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How Important is it to Know your Students in Order to Promote Learning?

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, in terms of lesson planning, learning is fully linked to a guided set of steps outlined and devised by a teacher. But does planning in itself guarantee the triggering of knowledge gaining (learning) among students? Well, a resounding no needs to be uttered since planning does not guarantee learning. For this reasion, knowing who is sitting down in class is a must: what s/he likes, what his/her learning styles are, how s/he feels about learning the target language, etc. Human beings are very complex when learning comes around; there are certain activities during class time that we enjoy or that we simply do not like. A teacher should get to know based on student behavior in class- what is liked and/or disliked by learners. The activities connected to the teachers learning goals can be successful or not if students attitudes are known beforehand. Though we teachers cannot please a whole class with tasks they fully enjoy, we can plan activities aiming at satisfying student learning preferences up to certain extend. Part of knowing who is sitting in ones class is connected to finding out what student learning preferences are. Even when students are not certain whay they do to prompt his or learning, the language teacher (or any teacher) has to be equipped with some sort of

Blog entries written by Prof. Jonathan Acua

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simple questionnaire to find out a bit more about the students learning styles. If this data become available, an instructor can plan learning experiences (as part of his/her lesson plan) whose outcome are grounded on Blooms Taxonomy (and its hierarchical thinking extension). In addition to student learning preferences, getting to know how learners feel about the target language is tremendously important. In a university language teaching setting, students may walk into ones classroom with no solid interest in the target language since English, i.e., is simply another subject they need to pass to fulfill his/her academic responisibilities for graduation. And perhaps the same teaching scenario is present in public high schools. Language schools, on the other hand, can have students whose motivation can be linked to work readiness or working position demands. By simply asking them why they want to learn the target language, teachers can get valuable information that can trigger student learning easily, moving them to achieve course learning goals and lesson learning objectives. To sum up, knowing ones students in order to promote learning is a must.

To fully comprehend the scope of this teaching reflections, it is highly advisable that the following topics must be expanded further: Effective lesson planning in ELT Student learning preferences Blooms Taxonomy in ELT lesson planning Learners feelings towards the target language

Professor Jonathan Acua-Solano

Blog entries written by Prof. Jonathan Acua

http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

ELT Trainer, Instructor & Curriculum Developer based in Costa Rica Active NCTE Costa Rica Member Resource Teacher & Curricular Developer at CCCN Senior ELT Instructor at Universidad Latina, Costa Rica, since 1998 Contact Information: Twitter @jonacuso Email: jonacuso@gmail.com

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Article published on Sunday, April 13, 2014 How to quote this blog entry: Acua, J. (2014, April 13). How Important is to Know your Students in Order to Promote Learning? Retrieved from Reflective Online Teaching Website: http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/2014/04/how-important-is-it-to-knowyour.html

Blog entries written by Prof. Jonathan Acua

http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/

Blog entries written by Prof. Jonathan Acua