MTML - Module 25, Unit 2, Activity 1
What jumped out at me from reading the two learner profiles and creating a third one, is the vast number of variables that must be taken into consideration for language acquisition. There isn’t a one size fits all for language acquisition. Maybe motivation compels someone to work harder and they then acquire the language more than their peers, or natural intellectual ability, better materials to learn from, a better teacher, etc. The list could go on. It’s quite startling that there is no one single measure to look for in gauging a learner’s success in language acquisition.
The three learner profiles all had different motivations for wanting to learn and succeed in picking up another language. Which makes one major consideration for every language teacher, what is motivating this particular learner? Or, is this learner lacking motivation and how can I motivate them? Since, there isn’t one strand you can pull from to motivate students or ensure student success with, this is actually a really complex question to answer and will differ with every single student. That is why getting to know your learners is so important. If you cannot answer this question, then how can you expect to really teach them?
The three learner profiles all took place in different contexts. It would be interesting to see learner profiles and how varied they would be in the scope of one class. In China, we were able to conduct a reading test and realized we had kids, in just one grade eight class, with a reading age of seven years old in the same class with students who had reading ages of 15 years old. How do you even begin to address the differences in ability and motivation there? The students at the bottom of the spectrum were known behavioral problems and lacked any and all motivation, mainly because they were struggling to access the content given to them. The students at the top were losing motivation because the coursework wasn’t hard enough. If the testing had been conducted earlier and learner profiles had been created at the start of the school year, perhaps more could have been done to differentiate and to motivate all the students at their point of need. This is just one example where not knowing your students could adversely affect their learning and performance. That is why knowing your students, their cultures, and their motivations and abilities is so vitally important.
How can understanding language learner identities promote multiculturalism and enhanced learning outcomes for the student?
Understanding learner identities should be a primary directive for all teachers. Since there is no one variable one can turn to in order to ensure language acquisition success, being able to know your learners and adapt to their needs is paramount. Understanding who they are, what their skills are, and where they come from should then feed into designing lessons that are relevant to them and which can enhance learning for them. This promotes multiculturalism because the teacher will be exposed to the student’s culture and in a multicultural classroom, if the teacher is ensuring the lessons relate to all learners, the students will also be exposed to multiple cultures in the course of their learning.
One way to ensure promotion of multiculturalism in the classroom and enhanced learning outcomes for the students is for the teacher to go out of their way to research the students’ home cultures and languages (Fenner et al., 2017). I inadvertently did this when I began learning Chinese while working in China. I found the weekly classes started really adding to my teaching by helping me begin to understand this supremely subtle and varied culture I found myself in. I was able to weave Chinese into my lessons to aid in enhancing student understanding of concepts. I was also able to adjust my expectations to suit the culture of the students and the school, not just the culture I was coming from. Which I think is a huge component in dealing with ELLs in general.
Why is understanding identities and multiculturalism important?
Understanding identities and multiculturalism are important because understanding these two things aids and enhances learning situations for the students in an invaluable way. By understanding your students you can create a safe and respectful learning environment, meaningful lessons, and ensure success through teaching those lessons in a flexible and adaptive way based on the cultures and identities of the students before you. Without understanding their identities or their cultures, the teacher would not be able to create a meaningful learning environment. Therefore, learning may never take place or may be difficult to achieve, it would merely be placing someone in a classroom to babysit the kids. Whereas there should be active learning taking place. As a teacher, as mentioned previously, understanding learner identities should be a primary directive.
Also slightly touched upon previously was adjusting your educational expectations to be inline with those of the cultures your students come from. Our cultures greatly influence and impact our beliefs about education and what we value with education (Fenner et al., 2017). When we don’t do the research needed about our students and what they may value and believe from the cultures they come from, then it may result in a frustrating dynamic where we, as teachers, are imposing our values on these kids who may not value the same things. We will have expectations that will go unmet. For instance, when I started teaching in China I did not know the lay of the land so to speak. I assumed, rather than really doing my research, that Chinese educational culture was similar to Western educational culture, and it simply is not. For example, I did not understand why most of the homework went undone and the parents didn’t really seem to mind that this was the case. I came to learn that my students did not go home and have the same blocks of free time a lot of American kids have after school and on the weekends. Chinese students leave school and go straight to lessons of various sorts. Mainly in English classes, musical lessons of some sort, and a plethora of sports lessons. These kids do not get free time. As a result, a lot of the homework doesn’t get done because they simply did not have the time to do it. I quickly had to adjust my expectations to fit the culture my students were in, not the one I was used to.
References
Fenner, D. S., Snyder, S., & Breiseth, L. (2017). Unlocking English learners'
potential: strategies for making content accessible. Corwin, a SAGE Company.
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