LCH1005

SELF- DI REC TED LEARNING

DE VELO PMENT

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 In this session, you will learn
how to learn independently to develop your
academic English skills for lifelong needs.

CONTENTS
1. Identify your strengths and weaknesses with DELTA
2. Find your personal learning goals - Short-term goals vs. long-term goals
3. Explore your own learning activities - online ‘academic’ resources
- Examples of Face-to-face workshops and programmes
- Online leisure activities
4. Monitor your learning process – Do you like it?...
5. Evaluate your learning outcome – Have you improved?...
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(1) Identifying your strength and weakness

Activity 1
• What are your strengths and
weakness of English skills? (You may
refer to your learning experience. )
• Share with your classmates

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 • The Diagnostic English Language Tracking Assessment (DELTA)
offered by the College
• Assesses your ability and readiness to use academic English, ie.,
– Reading
– Listening
What is – Grammar

DELTA? – Vocabulary
for your tertiary studies.

DELTA report
• Outlines your ability in different subskills.
• helps you evaluate your language.
• helps you plan for future academic needs.
 Academic English Journey 4
DELTA
After the test, you can try these self-directed learning questions, for
example
– which areas should you focus on first?
– Which listening/reading/grammar subskills do you need to
improve?
– Which areas of vocabulary do you need to review?

Completing the DELTA is a compulsory part of the coursework of

this subject
Refer to the Self-directed Portfolio Guidelines for details
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(2) Finding learning goals and deciding
learning areas
1a. Start with a small number of short-term goals
1b. Set a long-term goal for your future need

Effective Ineffective

• ‘In this semester, I will work on my ‘I want to become an all-round,

academic vocabulary and native-like English user.’
grammatical skills for this course.’

All long-term goals are built up on short-term goals. 6

2. Focus on short-term goals ,
prioritize a challenging and achievable goal

Effective Ineffective

• ‘I will first focus on academic • ’ Wow! I want to improve ALL skills

vocabulary because I know very now in one SEMESTER! ‘I want to
few of them’ get an A+ in this course!’

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3. Make the goal specific in context

Effective Ineffective

• “Every week I will choose two • ‘Learning more English words is

words from the Academic Word List my goal!’
and study their meaning and usage
from Cambridge Dictionary Online.”

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Activity 2
Goal-setting practice
• 1. What are your short-term learning goals?

• 2. Share your goals with your classmates and discuss how

you would rank the goals in terms of priority. Which is
your top short-term learning goal (Name ONE only)?

Note: Please review your goals after completing the DELTA.

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(3) Choosing learning activities
• The Centre for Independent Language Learning
(CILL) of PolyU (https://elc.polyu.edu.hk/CILL/)
• The Self-learning Language Center (SLLC) of
Online learning PolyU CPCE Library (
http://weblib.cpce-polyu.edu.hk/sllc/slm/)
resources in the
• Purdue Online Writing Lab (
College https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/1/)
• English for University.com (
https://englishforuniversity.com/resources/)
• Using English for Academic Purposes for
Students in Higher Education (
http://www.uefap.net/) 10
 • English Week
Face-to-face • Academic English Enhancement Workshop Series
workshops and – Reading & Writing
activities in – Listening & Speaking
HKCC
– Close Encounter with a Native English Teacher (NET)
• CSAO Complementary Studies Programme
– English Vocabulary Building
– English Pronunciation
– Improving Oral Communication in English
– Improving Grammar for Effective Communication: Sentence
The information and Structure
application methods
will be sent to your
HKCC email account
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Online leisure • online games, mobile applications,
activities in Instagram posts, YouTube videos or TV
English series
• Develop habit of using English for your
own interest

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 Activity 3
Self-directed learning activities

1. Which self-directed learning activities will you choose to achieve your goal?

2. Find classmates with similar choices and interests and share your
improvement plan with them.

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(4) Monitoring your learning
process
• Do you engage in independent learning regularly as planned? If yes, how do
you keep it up? If not, what strategies can you think of to motivate
yourselves?
• Do you learn faster with this activity?
• Do you like this learning activity?
• What are the obstacles when you carry out this activity? How you can solve
them?
• Is this learning method effective for you?

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 Goal Resources
I want to set short term goals for this semester.
They are….
Actions / tasks YYoouuttuubbe
e
This week IInnssttaaggra
ram
m
 Read Self-directed Learning Portfolio

! !! !
Guidelines Rewards
 Find out my strength and weakness in English

This month Monitor

 Complete DELTA e.g. Is this learning method effective for you?
 Choose my learning activities

Within this semester Evaluation

 I want to… e.g. Do you understand or use the subskills
better than you did in the past?
(5) Evaluating your learning outcome
Have you improved the targeted areas?
- Take DELTA again to see your improvement
Ask yourself the questions from time to time:
• Do you understand or use the subskills better than you did in the
past? How far do you understand these areas?
• What do you perform better now than in the past?
• What do you learn through this activity? Are they relevant to your
goals?
• Can you move forward to the next stage or next item?

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Activity 4
Refl ection on past self-directed learning
experiences
1. Name one self-directed learning activity (non-required tasks, non-
assignment) you carried out in the past.

2. What did you learn? Did you like this learning activity?

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 In this session, you have learnt some fundamental
strategies on how to
• learn English independently,
Summary • identify your strength and weakness with DELTA,
• set your learning goals effectively,
• choose your learning activities,
• monitor your learning process, and
• evaluate your learning outcomes.

You can now proceed to take your DELTA and fill in the self-learning
portfolio. Please read the learning portfolio guidelines and submit
the required items to your lecturer on time.

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References
Benson, P. (2011). Teaching and researching autonomy in language learning (2nd ed.).
Harlow, England: Longman.
Holec, H. (1981). Autonomy and foreign language learning. Oxford, England: Pergamon.

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 Goal Resources
Add text

Actions / tasks
This week
 Add text
 Add text

! !! ! Reward

This month Monitor

 Add text

Within this semester Evaluation

 Add text