position or

job.Siguro I’m quite certain about sa ibinigay kong definition.Kumbaga, lacks experience or expertise about a position or a work or a job

Translates key word to Filipino

Characterizes key word 5x

Relates key word to context

Reiterates meaning

Quizzes oneself on what to do

Evaluates given meaning

Strategy Loop

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF ESL LEARNERS

RESPONDENTS’ DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

Number of participants

50%

50%

English majors

Literature majors

RESPONDENTS’ DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

46

7 7

0

10

20

30

40

50

Frequency

Regular Science Private

Type of School

RESPONDENTS’ DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

9

15

20

16

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Frequency

First year Second year Third year Fourth year

Year level taught

RESPONDENTS’ DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

Respondents by gender12%

88% Male

Female

TODAY’S ESL LEARNERS…

Enjoy doing tasks/activities in dyads, triads or small groups

Code switch from English to Filipino or vice – versa when reciting in an English class

(Always Observed)

Use technology, mostly the computer and the Internet in accomplishing reports, projects, etc.

Show interest in and drive to learn English

Use strategies, e.g., oral reading, using the dictionary/references, note-taking, highlighting

TODAY’S ESL LEARNERS…(Often

Observed)

Are willing to take risks, don’t mind being corrected, don’t worry about making mistakes

Seek teacher’s and/or classmates’ help when faced with difficulties

Remain silent when asked to recite

TODAY’S ESL LEARNERS…

(Often Observed)

Make time for language–related activities inside and outside of the classroom

Display good study habits

TODAY’S ESL LEARNERS…(Rarely

Observed)

Monitor (self–edit) themselves in grammar, pronunciation, spelling or when speaking or writing in English

Use language terms such as relative clauses, verbals, prepositional phrases, etc. when describing/analyzing sentences

TODAY’S ESL LEARNERS…(Rarely Observed)

POINTS TO REFLECT ON…

Are you willing to adjust your teaching style/methods to differences in the learning styles/strategies and personality characteristics of your students?

Will you ‘teach learners how to learn’ so they will become autonomous learners?

POINTS TO REFLECT ON…

Are you going to sensitize yourself to differences in predispositions with which different learners will approach language learning?

Will you be more tolerant of students’ code–switching behavior?

POINTS TO REFLECT ON…

Will you heighten your technology skills to enhance learning?

Will you encourage your students to take a more active role in their own learning?

POINTS TO REFLECT ON…

Will you encourage, build and sustain effective language learning strategies in your students?

Do you realize that learning a second language is such a complex process that knowing who the learners are is only one of its facets?

When I began the interview,

I was hoping to find out what the successful language

learners did alike. If we could teach their secrets to our

students, I thought that every one else would become as

successful as the people I had talked with. It soon became

apparent, however, that learners are even more

different from one another than I had expected. Success with

foreign language, I found, does not come by one single

formula.” - E. Stevick, 1989