Learning Strategies - Middlebury College: Community Home Page

Tips for Learning Japanese:
Research Perspectives
Yukiko A. Hatasa
University of Iowa / Hiroshima University
Successful Language Learners
•
•
About 5 % of second language (L2) learners
ever acquire the native-like proficiency
Successful L2 learners are:
 Highly motivated
 Autonomous
 Capable of using a variety of language learning
strategies
 Select strategies that match with the learners’
cognitive styles, learning styles, and learning
contexts and language use.
 Able to maximize the opportunities for
socialization with native speakers.
Motivation
1. The strongest predictor of general achievement
measures (Gardner, 2003; Noels, 2000; Dornyei,
2005)
2. Oral task engagement (Dönyei & Kormos, 2000) &
willingness to communicate (Maclntyre et al., 2003);
3. The degree of extensive reading (Yamashita, 2004)
4. Use of learning strategies (e.g., Schmidt,et al.,
1996; Schmidt &Watanage, 2001)
5. Reading comprehension ability and kanji knowledge
（Kondo-Brown, 2006)
Types of Motivation: SelfDetermination Theory (Deci & Ryan,1985)
A) Intrinsic motivation (performing the task because
of the inherent pleasure in doing so)
1. IM-knowledge (the pleasure involved in learning
new things)
2. IM-accomplishments (the enjoyment inherent in
mastering challenges or grasp a difficult
construct in L2),
3. IM-stimulation (for the general aesthetic
pleasure of the experience, e.g., the high that I
experience while speaking L2)
B) External motivation
1. Integrated regulation (It supports a valuable
component of his/her identity and self-concept.)
2. Identified regulation (It will help him/her to achieve
an important personal goal.)
3. introjected regulation (Imposing pressure on
him/herself to perform an activity; e.g., I feel guilty if I
didn’t know the L2. )
4. External regulation (an complete external control
over the activity by the expectation of rewards or
punishments, e.g. to get a job. )
C) Amotivation (absence of motivation. e.g., I don’t really
understand what I am doing studying L2. )
Effects of Different Types
Motivation
1. Intrinsic motivation is more effective than extrinsic
motivation.
2. Intrinsic motivation has utility as a predictor of:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
(j)
lower anxiety, increased tolerance of ambiguity
positive attitudes towards language learning,
feelings of self-efficacy in language learning
language use
language learning strategy preferences
persistence
motivational intensity
grammatical sensitivity
speaking and reading proficiency
teacher ratings of competence
(Ehrman, 1996; Noels et al., 1999, 2000; Ramage, 1990; Schmidt, Boraie, & Kassabgy, 1996;
Tachibana, Matsukawa, & Zhong, 1996;Kondo-Brown 2006).
Tips to increase motivation
1. Set a realistic achievable short-term goal.
2. Find a task in which you use Japanese and
enjoy (e.g., reading books, watching anime
or drama, listening to J-pop, playing games,
etc.)
3. Find a task that is slightly difficult but not too
difficult.
4. Relax and pay attention to the sign of stress.
5. Reward yourself when you have done well
on a L2 task.
Learning Strategies
1. The use of appropriate language learning strategies
often results in improved proficiency or achievement
overall or in specific skill areas (Oxford et al., 1993;
Thompson & Rubin, 1993).･
2. Successful language learners tend to select
strategies that work well together in a highly
orchestrated way, tailored to the requirements of the
language task (Chamot & Kupper, 1989).
3. Successful learners can easily explain the
strategies they use and why they employ them
(O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).
Types of Strategies
1.
Direct Strategies
1.
2.
3.
2.
Memory Strategies (Creating mental linkages, Applying images
and sounds Reviewing well Employing action)
Cognitive Strategies (Practicing, Receiving and sending
messages, Analyzing and reasoning, Creating structure for input
and output )
Compensation Strategies (Guessing intelligently, Overcoming
limitations in speaking and writing
Indirect Strategies
1.
2.
3.
Metacognitive Strategies (Centering your learning, Arranging
and planning your learning, Evaluating your learning)
Affective Strategies (Lowering your anxiety, Encouraging
yourself, Taking your emotional temperature)
Social Strategies (Asking questions, Cooperating with others ,
Empathizing with others)
Effects of different strategy use
1.
Cognitive and metacognitive strategies are often used together,
supporting each other (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).
2. Well tailored combinations of strategies often have more
impact than single strategies. Certain strategies or clusters of
strategies are linked to particular language skills or tasks
(Chamot & Kupper, 1989).
Writing:
planning, self-monitoring, deduction,
substitution
Speaking: risk-taking, paraphrasing, circumlocution, selfmonitoring, self-evaluation.
Listening: elaboration, inferencing, selective attention, selfmonitoring
Reading: reading aloud, guessing, deduction, summarizing.
Factors affecting strategy use
1.
2.
Motivation
Gender
Females reported greater overall strategy use than males in many
studies
3.
Cultural backgrounds
e.g.) Rote memorization and other forms of memorization were more
prevalent among some Asian students than among students from other
cultural backgrounds.
4.
Attitudes and beliefs
Have a strong effect on the strategies learners choose, with negative
attitudes and beliefs often causing poor strategy use or lack of
orchestration of strategies.)
5.
6.
7.
Types of tasks
Learning styles- General approach to language learning
Tolerance of ambiguity
Learning to use strategies
1.
2.
3.
Strategy use should be based on your attitudes, beliefs,
and stated needs.
Strategies should be chosen so that they mesh with and
support each other and so that they fit the requirements
of the language task, the learners‘ goals, and the
learners’ style of learning.
Learning to use strategies is like learning to drive. It
takes practice and time to be good at it. But in a long
run, having a good set of strategies will facilitate L2
learning.
In-Class Strategy Training
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Training should be integrated into regular L2 activities over a long
period of time rather than taught as a separate, short intervention.
Strategy training should include explanations, handouts, activities,
brainstorming, and materials for reference and home study.
Affective issues such as anxiety, motivation, beliefs, and interests -all of which influence strategy choice -- should be directly addressed
by L2 strategy training.
Strategy training should be explicit, overt, and relevant and should
provide plenty of practice with varied L2 tasks involving authentic
materials.
Strategy training should provide strategies that are transferable to
future language tasks beyond a given class
Strategy training should be somewhat individualized, as different
students prefer or need certain strategies for particular tasks.
Strategy training should provide students with a mechanism to
evaluate their own progress and to evaluate the success of the
training and the value of the strategies in multiple tasks.
Vocabulary and Reading
Reading Strategies
Bottom-up strategy (Processing of smaller
units to larger units, e.g., letter → word
→phrase →sentence →paragraph
Top-down strategy (Processing of larger units
to smaller units by making an educated guess
from context, linguistic knowledge, discourse
structure, real-world knowledge etc. )
1.
2.
The both the bottom-up and top-down strategies are used
in reading.
Proficient readers are capable of using the top-down
strategy; An ability to use the top-down strategy positively
correlates with language proficiency. (Everson & Kuriya, 1992;
Horiba, 1990, 1996; Kondo-Brown, 2007)
3.
4.
5.
Less proficient learners rely on the bottom-up strategy
because of the lack of automaticity in processing lowerlevel information.
The bottom-up strategy tends to be used by advanced
learners of Japanese. (Warnick, 1996)
Teaching the top-down strategy tends to be more effective
for beginners, but erroneous guesses are common (esp.
with difficult materials or without sufficient pre-reading
activities).
Vocabulary Knowledge
1. Vocabulary knowledge is the best
predictor of reading proficiency. （Anderson &
Freebody,1981; Ammon, 1987; Garcia 1991; Flood et. al., 1991; Rupley,
Logan, and Nichols , 1999)
2. The majority of vocabulary items are
learned incidentally through reading and
listening. Conscious learning of
vocabulary has a limitation (Nation, 2001).
は
の
で、
をめぐる
について「
にはが
きな
を
っている」とべたうえで、
や
、
の
を
する
の
について「つの
であったが
ではないか。こういう（
の）もなくなる。いに
をして
いきたい」と、めて
きな
をした。
安倍首相二十四日ＮＨＫ報道番組、年
金記録管理
責任
「政治的
私一番大
責任背負
」
述
、年金医療保険、介護保険個
人情報一元管理
社会保障番号導入
「一
番号
方便利
。
（年金記録）問題出
。大
検
討議論
」、改
前向
姿
勢示
。
安倍首相は二十四日のＮＨＫ報道番組で、年
金記録管理をめぐる責任について「政治的に
は私が一番大きな責任を背負っている」と述
べたうえで、年金や医療保険、介護保険の個
人情報を一元管理する社会保障番号の導入に
ついて「一つの番号であった方が便利ではな
いか。こういう（年金記録の）問題も出なく
なる。大いに検討議論をしていきたい」と、
改めて前向きな姿勢を示した。
Word recognition
1.
Letter and word recognition significantly affects on reading
（Chikamatsu, 1996, 2003; Koda, 1992,1994, 1996）
2.
3.
4.
Visual shapes, sounds, and meanings must be processed in
order to recognize words, but the relative importance is still
debated. (Orthographic Depth Hypothesis vs., Universal
Phonological Principle.)
Use of information is different depending orthographic
backgrounds. Alphabetic readers tend to rely heavily on sound
information but Japanese readers use graphic information in
addition to sounds. (Chikamatsu, 1996; Mori 1998, Koda, 1989, 1990, 1998)
Learners tend to be affected by their L1. As they become more
proficient, they tend to acquire more appropriate strategies for L2
though they may never acquire native-like strategy (Chikamatsu, 2006;
Akamatsu, 1998, 1999, 2002;Haynes & Carr, 1990
Incidental Vocabulary
Acquisition
1.
2.
Guessing a word meaning using morphological information
and contextual information facilitates the incidental vocabulary
acquisition (Freyd & Baron 1982 ; Tyler & Nagy 1989).
An ability to guess the meaning of the word using the
morphological information is unrelated to language proficiency
（Mori, 2003) .
3.
4.
5.
An ability to use context is positively correlated with language
proficiency (Mori 2002a; 2003; Kondo-Brown, 2007)/
If sound can be identified in context, it is easier to guess the
meaning of a words. (Kondo-Brown, 2007)
Combined use of morphology and context is more effective
than a heavy reliance on one of them. (Mori & Nagy, 1999; Mori
2002a)
Belief about Kanji and Learning
1. Beliefs about kanji learning significantly affect kanji
knowledge (Mori , 1999a,1999b)
2. Learners who believe that kanji is difficult or
learning kanji requires special skills do not acquire
kanji effectively. (Mori, Sato & Shimizu, 2007)
3. Learners who understand the utility and cultural
value of kanji acquire them more effectively. (Mori,
Sato & Shimizu, 2007)
4. Learners who understand the importance of kanji
component shapes and kanji morphology acquire
them more effectively (Mori, Sato & Shimizu, 2007)
Tips for improving reading
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Increasing automaticity for the bottom-up processing.
Speeded word recognition tasks (e.g., scanning on the web,
speed reading, kanji writing in the air)
Learning cultural significance and history of kanji.
Learning about the importance of kanji in reading
Utilize kanji morphology using kanji games, kanji-matching
games, etc.
Reading materials on the same topic to increase frequency.
Reading a lot of slightly difficult and fun reading materials
Work on a lot of pre-reading activities in in-class reading.
Try to paraphrase or define expressions using your own
words.
Conversation and Grammar
Communicative competence
1.
Linguistic competence (An ability to use linguistic
information such as vocabulary, phonology and grammar)
2.
Sociolinguistic competence (An ability to use expessions
appropriately depending on social situations, interlocutors,
tasks, etc.)
3.
Discourse competence (An ability to form a cohesive and
coherent discourse.)
4.
Strategic competence (An ability to use verbal and nonverbal
means to sustain a converation when verbal interaction is
difficult.)
Savignon, 1972; Canale and Swain, 1980, Bachman 1990; Bachman& Palmer 1996
Grammatical Knowledge
1.
2.
Grammatical knowledge is an important component of
language proficiency though it is not as important as it
has been emphasized in instructional context.
Learners must acquire implicit knowledge of grammar in
order to become proficient in L2.
–
–
3.
Implicit knowledge (An intiutive knowledge. Native speakers has
it much more than non-native speakers.)
Explicit knowledge (Knowledge that can be verbaly explained and
can be obtained through grammar explanation and reference
books. )
Acquiring implicit knowledge requires a lot of conversational
practices and experiences in conversation.
(R. Ellis, 2005a; Philp, 2005 ; N.Ellis, 2005；Hatasa, 2006)
Acquisition of grammatical knowledge
1.
Learners must receive a lot of comprehensible input
(input that is slightly difficult to undersand) (Krashen,
1982)
2.
Learners must notice the target information in the input
in order to acquire it (Schmidt, 1990, 1993; Robinson,
1996; Leow, 1997).
3.
Learners must notice the gap between his/her own form
and the correct form. Without noticing, acquisition does
not take place (Long,1996; Swain, 1985).
4.
Learners must produce a comprehensible output. In
order for an output to be comprehensible, it must be
accurate and appropriate (Swain, 1985)
Tips for learning grammar and
conversation
1.
Grammar explanation helps, but a heavy reliance
on grammar drills and reading reference books do
not lead to the acqusition of functional abilty to
use grammar. Grammar must be used in
conversation.
2.
During speaking:
•
•
Analyze your own form and the correct form
Analyze grammar and hypothesize the corect form using
your knowledge of grammar.
•
Speak and try to get some feedback from your listener to
test your hypothesis.
(Iwashita 1999, 2003, Philp 2003, Takahashi 2003, Oliver & Mackay 2003)。
3.
Learn a lot of expressions that help you to negotiate meanings
and use them during conversation in L2 (Long, 1991)
•
Comprehension check (e.g.（私がいったことが／いみが）わ
かりますか？（この表現は／意味は）正しいですか。まちがって
いませんか。）
•
Confirmation check (e.g., 〜ですね。〜っていうことですか？
〜っていいましたか, 〜ですか）
•
Repetition
•
Clarification request （e.g, あのう、今よくわからなかったんで
すけど，〜がわからなかったんですけど, もういちどいってくれ
ませんか，〜ってなんですか。
4.
After speaking
•
Try to write down what you have talked about
and check the forms on your own
•
Use check list to find out what you have been
able to or not able to do during the conversation.
5.
Try to engage in one-to-one conversation because it
increases the amout and complexity of speech. It also helps
improving the comprehension ability and facilitates grammar
acquisition. (Pica & Doughty 1985; Pica, Young & Doughty 1987,
Gass & Varonis 1994, Loschky 1994, Polio & Gass 1998; Mackay
1999, Ellis and He 1999, Ohta 1999, 2000).
6.
Ask your teachers to provide more opportunities for pair work.
Pair work should have a specific communicative goal and go
beyond pattern practice with gaps or script with blanks. A
good pair work should be task-oriented and can be extended
to a real-life task.
終
ご清聴有り難うございました。
Thank you!

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