Metacognitive Awareness: Teaching students how to be good language learners
In the last few years, as a mid-career teacher, I’ve been faced with teaching middle school for the first time. I could write a whole other post on the craziness and enthusiasm of middle schoolers, but one of the biggest realizations that I’ve had (besides the fact that it’s not uncommon to see your students crawling on the floor and barking like dogs) is that we need to teach students how to learn a language.
I’m not talking about grammar, although I do believe that some basic metalinguistic awareness of grammar is important; I’m talking about teaching students how to be a good language learner.
As a teacher who has mostly taught in international schools where students are very multilingual or teaching in bilingual education in the states, where students already have at least an intermediate level of two languages that they learned at home or in the community, I wasn’t used to teaching complete beginners in a World Language class.
The realization of the need to explicitly teach how to be a good language learner came from two recent experiences. First, teaching a virtual class of 6th graders in rural Wisconsin who were taking a Spanish class for the first time. The virtual nature made it hard to build relationships with the students, but the chat feature meant that students would tell me their thoughts and about their learning process more than they might in an in-person class. For example, about pronunciation difficulties:
The second was an 8th-grade class of mostly boys but with very mixed abilities. Students at the beginning level were starting Spanish for the first time. They were mostly native German speakers who already spoke excellent English because they had grown up in international schools surrounded by a dozen languages.
Because of this, I was surprised to see a lot of the same frustration with unfamiliar texts, inability to actively listen, and language shyness that I had seen with some first-time language learners.
This made me realize that I needed to do a better job of EXPLICITLY teaching language-learning strategies, even if it was at the cost of using the target language.
What to teach beginning language students
Here are some ways that I’ve used to teach students how to be good language learners.
Teach that Language Learning is A Lifelong Process
Are you fluent yet? It may be the most hated question for language learners. Fluency is an undefined term, and the path to fluency is a lifelong process, not something you achieve in a year or two. Unfortunately, many people, including language learners, don’t understand this. I remember the surprise when I went to Quebec as a teenager and found out that even after two years of middle school French, I understood almost nothing that I saw or heard there.
It’s important that teachers communicate to students what they can realistically achieve after a year of language class, the factors that would influence this, and the problematic nature of being “fluent”.
Teach About Proficiency Levels and Expectations:
Students should have a good understanding of what level they are at and where they are expected to be at the end of the year, so they know what they are working towards. Goal setting throughout the year or from year to year is a good way to keep this front and center.
It’s important to be clear on expectations for individual tasks, also. Sometimes when students are given an audio text, they freak out and shut down because they think it’s too hard and they can’t understand it. Before giving the task, make sure students understand what they need to do, for example, write down words they understand or decide if it is an interview or a presentation. They need to be reminded that they do not need to understand every word to meet the expectations and be successful.
Teach strategies for understanding
One activity I like to do on day one or two is a game in the target language. If the class is not for complete beginners, I do it in a different language that my students don’t speak, if possible. Here is the one I’ve done with a hoop and stick, but it can really be any longer, active game where students need to listen carefully to directions and participate.
At the end, ask students how they were able to understand you if they don’t speak any of the language. They’ll name things like gestures, facial expressions, cognates, watching what others were doing and more. This is a great segue into the ideas that they CAN understand what is being said, but they have to put in the effort to be an active listener.
I’ve created these worksheets for students who are new(er) to language learning.
Teaching about active listening
Not listening well is an issue for most middle school students, but in language classes, it’s even more important. In a math class, students might be able to not listen to the teacher’s explanation and later be able to figure it out themself from the textbook. In a language class, if they aren’t listening, they are missing all of the input, which is the learning itself.
The things that might not seem important, like star student interviews or talking about weekend plans, are actually language learning!
Teach about cognates
Having a whole lesson or two about cognates and false cognates can help students feel successful and not overwhelmed in the first week of school. This is also a good way to make connections to English and other subjects and have students understand that learning another language can help them in other subjects.
Teaching about text level and comprehensible input
Just as elementary school students are taught how to pick out a “just right” book at their level, language learners should be taught about comprehensible input and text level to maximize their language learning. A Spanish 2 student who is choosing to read Harry Potter in Spanish outside of class should be commended for their effort, but they should also be told what level things should be at for the most efficient language acquisition.
Teaching about CI in class is also a good way to get feedback on how comprehensible your speech in the target language is to students. Ask them how much of what you say they can understand and adjust accordingly.
I hope this post has given you some food for thought when it comes to explicitly teaching about language learning. I’d love to hear what you do with your students!
