REFLECTION ON REFLECTION ON LANGUAGE LANGUAGE

WHAT? WHY? HOW?

Caroline Moore March, 2006

WHAT DO WE MEAN BY REFLECTION ON LANGUAGE?

...this is a stage for students to conduct reflective observation of language, which means that students themselves must try to make sense of how language works. By doing so, students move to a stage of abstract conceptualisation, in which they make generalisations about language. The teacher should seek to promote and guide reflection, and redirect it when necessary.
[Planes y programas. Ingls, p.18]

IN OTHER WORDS...
...this is a stage for students to conduct reflective observation of language, which means that students themselves must try to make sense of how language works. By doing so, students move to a stage of abstract conceptualisation, in which they make generalisations about language. The teacher should seek to promote and guide reflection, and redirect it when necessary.
[Planes y programas. Ingls, p.18]

WHY ENCOURAGE REFLECTION ON LANGUAGE?

IT FITS WITH A CONSTRUCTIVE APPROACH TO LEARNING

IT IS PART OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

The Experiential Learning Cycle

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION
[Kolb 1984]

 HUMANS HAVE A NATURAL TENDENCY AND ABILITY TO MAKE SENSE OF LANGUAGE AND TO SYSTEMATISE IT SUCCESFUL LEARNERS ARE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN LOOKING FOR REGULARITIES IN LANGUAGE DATA AND IN DRAWING CONCLUSIONS FROM THOSE REGULARITIES.

 AWARENESS-RAISING EMPOWERS LEARNERS TO TAKE A MORE ACTIVE AND CONSCIOUS PART IN THEIR LEARNING. AWARENESS RAISING DEVELOPS A HEALTHY SPIRIT OF ENQUIRY WHICH IS A POSITIVE SKILL FOR LIFE.

HOW DO WE FACILITATE REFLECTION ON LANGUAGE?

...this is a stage for students to conduct reflective observation of language, which means that students themselves must try to make sense of how language works. By doing so, students move to a stage of abstract conceptualisation, in which they make generalisations about language. The teacher should seek to promote and guide reflection, and redirect it when necessary.
[Planes y programas. Ingls, p.18]

 ISOLATE A SPECIFIC LINGUISTIC FEATURE FOR FOCUSED ATTENTION. PROVIDE SUFFICIENT DATA WHICH ILLUSTRATES THE TARGETED FEATURE ENCOURAGE LEARNERS TO UTILIZE INTELLECTUAL EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND THE TARGET FEATURE.

REFLECTION WITHIN THE EXPERIENTIAL CYCLE

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALISATION REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

NOTICE DRAW CONCLUSIONS RE-ORGANISE VIEW OF LANGUAGE

TECHNIQUES FOR ENCOURAGING REFLECTION

IDENTIFY / CONSOLIDATE Learners search a set of data to identify a specific pattern or use of a language form. CLASSIFY learners work with a set of data and sort it according to similarities and differences

 HYPOTHESIS BUILDING Learners make generalisations about language and then check these against more language data. CROSS LANGUAGE COMPARISON Learners identify similarities and differences between L1 and L2.

 RECONSTRUCT / DECONSTRUCT Learners recall and reconstruct elements of a text to highlight and reveal significant features. REFERENCE SEARCH Learners use reference books dictionaries, grammars, study guides etc. to find out about language.

WHAT AREAS CAN WE WORK WITH?

VOCABULARY Meaning, Spelling, Collocation

GRAMMAR Forms and Use

FUNCTIONS Exponents and their REFLECT ON... Forms and Use

PRONUNCIATION Sounds, Reduced forms, Stress, Intonation

WHAT MAKES A GOOD TRAINING SESSION?

ACCESSIBLE The theory is digestible PRACTICAL Hands on and task based. The content takes into account the level of the learners and is appropriate for the reality of the educational context. ENGAGING The content is both interesting and challenging.

Some Suggestions...
Set problems, activities and tasks that raise relevant points. Encourage participants to fully engage with the tasks. Elicit as much as possible.

 Provide appropriate examples. Make participants aware of what they have been learning Encourage self-evaluation