Learner-training tasks

Learning circle (session4)
Group members: Abduljabbar, Canan, Michael, Mustafa, Sumeyra, Tomo, Ellen (secretary)

Qa) Which two exercises below would you classify as Learner Training?
We agreed exercise B and C would be classified as learner-training tasks.

Qb) What makes the Learner Training exercises different from the others?
Basically, learner-training tasks have different features: they require more explanatory and longer rubrics and the content should encourage learners to think about their learning process.
Exercise B provides learners with opportunities to raise learners’ awareness about why certain strategies can be useful through clear instructions and introductions to activities. Firstly, it is clearly stated what the objective of the task is and why learning patterns is an important strategy in the grammar part. While reading rubrics, learners are expected to understand what they are doing and why and then move on to generate new sentences using the pattern. It is assumed there is explicit focus on the process of learning, which is one of essential parts comprising learner-training tasks. Exercises C seems to focus more on self-assessment and monitoring. A series of questions can provide learners the opportunities to evaluate, monitor, and reflect their own learning. They can also lead learners to take more responsibilities for their learning by encouraging them to think about how they have learnt and how they are going to learn.

Exercise D, however, is regarded as a language learning task focusing on linguistic knowledge, say, formal fluency. Without any consideration about involving learners in process, only controlled practice is given. In exercise B, learners may have difficulty in producing sentences because there are no sufficient instruction and example so that they can understand the tasks and generate new sentences.

In our views, it is seems to be clear that sufficient consideration about to what extent they should be explicit and how well teachers are trained should be prior to implementing learning-training tasks in reality. There would be differences according to teaching contexts, that is, how much official syllabus allows them to be put into classrooms and negotiations can exist between coursebook designers, teachers, and learners. We have come to a conclusion that more empirical research and experiments should be conducted to support and realize them in wider range of contexts.