What learning strategies could learners use to help them improve in the following areas ?
- dealing with words in texts and recordings that you don’t know
- remembering new vocabulary
- learning new grammar
- improving pronunciation
- developing oral fluency
- developing comprehension skills
- becoming more independent
1) Dealing with words in texts and recordings that you don’t know
Try These Six Strategies for Tackling Unfamiliar Words
- Break it up into pieces => some words aren’t too hard to figure out if you split them up into little parts.
- Look for context clues => scoured the sentences surrounding their chosen vocabulary words. Familiar words nearby clued them into what their words might mea
- Make connections to other words you’ve heard=> to understand that there is a relationship between two or more things. It didn’t take long for us to make the connection between the missing money and our partner’s new car.
- Make connections to your own life=> drew from personal experiences to evaluate how a familiar word was being used in an unfamiliar context.
- Take a guess — even if it’s wrong=> They then learned more about their words by comparing their guesses to the words’ dictionary definitions.
- Look it up in a dictionary=> discover more by looking it up in a dictionary.
2) Remembering new vocabulary
1) Use Memory Techniques =>a popular way to memorize vocabulary is the use of mnemonics, which are mental shortcuts that help you remember more complex concepts or words.
2) Create a learning environment =>you can create an inspiring and study-friendly environment wherever you are: Buy magazines or books in the new language, watch movies, and cook (or just eat) the local food.
3) Put the words in context =>a good idea to learn more words faster is to put them in context: Instead of writing lists of random words, try to put them in sentences.
4) Learn from real-life situations=> speaking of context: Movies, TV shows, books, podcasts or songs are not only a great source for the most common words.
5) Take it to the next level=> if you want to take language learning to the next level, leave enough space for mind maps with associated words, synonyms or antonyms.
6) Find the tools that work for you=> try as many different ways – or a combination thereof – as possible: Flashcards, apps, lists, games, or post-its, are great ways to memorize vocabulary.
3) Learning new grammar
- Read =>Reading is one of the secret weapons to improve your grammar skills. When you read, you will come across different grammar rules,
- Use a grammar manual =>It is a very useful idea to have a grammar manual nearby that you can consult when writing. This will help you to quickly refer to it when any grammatical question arises. Most importantly, .
- Write more and quiz yourself =>Just as we discussed how the extensive reading can be an important step to improve your grammar skills, it will also be essential to simply write more. The more time you spend practicing writing using proper techniques and grammar rules, the more you sharpen your grammar skills.
- Re-reading aloud =>After the extensive reading and writing, re-reading your pieces aloud could be a smart way to catch any major and minor mistakes. However, sometimes we do not always catch our own grammar mistakes;
4) improving pronunciation
- Listen!=> Listening to examples of authentic speech is the most obvious way to improve your own pronunciation. There are lots of ways to do this – watch a film in its original version, listen to podcasts about a topic that interests you in English (you could try the British Council English podcasts app here ), even listening to music can help.
- Record yourself.=>Once you have practiced shadowing, you could record yourself speaking – either repeating a short phrase that you have listened to, or doing a longer speaking task from a coursebook, like describing a picture. Listen back and make a note of any sounds that you have problems.
- Get to know the phonemic chart. =>The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a visual representation of different sounds. It might look strange and it might feel like you are learning a whole new language, but it can really help you with pronunciation. All dictionaries have a phonetic transcription of words so that you know how to pronounce them.
- Use a dictionary. =>As well as printed dictionaries which will give you a phonetic transcription of a word, th
ere are lots of online dictionaries
5) Developing oral fluency
- Read Aloud to Your Child/Student =>If your child can hear examples of fluent reading they are more likely to understand how to apply fluency in their own reading. Read outloud to your child often and with expression.
- Thear and understand what fluent reading sounds like=> Text can come from books, magazines, the internet, or anywhere you can find interesting reading material for your child. Talk to your child about what fluency means.
- Use Choral Reading=>Choose a short passage that your child or students can read independently (although they may have trouble with fluency they should be able to recognize most of the words without spending too much time sounding them out).
- If you are a teacher, have a copy for yourself and a copy for your class or group. You also might want to put the passage on an overhead projector for the whole class to see. If you are a parent, have a copy for yourself and your child.
- Use Echo Reading => is similar to Choral Reading except you read the passage first aloud, and then have the child/students echo (or copy) you, by rereading the passage out loud trying to match the way you just read it.
6) Developing comprehension skills
- Read=>Reading frequently will help your son learn new words and interpret different meanings. Encourage him to build an ample and wide vocabulary by looking up difficult or unfamiliar words in the dictionary and writing them down.
- Make links to the text=>Your son can make links by relating and comparing the text he is reading to something in his own life. Ask him whether the text reminds him of something he has previously read, seen or heard before.
- Try to guess what will happen next=>Your son can use the information in the text to guess what might happen next. What clues are provided in the text to suggest where the story might go next?
- Visualise=>Encourage him to form a vivid mental picture of the things that are being described in the text. What does he picture in his mind from the descriptions in the text?
- Ask questions=>Help him to ask questions about the text and answer them in order to tease out the meaning. What is the main character like? When is the story set? Form the habit of asking questions when you are watching a film or TV program together.
7) Becoming more independent
- Learn more about yourself=>The first step to becoming more independent is knowing what you want–and acting on it. If you’re consumed with the idea of what other people think or want, you’ll never gain true autonomy,It’s not a bad quality to consider the opinions of others. However, when you value the thoughts and feelings of other people over your own, you undermine your own authority.
- Spend time with yourself =>Having time alone to build independence seems obvious, but it’s easier said than done. Many people struggle to eat alone at a restaurant, go shopping by themselves, or even be at home without another person there.
- Build your confidence=>Believe it or not, confidence isn’t something you either have or you don’t–or at least it doesn’t have to be. Self esteem is something that you can intentionally build over time.
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