The self-regulated learner in contemporary times: Ideas to promote autonomy in ELLs

The self-regulated learner in contemporary times: Ideas to promote autonomy in ELLs.

INNOVATIONS

21st Century Learner Characteristics

• Want to have a say in their education.

• Higher levels of digital literacy than their parents or teachers.

• Demand the freedom to show their wild creativity.

• Know where to go to find information. 

• Expect inter-disciplinarity

https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/21st-century-learners/

• Want to connect with others in real time on their own terms. 

"Over the decades, we have seen applied linguists suggesting the right amount of comprehensible input, opportunities for output, corrective feedback, task-based presentation, and contextual scaffolding in the classroom. But after all this, the only thing teachers can do is to wait and hope that learners will notice the patterns or automatically activate their implicit learning mechanisms"

Youngqi Gu (2010, p.1)

Methods

• Learning Characteristics

• Learning Context

• Nature of Learning

SELF -REGULATION

L e a r n e r S e l f - m a n a g e m e n t ( R u b i n , 2 0 0 1 )

L e a r n e r S e l f - d i r e c t i o n

( D i c k i n s o n , 1 9 8 7 )

A u t o n o m o u s L e a r n i n g ( O x f o r d , 1 9 9 9 )

AUTONOMY & SELF-REGULATION

Autonomy is a long-term aim of education and one of the most important factors in successful language learning

(Candy, 1988; Pennycook, 1997).

An active, constructive process whereby learners set goals for their learning and then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features in the environment'‘

(Boekaerts, Pintrich, and Zeidner, 2000, p. 453).

“So, in autonomous learning, far from removing ourselves from the teaching context, we, as facilitators, can help students become aware of their strengths and weaknesses, their individual learning styles, help them to develop learning strategies, to reflect on their own learning and devise plans for future action.”

Gonzalez, St. Louis, 2011

Ideas to promote autonomy in the Language Classroom

Idea 1: Embrace and promote SELF-MONITORING“It is important to note that self‐management is characterized by management of external tasks and resources, whereas self‐monitoring involves internal process of thinking, reflection, and making improvement on the learning process.”

Chee, Divaharan, Tan, Mun, 2011.

Self-Monitoring

Measurement

Evaluation (Loftin, Gibb, & Skiba, 2005)

MeasurementStudent measures and records his or her own behavior

EvaluationStudent compares that recorded behavior to a pre-determined standard

Idea 2: Engage Students in Deep Learning.

“Everything is wonderful, if only we know enough about it.”

“If one is master of one thing and understands one thing well, one has, at the same time, insight into and understanding of many things.”

VINCENT VAN GOGH

• 1 Topic• Different Areas

and Points o f View• Expertise

• Tools

Idea 3: Encourage and Facilitate Self-Efficacy.“The belief a person holds about whether or not he can successfull attain a desired level of performance.”

Bandura, 1986

L2 Learning

Self-Regulated, autonomous learner.

Self-Efficacy

Language learning strategies

Teacher MediationScaffolding

Overt strategy teachingResourcesInstructionFeedback

Feedback.

Idea 4: Let them have a say.

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn”.

Benjamin Franklin

Collaborative Conceptualization Projects

www.mindomo.com

Class-wide Collaborative Glossary

Book Reports

Concept Building

Collaborative Rubrics

Idea 5: Flip your classroom.

Tools for a flipped classroom.

“Autonomous learning, self-directed learning, self-regulated students and self-assessment are not the next big thing: They are the fundaments for fostering language learning in an efficient and contextualized fashion”

Self-directed learning is already here…

How are you going to adapt?

Martin Caicedomartin.javier.caicedo@gmail.com

Thank

you!