UNIT 13 LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS

 

LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS 

There are some characteristics on learners that teachers must take into consideration when teaching a language. The first characteristic is motivation; learners need to be motivated inside (intrinsic) and outside their environment (extrinsic) to identify the purposes of why they are learning the language.  The second characteristic is learning style which is the way students prefer to learn the language and remember information or skills. Moreover, there are some learning styles that are related on how students feel comfortable studying the language and in the interaction with their classmates. Here are examples of learning styles visual, kinesthetic, auditory, group work, individual work, analytic, autonomous, etc. The third characteristic is learning strategies in which students practice and use the language to learn; these activities will help pupils to learn new language better. In addition, some students prefer memorization and paraphrasing activities. The last characteristic is maturity can be shown physically, mentally and emotionally.

In the classroom teachers must identify learners’ characteristics to create activities that help them to learn the language easily. For example, if there are some students who are auditory learners, most of the activities given should be focused on students’ needs. Repetition, reading aloud, bingo game, dictation, the use of authentic material and communicative activities will encourage learners to learn the language by listening. However, teachers should know that there will be some cases that in the same class teachers will have more than one learning style which engages more than one activity in the classroom.  

For more information click on these sources:

• Carla.umn.edu,. (2014). The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition (CARLA). Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://www.carla.umn.edu/learnerlanguage/ind_dif
• Yates, B. (2014). Characteristics of Adult Learners .Assetproject.info. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://www.assetproject.info/learner_methodologie
• Texas Language Technology Center, U. (2014).Examples of Learner Beliefs | Foreign Language Teaching Methods: The Language Learner.Coerll.utexas.edu. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://coerll.utexas.edu/methods/modules/learners
• Educationplanner.org,. (2014). What's Your Learning Style? The Learning Styles. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-styles.shtml  
   Learning-styles-online.com,. (2014). Overview of learning styles. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/
• YouTube,. (2014). Learning Styles I: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic. Retrieved 4 December 2014, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=delk5NnqXbs