A PROFILE OF GOOD LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Are some people born to be better learners? There is still little research to provide a firm answer to it. Our learning experience tells us that effective learning strategies can be acquired. Your ability to learn a language can be improved by observing and adopting when it suits you, the approach good language learners use. Less able learners can profit from the strategies used by more able students, and even more able students can refine and add to their learning strategies so as to become as efficient as possible. The following are some learning strategies that good learners adopt to facilitate learning.

Management & Monitoring Strategies

• Identify the learning goal as clearly as possible and keep it in mind so that one's learning will always be purposeful.
• Manage resources, such as time, materials, effectively and exercise self-discipline.
• Find out what is needed for a language activity in advance, such as materials, equipments, partners etc., and locate where they are,
• Preview what is to be learnt in a coming learning activity, such as the grammatical rules, the required vocabulary or phrases.
• Plan and rehearse the language components required in an upcoming learning task.
  Decide in advance what to attend to in a learning task. To general or specific details?
  Monitor and adjust performance for appropriateness to the context or situation, such as the choice of tone and words, the level of formality.
• Check the outcomes of learning against self expectation, such as accuracy, completeness and achievement of the learning purpose etc.

Learning Techniques

• Repeat what has been learnt, such as imitating a language model and seek opportunities to practise.
• Use reference materials, such as dictionaries, grammar books etc., to define a word / phrase / a pattern.
• Relate new information (a rule, a concept) to old information.
• Make association of the new information with physical actions, sight, smell or personal experience.
• Summarise what has been learnt, such as take note of the main points, important ideas etc.
• Apply rules consciously to use or learn the language.
• Attend to key words.
• Construct a meaningful sentence or larger sequence by combining known elements in a new way.
• Place a word / phrase in a meaningful language context.
• Show willingness and readiness to make guess or predict to fill the information gap.

Ways of Getting Feedback

• Work with one or more peers to obtain immediate feedback, pool information, or model a language activity.
• Consult teachers or native speakers for repetition, paraphrasing, explanation and / or examples.

The key to success of good learners lies in their flexibility in using a variety of strategies. They are able to match their choice of strategies to the demands of the task in hand. Of course, you must be prepared to put in a lot of persistent efforts.