UNIVERSIDAD CATLICA DE LA SANTSIMA CONCEPCIN

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIN
ENGLISH PEDAGOGY PROGRAMME
________________________________________________________
ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE METHODOLOGY

LANGUAGE LEARNING PROFILE

Language Learning Strategies

Names: Maria Cartes Ruiz

Alison Vidal Sagredo.
Teacher: Roxanna Correa Prez.

Concepcin, 4th November, 2015

INDEX

Theoretical Framework .3

Learners background.5

Written Diagnose Task...6

Analysis and Assessment..7

LLS Lesson Planning.10

References.12

Language Learner Profile

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this Language Learner Profile, our main purpose was to help a first-year student to
develop her abilities in the writing skill, based on the results that we obtained from a
task we proposed her to do. Through these lines you will see the whole process we
followed to elicit information about the previous knowledge the learner had, and how
we taught our student a useful strategy to help her to improve her writing skill.

What are Language Learning Strategies (LLS)?

In order to provide a definition of what Language Learning Strategies are, Oxford
(1990) explains that they are steps students follow to be successful learners, and he
adds Appropriate language learning strategies result in improved proficiency and
greater self-confidence (p. 1). All students have different abilities, that is the reason
why some authors, such as Oxford (1990) and Chamot et al (1999), have proposed
a large a list of strategies, to facilitate the learning process.
In the process of making the learning easier for students, it can also be identified
what is called as Learning Styles, but they are not the same as Learning Strategies,
and Oxford (1990) states that the difference is that Learning Styles are approaches
that help students to deal with the acquisition of a language, or other subjects, while
Learning Strategies are, as he defines them, specific actions, behaviors, steps, or
techniques used by students to enhance their own learning (p. 63).
Cook (2001: 236) claims that style refers to a changeability in teaching as well. It
expresses that Styles do not have a specific definition and it can be used freely for
teachers at moment of teaching. Cook declares what really matters is the use
students give to language in real situations rather than in classroom situations
(Cook, 2001: 265). In that sense, Cook makes reference to the strategies used in
teaching styles; however, it is important to state how strategies work for students.

What does the theory say about LLS?

Oxfords point of view:
According to Oxford (2003) there are three main characteristics that make a strategy
succeed for a given learner, they are:
a. There should be a connection between the task and the proposed strategy.
b. The strategy has to be closely related to the style the learner has.
c. The learner knows how to work with the strategy and associates it with other
strategies as well.
Oxford (2003) also states that the use of strategies promotes the autonomous work
and it makes students more independent, because when they learn to use a strategy
effectively their learning process will be easier and faster, and they will be able to
study alone, because they will know how to do it. The author also believes that the
use of strategies to help the learning process should be conscious, students have to
realize which strategies are useful for them, in order to facilitate their own learning.
To establish a classification of all the LLS, Oxford (1990) identifies six categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Cognitive Strategies
Metacognitive Strategies
Memory-related Strategies
Compensatory Strategies
Affective Strategies
Social Strategies

Chamots point of view:

It cannot be forgotten Chamot et al (1999) at the moment of talking about Strategies.
Chamot (1999) presents an instructional model, Cognitive Academic Language
Learning Approach (CALLA) , in order to make students more independent at
moment of learning and to evaluate themselves and to be focused on their progress.

This model designed by Chamot et al (1999) is task- based and it has five phases
Preparation, Presentation, Practise, Evaluation and Expansion, in which teacher
mixes the aspects which are content, language and learning strategies.
Chamot (1999) also makes a list to group all the strategies she proposes, and this
list includes:
1. Metacognitive Strategies
2. Task Based Strategies
The second category is divided into four sub-groups, which are:
2.1. Task Based Strategies: Use what you know.
2.2. Task Based Strategies: Use your senses.
2.3. Task Based Strategies: Use your organizational skills.
2.4. Task Based Strategies: Use a variety of resources.

LEARNERS BACKGROUND

Our learners background is not the best. She studied in a normal Chilean school,
not bilingual; thus, she had only four hours dedicated to English classes per week,
which is very little if we compare it with other subjects. The number of classes that
she has indicates us that she does not have a great domain in the foreign language,
that is the reason why even though she was capable to finish the task she had some
problems with the English she used.
She likes English, and she added that she has had a really well experience in the
language, even though she has not had any relation with native speakers of the
language, either talking face to face, or through chat, because she did not know
anyone, and actually, until today she has not had any kind of interaction with them.
She has never had the opportunity to travel to a foreign country, with English as the
mother tongue, but she would like to do it someday. She likes to watch English
programmes on TV, and she tries to do it without subtitles, this is not a problem for
her, because she can understand well; hence, we can conclude that she is good at
listening, because of his personal training on the skill. On the other hand, related to
the writing skill, she mentioned she has no previous practice before entering to
University, but she likes writing, and now she realized the main issues she has in this
specific skill.

WRITTEN OR ORAL DIAGNOSE TEST / TASK

In order to evaluate the learner, it was decided to ask the student to write a reflection
based on the activities she does daily in the software Focus on Grammar. She was
asked to chose one unit to reflect about and to answer some questions inside the
reflection.
Task: Based on Focus on Grammar exercises you have done, chose one unit and
write a reflection about what you have learned doing these exercises, what aspects
have been the most difficult for you and how you think it would help you in your
performance as an English Learner. Reflection must be 3 paragraphs length as a
maximum.
Diagnose:

I liked this Unit too because it was about things always happen to me, and it is
always good to remember such a wonderful memories. In the topic school days, I
remembered all my old classmates and funny things I did with them. All the partys
and the time we spent together in my house or at the park.
About grammar, I liked the little presentation in class. The teacher separate in
groups and gived to all the groups a different unit and then al all one group gived a
specific type of the unit, for example the grammar, or fuctional language, for me
was good, because I have to learned a part of grammar and then teach my
classmates.
because of this, I learned grammar by heart, because I did a conceptual map, with
colours and summary of grammar
.

ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT

According to the obtained results, it can be said that the learner has deficiencies in
writing skills. In addition; it has to be mentioned that the learner has problems not

only with spelling but also with uses of past form of a verb, omission of constituents
and punctuation. To continue, it is also important to mention that the learner did not
achieve the task, for she was asked to reflect about some aspects of her learning
with the use of the software, yet she wrote a summary instead of a reflection
paragraph. It is important to point out that writing is a process that needs to be
practiced before giving a final version. In this case, the learner chose one unit and
she did not have time to edit what she had written.
Besides, it was observed tense errors in the sense of writing a verb in the past form,
especially with the verb Give where the learner used ed ending for writing this verb
in past form assuming that this a regular verb. Moreover; there are some mistakes
with the omission of constituents in a sentence, for instance, she wrote a sentence
where she omitted the subject it and she wrote only the verb to be of the sentence.
It does not influence the meaning of the sentence but it does not follow the
grammatical structure which is subject + verb mainly. To continue, there are spelling
mistakes present in the diagnosis; nonetheless, the one that called our attention was
the plural form of the word party where the learner added a s at the end of the word
thinking that the plural of party is partys instead of parties which is the correct one.
There is also an important problem that makes reference with the achievement of the
task, since the learner was asked to write a reflection of the activities, having into
account important aspects to reflect; otherwise, the learner wrote a summary about
what she had done.
Those aspects influenced the assessment of the reflection because an analytic
rubric was designed to evaluate the learners performance. The dimensions of the
rubric were the following: Content, Accuracy, Grammar & Spelling, Capitalization &
Punctuation and finally Sequencing. If we consider those dimensions and the
descriptors, students performance assessment is not going to be successful for it
was focused in the achievement of the task and all the aspects that were mentioned
before.

CATEGORY

Score

Content

All the aspects

required in the
task are
present in the
reflection.

Almost all the

aspects
required in the
task are
present in the
reflection.

Some of the
aspects
required in the
task are
present in the
reflection.

None of the
aspects
required in the
task are
present in the
reflection.

Accuracy

All supportive
opinions and
thoughts are
reported
accurately.

Almost all
supportive
opinions and
thoughts are
reported
accurately.

Most
supportive
opinions and
thoughts are
reported
accurately.

Most
supportive
opinions and
thoughts were
inaccurately
reported.

Grammar &
Spelling

Author makes
1-3 errors in
grammar or
spelling that
distract the
reader from
the content.

Author makes
4-6 errors in
grammar or
spelling that
distract the
reader from
the content.

Author makes
7-9 errors in
grammar or
spelling that
distract the
reader from
the content.

Author makes
more than 9
errors in
grammar or
spelling that
distract the
reader from
the content.

Capitalization
& Punctuation

Author makes
1-2 errors in
capitalization
or punctuation,
so the
reflection is
easy to read.

Author makes
3-4 errors in
capitalization
or punctuation,
but the
reflection is
still easy to
read.

Author makes
a few errors in
capitalization
and/or
punctuation
that catch the
reader's
attention and
interrupt the
flow.

Author makes
several errors
in
capitalization
and/or
punctuation
that catch the
reader's
attention and
interrupt the
flow.

Sequencing

Ideas and
thoughts are
provided in a
logical order
that makes it
easy and
interesting to
follow the
author\'s train
of thought.

Ideas and
thoughts are
provided in a
fairly logical
order that
makes it
reasonably
easy to follow
the author\'s
train of
thought.

A few of the
support ideas
or thoughts
are not in an
expected or
logical order,
distracting the
reader and
making the
essay seem a
little confusing.

Many of the
ideas or
thoughts are
not in an
expected or
logical order,
distracting the
reader and
making the
essay seem
very
confusing.
Total Score:_____/40

Comments:______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
___

LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES LESSON PLANNING

Content Area: ___________________________ Topic: _____________________________
Grade:
Time:
Date:

Objectives
9

Content knowledge/skills: Writing.

Learning Strategy: Use Background Knowledge to write a reflection about her
experience as a student of English Pedagogy.
Procedures

Presentation
-Teacher asks the student some questions to elicit the information that she has, in
order to help her to realize what she already know about the topic.
List of questions:
Was it difficult for you the first semester as a university student?
Which has been the most complicated subject you have had at university?
Which was the subject you liked the most?
Do you enjoy spending time with your classmates?
Do you feel comfortable in this university?
-Student answers the questions and teacher asks her to take notes about what she
has answered.

Preparation
-Teacher presents the strategy to the learner, and she explains it.
When we want to write reflections about a specific topic we know, we have to think
in the previous knowledge we have to make it easier. Today we are going to write a
reflection about your experience as a student of English Pedagogy, but we are
going to use a strategy to help us doing the task, which is called Use Background
Knowledge.
-Teacher explains the strategy and she models the activity in the computer, with a
think out loud protocole.

Practice
-Student is asked to do the same activity teacher did.
Now that you now how to use your background knowledge to help you, I want you
to write a three-paragraph reflection about your experience as a student of English
Pedagogy, you have 15 minutes to achieve the task.

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-Student writes her reflection.

-Teacher corrects the piece of writing and gives feedback.
Evaluation
-Teacher asks some questions to know if the strategy worked with the student.
List of questions:
Was it difficult for you to write the reflection?
What do you think made the task easier?
Did you like the strategy you used?
Would you use this strategy in the future? Why?
Expansion
Teacher explains the student how this strategy can be useful for doing other tasks
as well.
To write summaries you can also use your background knowledge

REFERENCES
Chamot et al (1999). The Learning Strategies Handbook. Longman: NY.
Cook, V. (2001). Second language learning and language teaching style.Second
Language Learning and Language Teaching. Routledge: NY.

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Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should

Know. Heinle & Heinle Publishers: Boston.
Oxford, R. (2003). Language Learning Styles and Strategies: An Overview.
Retrieved
November
04,
2015
http://web.ntpu.edu.tw/~language/workshop/read2.pdf

from:

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