Which strategy suits you?

Whenever I had to sit for a final exam, I used to take a look at all the theory I had to study and I panicked. I tended to make a mountain out of a molehill and I could not find my way back from that point. So nowadays I try to create a real and clear picture of what I am supposed to know. The way in which I achieve this goal is by using a recently discovered strategy: mind-maps! 

First, I read all the material I have and make the corresponding summaries. After that I decide which information is non-significant and I take it out. Finally, I start creating my mind-map, deciding the central topic present in all the material. I put that topic in the middle, and I start making connections. When I finish, I have the whole subject summarized in the clearest way.  

Today I am uploading a sample of a mind-map I created to sit for a final exam. I usually create my mind-maps by hand, but on this particular occasion I used a webpage. On the site you are not allowed to download or print the maps unless you pay for them, but it is useful anyway because you can use it to brainstorm and modify ideas. There is a lot of theory that you can research online about how to create a mind-map, but to be honest I do not play by the rules! I do use different colours, but I use capital letters to highlight the most important words and not for titles (as I should). Anyway, this is a strategy that works for me because later I create a big version of my mind-map and stick it on a wall. I use post-its to cover the information and I rehearse all I know. Then I lift the post-its up, to check if I remember correctly or if I have to reinforce some concepts.

Rehearsing is also an important part of my study strategy. When you say something out loud it gives you the chance to practice your pronunciation as well as “testing” your knowledge. This has also helped me with my confidence, because after a number of rehearsals I am ready to answer questions more fluently.  

So…which strategies do you put in use when you have to study? Have you tried mind-maps? If you have not, give them a try and you will not regret it!

In case you want to make your mind-map online, here is the webpage I used: https://www.mindmeister.com/es

Yes, I am back!

It has been a long time since I've posted. Now that I am working, I am learing a lot about different resources we teachers have at our disposal that I did not know about! In this case I learnt about a fun site which is very helpful to create different wheels about different topics. I created this one to use with my students who have a KET level. The point of it is asking them to mime the different statements they get so they can relax a bit. I hope you find it useful, if not, go to the site and create your own! :)

To create your own wheel and share it on Blogger as I am doing now you have to follow a few steps:

1. Enter the site "wheeldecide.com" and press "Modify Wheel". This will take you to a number of blank spaces in which you have to introduce your questions/statements/clues or whatever your game is about.
2. Once you finish, you press on "Apply Wheel Changes". Your wheel is done!
3. If you want to post it you press on "Embed Wheel" and touch the combination Ctrl+A (control + the letter A). And immediately Ctrl + C (control + the letter C). Once you have all the "Link" copied, you go to your blogger and paste it on the HTML tab. 
4. You press on "Publish" and that's it! :) 

PS: Don't forget to press on Advance options and click on "remove choice after it is landed on" so there are less options each time someone spins the wheel ;)

Errors

In my previous post I wrote about the importance of providing feedback to our students and I differentiated mistakes and errors. On this opportunity I will write about errors. How do we treat them? Why are they produced? What categories can we put errors into?

First of all I would like to start by pointing out the downside of error analysis. There is a danger in paying too much attention to our learners’ errors because for instance if we make the correction using the second language, the corrected utterance will go unnoticed. While the diminishing of errors is an important criterion for increasing language proficiency, the ultimate goal of second language learning is the attainment of communicative fluency.

Another problem teachers face when analyzing an error is making an overemphasis on production data not paying attention to comprehension data which is equally important in developing an understanding of the process of SLA.

Over the years, many studies have shown that error analysis fails to account for the strategy of avoidance. The absence of errors therefore doesn’t reflect native like competence because learners may be avoiding the very structures that represents difficulty for them.

Now let’s talk about the different categories we have for the description of errors. All in all there are four main categories.

• ·        1^st Errors of addition, omission, substitution and ordering
• ·        2^nd Errors at the level of phonology, orthography, lexicon, grammar and discourse
• ·        3^rd Global errors vs. Local errors. The first affect the comprehension of the message. The second don’t affect the comprehension of the message. There’s only a minor violation of one segment of a sentence.
• ·        4^th Domain vs. Extent the former makes reference to the rank of linguistic unit that must be taken as context in order for the error to become apparent. The latter refers to the rank of linguistic unit that would have to be deleted, replaced, supplied or reordered to repair the sentence.

The last things I want to mention are the different sources of errors defined.

v INTERLINGUAL TRANSFER: the beginning stages of learning a second language are especially vulnerable to interlingual transfer from the native language, or the interference in these early stages, before the system of the SL is familiar, the native language is the only previous linguistic system upon which the learner can draw.

v INTRALINGUAL TRANSFER: it is a major factor in SL learning. It refers to generalization within the target language. As learners progress in the SL, their previous experience and their existing subsumes beginning to include structures within the target language itself.

v CONTEXT OF LEARNING: it refers to the social situation in which the SL learning occurs. Possibility of “induced errors”: learners often make errors because of a misleading explanation from the teacher, faulty presentation of a structure or word in a textbook, or because of a pattern that was memorized in a drill but improperly contextualized.

v COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES: learners use production strategies in order to enhance getting their messages across, but at times these techniques can themselves become a source of errors.  

Which is your personal opinion about errors? How do you treat a learner's error? 

Keep up because I will continue posting more about this topic which is so important for teachers. 

What a mess!!

Feedback must always be present

To begin with: what do we speak about when we refer to FEEDBACK?  It is the information that is given to the learner about his/her performance of a learning task, usually with the objective of improving this performance.
Feedback has two distinguishable components: assessment and correction. In the former the learner is simply informed about how well or badly he has performed. In the latter some specific information is provided on aspects of the learner's performance through explanation.  It is possible to give assessment without correcting but it is virtually impossible to comment on what is right or wrong in what a learner has done without conveying some kind of assessment.

Now let's speak about an important difference that we have to consider when we are looking at our learners performance and it is whether they are making a mistake or an error. What's the difference between these two concepts?  Mistakes refer to a performance error that is a "slip" of the pen,  it is a failure to utilize a known system correctly.  [It can be self corrected] However,  errors are noticeable deviations from the grammar of an adult native speaker, they reflect the competence of the learner. [It cannot be self corrected]. When a teacher is providing feedback on mistakes the purpose is to help and promote learning, and that "getting it wrong" is not bad but rather a way into "getting it right".

As teachers, what do we do when instead of making a mistake we see that a learner has made an error? What are the different categories to describe an error? Which are the sources of errors?

I will be answering all these questions on my next post! :)

Coming back soon...

I haven't been able to post lately because I've been having some problems with my internet connection! Soon I will keep posting useful reflections about the topics I'm learning at the prof :) 

Useful resource

Can you think of other ways to say "good" ? Please, comment!! :)