2022_10_IF_ PRACTICAL

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FP004 – Individual Factors in the Learner's Development
Practical activity 
Name and surnames:
MAO
Group:
FP_TEFL_2022
Date:
June, 2023
TASK 1
Look at this learner's description of how she learnt a foreign language.
When I first arrived in the country, I did a two-week intensive course. Just to learn the basics – you know - shopping, directions and so on. Then I just spoke to everyone I could find. I even spoke to myself out loud sometimes. I bought a grammar book with a key and did exercises on difficult things like the subjunctive. I found that it really helped me to memorize verb conjugations, and then slowly I learned how to use them more or less correctly. But I still make mistakes, and I've been living here for 11 years.
How would you characterize her learning style?
How would you describe your learning style as regards language learning? Provide as much detailed information as you can.
TASK 2 
1. Of the four motivational types examined above, which are your students most display? Why do you think this is the case?
Which of these motivational types can we, as language teachers directly influence in the language classroom? How? 
TASK 3
List the pros and cons of introducing the study of a foreign language at an early age.
TASK 1.1
	Her learning style, according to scholars such as Willing (1987, cited in FUNIBER, 2019), is the communicative one. He explains that this type of student tends to be quite autonomous, prefers social learning and likes taking decisions. These characteristics, respectively, show demonstrated when she took only two weeks of course, just to know how to “survive” in the new place with shopping and directions vocabulary, for example. Then, decided to talk to everyone she could and even to herself, to listen to her. Finally, she bought a book, a grammar book, studied and learned by herself.
	Still according to Willing (1987) with the cooperation of Reid (1987, cited in FUNIBER, 2019), they both distinguished other modalities of learning, which she fits the following ones:
	At first, she proved to be auditory because she spoke out loud and talked to everyone she could find. Then used her visual skill, because she read the grammar book she had bought and did the exercises and memorized verb conjugations. She also proved she is a bit kinesthetic when she explained that she learned by experience, trying, living in the country.
TASK 1.2
	Regarding Ellis’ (1995, cited in FUNIBER, 2019) explanatory table, based on Witkin (1962, 1971), I consider myself Field Dependent (even not taking Witkin’s test). Ellis describes that four main characteristics form this style and I find myself in all of them: personal orientation – because I rely on an external frame of reference in processing information, holistic – since I perceive field as a whole, dependent - due to my self-view is derived from others, and socially sensitive – owing to a greater skill in interpersonal-social relationships and being person-oriented.
	Considering scholars that distinguished other learning styles, such as Reid (1987) and Willing (1987, cited in FUNIBER, 2019), the first categorize visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile learning. I can find myself in the visual learning mostly and kinesthetic learning in second place. Visual due to have facility in learning from seeing words in books, on the board, texts, pictures, having written a word or some subject on the notebook, etc. I can even remember the page I read something or if something that I wrote is on the left side of the page or on the right side. When I was a teenager, I used to write notes on my wardrobe wall for me to remember appointments, school tests and content for tests. Writing helped me a lot consolidate what I needed to learn, or on a lower level considering Bloom’s Taxonomy, helped me memorize.
	Taking into consideration the kinesthetic learning style, I can clearly remember when I learned certain word, sentence or how to react to something during my exchange program, for instance. I remember what was written on a carton of milk, a traffic sign or even on a billboard. Today I realize that all this information is kept alive in my memory because they were meaningful somehow.
	The second scholar, identified four learning styles, used especially in Australia: concrete learning style, analytic, communicative and authority oriented. If I take into account this perspective, I see myself as concrete learner and authority oriented. Concrete because I am person-oriented, emotional and spontaneous. Authority oriented due to the fact that I tend to depend on the teacher and to be told what to do and how to do it. I see my style changing a little from a teenagerhood to adulthood when I learned about active methodologies and had to apply them. So, I understand and realized that I learn better if instead of being told what to do and how to do something, I discovered that or built that knowledge.
	
TASK 2.1
	I work with students from 13 years old up to 72. So, I recognize that what motivates them varies from their maturity, which is related to their age. Teenagers usually have extrinsic motivated. What proves me that is a series of factors that are part of my class: highly involving class: I try to involve my students all the time by calling their names, asking them about their lives, their weekends, their families, relationships, asking if some problem has been overcome, also I provide games that make them move all the time and finally, I particularly have discovered that if I provide activities that show students they are able to speak, to write and so on, it makes students aware of what they have developed during their studies and class participation, they feel they belong to a community. Very few teenager students are only motivated by grades and getting marks if they do something (even if this something is their obligation or part of the method activity, and it is for practicing).
	When it comes to my adult students what made them study English is probably why they went back to school: work, travel abroad, want to live abroad… When I find it out, I try to use it as fuel for them, preparing classes that are meaningful for them. It comes down to they feel especial, that their money is being well invested and when they realize they achieve their goals, as we planned, step by step, they celebrate it and keep on studying. So, their type of motivation is also extrinsic, but for other purposes.
	We certainly work with Gardner’s (1985, cited in FUNIBER, 2019) three components of motivation: Effort, setting and desire to achieve goals and attitudes. Besides that, I could realize that as I try to help my students that have different learning styles, I also try to motivate students from different perspectives, such as situational motivation and task motivation – promoting a really engaging atmosphere with plenty of visual aid and realia, and tasks that cause curiosity and challenges students to do their best and produce a lot, as Ur (1996) describe that “success loses its sweetness if it is too easily attained and if there is no real possibility or experience of failure”.
	Additionally, and finally, my students get motivated in the same way Hussin, Maarof, and D’Cruz (2001, cited in FUNIBER, 2019) explained that “positive self-concept, high self-esteem, positive attitude, clear understanding of the goals for language learning, continuous active participation in the language learning process, the relevance of conductive environment that could contribute to the success of language learning”.
TASK 2.2
Teachers can have influence on some motivational types, for instance, extrinsic motivation, global motivation, task motivation, and situational motivation. Teachers can influence on extrinsic motivation, according to FUNIBER (2019), when it is “directly related to the materials and method teaching as well as the constraints and rewards for the learner in the classroom.” 
	When it comes to global motivation, in FUNIBER (2019), it is describedthat “it is affected by the teacher’s own attitudes conveyed either unconsciously or through explicit information and persuasion.”
With task motivation, how teachers approach activities, how teachers make an activity interesting, how teachers captivate students’ curiosity is the way they can influence students’ motivation.
Last but not least, situational motivation is encouraged by teachers, even being less open to teachers’ intervention, when, according to FUNIBER (2019), teachers make the classroom more attractive, including posters, students’ work, etc.
	McDonough mentions in his article “Motivation in ELT” that:
The teacher’s role in all of this central, and difficult. It goes far beyond the provision of reward (itself dependent on the learner’s self-efficacy). It involves providing a supportive and challenging learning environment, but also facilitating the development of the learners’ own motivational thinking. Beyond simply identifying their original orientation. Perhaps the most difficult aspect is not doing anything to de-motivate them.
The hard work of not de-motivating students has many aspects but can be known by the teacher by having in advance questionnaires to get to know better his or her students.
TASK 3
In a naturalistic setting, children are good at learning the target language once they are more plausibly to interact with other children, even if they are native speaking, during a game, a play… In Krashen’s sense of the word, children appear to be better at acquiring a new language.
Because they have not adhered too much to their original culture, they are more open to integrating into a new society and culture. The means for this integration would be the language at first.
Children also tend to get better accents because of several factors such as articulary muscles being less fixed, they are good at imitating, and they are exposed and learning the new language for longer.
The type of instruction the children get is important to be considered, according to Piaget’s research, once the child’s ability to see the language as an abstract system (Williams & Burden, 1997, cited in FUNIBER, 2019), young children would not benefit from having to analyze rules and grammar but would need to experience language in relation to the world around, example songs, games…
	Learning a foreign language at an early age can increase the child’s intellectual capacity and favors mental agility. Besides that, the level of learning is higher, and the child’s self-esteem and personality are strengthened. It improves communication skills and provides higher academic achievement, more positive attitudes towards other languages and cultures.
	On the other hand, as children are less tolerant when something is boring, it requires greater variety of activities to keep them engaged.
They younger a child is, the shorter his/her attention span is. As time goes by, like building a muscle strength, the child develops it and his/her attention span at 2 years old, is at least 6 minutes of concentration in one activity. It increases 3-5 minutes per age, so at 8 attention span reaches its climax of 40 minutes, as an adult.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
FUNIBER (2019). Individual Factors in the Learner’s Development. Barcelona: FUNIBER
Han J. and Yin H. (2016). Teacher motivation: Definition, research development and implications for teachers, Cogent Education. doi: 10.1080/2331186X.2016.1217819
McDonough, S. (2007). Motivation in ELT (Vol. 61/4). ELT Journal. doi: 10.1093/let/ccm056
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