My learning style is a combination of seeing and doing what I am learning. I am a visual and tactile learner. I like to see pictures and I like to participate in activities that are meaningful. I can optimize my learning of a second language by taking a class where I can work with others, focus on understanding rather than producing language, and practice the language in an environment where there is less focus on error correction. I need to build my self-confidence in learning a second language and I need to lessen my fear of making mistakes. I need to take Italian lessons that are meaningful, reflect real life experiences, and can be of immediate use to me. Livemocha offered some opportunities for real life experiences. For example, some of the dialogues were reflective of conversations that I could see myself having if I were in Italy. Also, the website offered basic vocabulary that I would need to carry a daily conversation. When I took the Livemocha lessons, I maintained a positive attitude and put aside my fear of making mistakes. I think this helped me learn some new vocabulary and common phrases in Italian . However, if I wanted to take this learning further, I would enroll in an Italian class as soon as I had more free time.
My learning style is quite complicated. With a generally Field independence style, I can concentrate on something in noisy environment, for example, I prefer to do my homework with light music. I can understand abstract concepts without much effort. If this is the case, I am more likely to be a Left-Brain dominant person because according to Brown (2007), “FI and FD generally apply well for left- and right-brain functioning, respectively”. I do discovered a lot of the descriptions of left-brain characteristics fit into my learning style. For example, I favor logical problem solving and I respond to verbal instructions and explanations. However, I found the description of right-brain characteristics fit into my learning style as well. For example, I remember faces better than names. I rely on images in thinking and remembering instead of language and I believe that’s why I rarely mutter to myself. Also, I have tolerance for ambiguity. I appreciate different or contradictory perspectives, although I want clear answers for everything. Sometimes I am reflective—I will listen quietly and think about what others are saying, but sometimes I am impulsive—I will speak without much attention to logic and word choices. Additionally, I prefer to learn through watching movies, graphic novels and acting. Therefore, I believe my learning style is more like a mixture of different styles.
In this case, in order to optimize my language learning experience, I believe the first thing to do is to make a plan. With a clear objective in my mind, I can choose different strategies to direct myself and monitor myself to my goal in language learning.
While learning the new language, my strategies applied are mainly learning strategies due to the limitations of online learning. For example, in the dialogue session, my main goal is to understand the meaning and relate the meaning of the print to the sound. So I apply cognitive strategies such as resourcing, translation, note taking, imagery, auditory presentation, keyword, contextualization, transfer and inferencing. In the vocabulary session, my goal is to learn pronunciation, thus, the strategies applied are repetition, translation, and auditory representation. No matter what my specific goal is, I always use several different strategies together.
As I continue this course, I am constantly working on making sense of my language learning whether it was in the past, or in my current Livemocha endeavors. I see my experience online through this audiolingual method as primarily Skinnerian in nature. I want to achieve my high percentage- similiar to Qi and therefore am rewarded for efforts when I do. This response to my operant behavior is a positive reinforcer and hopefully allows me to commit the material to memory and be able to repeat it in the future. I also see the aspects of Roger's Humanistic Theory present in my positive self regard. Because the program is online, I see myself as doing well and I want to continue learning. I worry that if I were to transfer my knowledge from this "safe" online experience that lowers my affective filter, I would fail. For example, if I were to go to Prague and try to orally communicate, I would receive punishment through confused looks, perhaps laughter or rude comments, or just not receiving what I wanted or needed. In that sense, my operant behavior would change all my responses and unfortunately my self regard would lower a lot. I also see Rogers as present when I continue learning each week due to an intrinisc desire to do so. My extrinsic motivation is just to complete it (quickly if I wanted) on order to get the screen shot for my points. But instrinsically, I am following his actualizing tendency and seeking to be the best "me" possible. I want to truly learn in it and feel like I can truly speak another language. I also want to be a star student or "good girl," which also follows his theory. Learning a language this way is clearly a combination of these two theories, with operant conditioning standing out the strongest for me. Personally, I don't see a Pavlonian conenction here and will be interested to see who makes that connection in their blog responses below. I will continue to make sense of my language learning as I proceed through this course. I already have learned a lot about how to move from traditional behaviorist methods and cognitively make connections to make Livemocha a more valuable experience.
Part 2 of 2 In terms of strategies that I am employing in my Portuguese learning on livemocha, I find that I am using the memory strategy of creating mental linkages, the cognitive strategy of analyzing and reasoning and the compensation strategy of guessing intelligently. I find Spanish and Portuguese to be fairly similar. Since I already have a Spanish learning background, when I learn new words in Portuguese, I often try to remember them by associating them with Spanish words I already know. This is an example of creating mental linkages throough associating.
Previously I mentioned remembering rules in Portuguese by their differences to rules in English (like the adjective-noun v. noun-adjective patter). This exemplifies the cognitive strategy of analyzing contrastively across languages.
Finally, when I meet a word in review that I am completely clueless of I employ the compensation strategy of guessing intelligently based on linguistic clues. Some times in the review activities in livemocha I am given a sentence in English that I must reconstruct in Portuguese by selecting words from a list and placing them in order. I am not always exactly sure which word is correct by definition, but I often can eliminate certain prospects based on their part of speech or whether I can tell if the noun is feminine or masculine.
Part 1 of 2 I find that metacognitively analyzing oneself is a particularly difficult task to achieve objectively. Prior to this class, I had heard of general learning styles such as left-brained vs. right-brained thinking and attempted to place myself into either category but I’m not sure if what I was really doing was aligning myself with what I thought “sounded best”. Throughout my reading of Brown’s chapter 5 on Styles and Strategies I did my best to analyze the styles and strategies presented in relation to my perception of my own learning. In terms of the aforementioned Left and Right-Brained dominance, after critically analyzing myself as a learner I believe that I exhibit more left-brain-dominant qualities. Some specific qualities of left-brain-dominant people that I identify with include remembering names, reliance on language (over images) in thinking and remembering, preferring talking and writing (over drawing), and making objective judgments (I am a Libra!) (p. 125). Possibly my strongest reason for identifying with the left-brain is Krashen’s support for the idea that left-brain-dominant second language learners do better in an deductive classroom (Brown, p. 126). Interestingly, while I agree with recent research supporting inductive reasoning over deductive reasoning in the L2 classroom (Brown, p. 104), while studying on livemocha I often find myself frustrated wishing, “they would just tell me the rule already instead of making me work out the pattern on my own!” In terms of ambiguity tolerance, I was able to easily identify myself as highly ambiguity tolerant. According to Brown ambiguity tolerant learners are willing to tolerate ideas that run counter to their own belief system. Personally, I enjoy being introduced to ideas, events and people that contradict my own views and perceptions (perhaps that is why I enjoy this program so much—there is plenty of discussion on controversial opinions). Lucky for me, this seems to be a helpful characteristic to have when learning a second language as Brown states, “In second language learning a great amount of apparently contradictory information is encountered: words that differ from the native language, rules that not only differ but that are internally inconsistent because of certain “exceptions,” and sometimes a whole cultural system that is distant from that of the native culture. Successful language learning necessitates tolerance of such ambiguities…” (p. 126). When learning Spanish and Portuguese, I found that a helpful strategy for me was actually remembering words with negative transfer. It actually helps me to think of how the language rules and terms differ. For example, In Portuguese (and Spanish) the adjective is placed after the noun it describes, which is contrary to the adjective-noun pattern of English. This is really easy for me to remember because I just remember it as being opposite. It is easy for me to tolerate such differences in language because I’ve never felt that one particular way is the “right” way and the other is breaking the rule. When reviewing this chapter, I also couldn’t help but analyze my preference for particular learning styles in my own students. I found that in terms of reflectivity and impulsivity, I definitely favor students who exhibit impulsivity. In my own classroom I am very tolerant of errors. In fact, I would rather have a students speak often with more errors than less often with higher accuracy. If I am not careful, I can find myself frustrated by students with a highly reflective style because I just want them to forget about accuracy and get to work on fluency (though I realize this is a personal prejudice).
My learning style is to be immersed in a language because everything is contextualized and meaningful. It also increases my motivation. I work at an afterschool program where most of the parents do not speak English. I have attempted to communicate with them through gestures and using the few words of Spanish I know. I also listen so much more attentively when I have a translator explain what I want to say to the parents. I noticed that in these situations where I feel a real need to communicate and feel a trust that the parents won't make fun of me for trying, I forget about my inhibitions. I also realize how little I have retained from what I am learning through this language study. I tend to remember one or two words, but not fluid sentences (even when I've practiced them on multiple occasions). My monitor comes into play much more with my boyfriend because he is a fluent Spanish-speaker and I feel embarrassed mispronouncing words around him (affective filter).
I think I am the type of learner that learns best through social interaction (Vygotsky) and through constructivism where I build schemas. I need to have concrete schemas in place because rote memorization has never worked very well for me. If I were around the parents a lot more or in social settings where the need to speak Spanish was the only way for me to communication, I think I would learn much faster because my motivation would increase.
Also, rather than simply memorizing words, I could use some explicit phonics instruction to help transfer knowledge from my L1 to my L3. For example, when I wanted to pronounce a street name that had to LL's in it, I was told the LL's make the Y sound. This association allowed me to remember this phonetic rule. I believe this example would fall into the cognitive constructivism realm, because of the strategic association to my L1 and because it happened in context of attempting to ask for directions and having no one understand the street I wanted to go to (meaningful learning) :).
It has taken me many years and many teachers with the "wrong" style to realize what type of learner I am. I am a type of learner that needs a teacher, someone to give me strict guidelines to follow. I am a visual and kinesthetic learner, if I just hear it, it'll go in one ear and out the other. I am the type of learner that needs endless practice in order to learn. I believe that I would do well with a Roger's Humanistic Psychology program, one that emphasizes learning to learn and that offers a non-threatening environment. I know that this approach would give me the freedom to approach language in the way that I need to, but I don't know if I could work with the teacher simply acting as a facilitator. Because I thrive on strict guidelines, this may not be the best approach to take with my learning, unless the facilitator is strict, but that would not likely be the case. I think that I may also do well with a Behavioral Approach type of program, the rote learning would provide me with the practice I need to feel comfortable in speaking at least the most basic elements of the language. The best way to optimize my language learning experience would be to have stricter guidelines and to be more accountable for my language learning. I know I am accountable for it, but because there is no test, no series of written or oral exercises, I don't give it the effort it really requires to learn it. The strategies that I am currently using to learn Catalan are Behavioralist in nature. The screen shows a picture, says the word, and I repeat once or twice. If necessary, I write down the word to facilitate its memorization. Even when the practice is not requiring me to repeat the word aloud, I do it. I want to sound as similar to the lesson as possible.
I definitely begin learning by repetition and memorizing. Once I have a good sense of being able to recall words and phrases, and am able recognize them, I begin to relate the words with other words I know. The more I see and hear something the more I can remember what I’m learning. I remember when I went to Japan last summer, I thought I would never be able to remember how to say hello. To this day, although I haven’t spoken or heard Japanese for almost a year, I can recall and say hello in Japanese without hesitation. I definitely use many different approaches to optimize my learning experience. Initially I see myself learning by responding, and responding correctly, much like the behavioral approach. I also believe that social interaction and relating new learning material to what I already know optimizes my learning. I think that how I am learning (in this case livemocha) and instructors and their instruction plays a large role in how much I will take away from the learning. For example, although I am learning basic skills and parts of language through livemocha, I know I would benefit a lot more from having and instructor fact-to-face and individuals to interact with on a regular basis. I would also feel more confident about my language development. Right now, I know I hear and communicate with livemocha, but when you are learning something from an animated system I always think it sounds different. Not authentic is what I mean.
Unfortunately, the strategies I am using right now to get through my livemocha experience are very different than the learning strategies that have worked for me in the past. The strategies I am using throughout the livemocha process are aligned with ALM. The computer recites a word or phrase and I repeat that phrase over and over again. I am not learning these words and phrases how they are naturally used in conversation; instead, I am learning the word in one isolated context. Although this strategy allows me to do well on the exams and memorize the vocabulary, I know this strategy is not helping me to truly acquire the language. Although this rote learning is helping me to memorize vocabulary and pass the mini-quizzes, I am not retaining much of the language because I am not learning it in a way that is meaningful to me. One of the strategies I find myself using in order to make my learning more meaningful is to create index cards of all the words. By writing the words down, I find it helps me to better internalize that new word. On the other hand, I find myself retaining some key words that constantly come up and forgetting the words that I only need to pass the one section exam (cognitive pruning). In each chapter I remember how to say “she is,” “he is,” “the woman,” or “the man” because those phrases have now been deemed important because I use them all the time. Also, those words were amongst the first I learned, and the constant repetition of them in every chapter is solidifying that vocabulary knowledge. However, I do not remember the vocabulary words that had to do with money and coins because I only needed that knowledge for a short amount of time. This further illustrates how rote learning is not an effective style of learning for me. Thus far my experiences learning a language have been straight out of the school of Behaviorism. I repeat and repeat until I sound exactly how the automated voice does. One good thing about my learning experience is that I am utilizing my monitor hypothesis. If I repeat the word and sound wrong, I immediately correct that mistake because I can hear the difference between my pronunciation and that of the computer.
On the other hand, my learning is normally optimized through social interaction (Vygotsky). For example, when in class I always gain a deeper understanding of the readings and concepts because I am learning from and interacting with other learners. It is for this reason that I have always struggled with online courses. I need the social interaction in order to enhance my learning. In addition, when I take online courses my affective filter is high because I know I will not have that interaction to aid my own learning. My learning style typically takes the role of constructivist as well. I always learn better through doing and through creating my own knowledge. Unlike what Catalina discussed, I need a teacher who acts as a facilitator, scaffolds, and makes bridges for me to cross on my own. I retain knowledge and gain a deeper understanding when I am constructing that knowledge for myself. Rote learning has never worked for me, instead I need those connections and to be able to see why what I am learning is important. I am also a very kinesthetic learner. Having danced my entire life and been teaching dance for many years now, I find my memory is in high gear when I am doing something physical. For example, when I was preparing for our midterm interview I was always pacing and walking around. When I am active in my learning I gain a deeper understanding and create meaningful learning as opposed to rote memorization.
I am a reflective learner with a high ambiguity tolerance. These aspects of learning styles help me to approach my language learning with a somewhat lower affective filter and a willingness to analyze and take risks. I am open to new, unfamiliar situations, so the idea of learning a new language is exciting to me. I tend to be reflective, so I approach the language in a deliberate way, as I try to figure out the grammar and syntax. I also use my inductive reasoning in doing this. I tend to be more of a visual and auditory learner than kinesthetic. I use the picture drills and the flash cards to learn the language, as well as the recorded passages in the lessons. Some of the strategies that I am acquiring are: functional planning, delayed production, and repetition. Before starting a new lesson, I review previous lessons through the review exercises and flash cards (functional planning). I use delayed production by listening to the recorded passages one or two times through before I try to repeat them. I do use repetition when I begin practicing how to say the words. Even when the particular exercise does not specifically call for vocalization, I practice repeating the words to myself. I also learn through the cognitive strategy of contextualization. I remember the words best when they are in a meaningful context. I use the socioaffective strategy of cooperation in using peer feedback. This has value in the evaluation of my written work. It is difficult to effectively use the feedback on accent or in actually carrying out back and forth communication with other Live Mocha users.
I would say that my learning style is preferably a visual, auditory or kinesthetic style. I prefer reading and looking over charts to help with organizing ideas. Demonstrations and physical activity involving movement and doing helps me connect to the material being presented. With that being said, I am right brain dominant. The right hemisphere perceives and remember visual, tactile and auitory images. In learning a second language as we are doing with this class, I find myself taking my own notes and putting things on paper with the audio I listen to. I can listen and need to make that connection visually as well. This is an example of a cognitive strategy. I like to summarize and of course highlight material as I'm doing the lesson. I also compensate, another effective strategy I often use. When I was living Japan and Indonesia, I didn't have a solid command of the language so often times, I mimed or gestured to help communicate. I also incorporate some indirect startegies in my learning. I have a few colleagues who are from Brazil, so I often get them to help me with my Portuguese or try to communicate in the language rather than English. This would fall under the metacognitive strategy- seeking practice opportunities. I'm not afraid to take risks with this language as the context of the situation is not intimidating. I think if I were in Brazil or Portugal using the language alone, I would have a higher affective filter. Since I am surrounded by friends when I use the language, it doesn't get me anxious, rather its encouraging. This would be an example of the affective strategies associated with my learning as well as the social strategies. The social strategies are evident in the cooperative learning I am implementing, by asking for correction and clarification with native speakers of the language.
PS.. I had posted my blog last Tuesday, and I even saw it go through, but today it was gone? I rewrote the blog response. Not sure how or why that happened??
I think overall as a person, I am right-brain dominant. I do really well with whole images and generalizations and I often times find myself trying to create metaphors for my life and for my learning. How I deal with problems and issues in my life and in learning often relies on my intuition and my feelings. So, as I'm using this language program, I am finding my feelings to really guide my motivation to learn the language. I feel somewhat frustrated and overwhelemed by the expectation to be able to learn a language without receiving any feedback. The more frustrated I feel, the more self-conscious I become and often find myself needing to turn off the CD for a little while, listen to some calming music, and then try again once I feel better. I think my experience in learning Italian also reflects my learning style as a visual learner. I prefer to read and look at words and language while I simultaneously speak them. Thus, this program is proving to be difficult for me. As far as learning strategies, I think the two that I employ the most are self-monitoring and self-evaluation. I am constantly check my outcomes and comparing them to the pronunciation and output of the CD's native pronunciation. I also am a perfectionist so am constantly self-monitoring to make sure that I am pronouncing words exactly as I hear them. I believe that these strategies and my learning of the language as a whole would be more optimized if I was able to marry these strategies to some visual input. Therefore, I think I would feel better about my learning, as well as more confident and motivated.
In order to answer this question, I need to identify my learning style. Although my primary learning style is a combination of Auditory and Kinesthetic styles, I do prefer visual style some time. In addition to these categories, and according to Oxford’s (1990a) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), I enjoy working with other people in group, I personally want to learn language gradually, I like to use language that fits correctly in the context, I try to find other ways to learn language outside classroom, I got embarrassed sometimes when I made mistakes and so forth.
How you can optimize your language learning experience? What strategies are you using in acquiring this new language?
One way to optimize my language learning experience is by becoming aware of my learning preferences and the strategies I am using. As an individual grow up in a country where English is not the native language, it is reasonable to adopt the Cognitive Strategies. In other words, I have noticed that I am using the first language to learn the second language. For instance, I am often looking for equivalence in my native tongue in order to understand the target language. However, I got benefit from analyzing, summarizing, repeating, etc as well.
Also, I have experienced the importance of the auditory representation in which I store the words that have similar pronunciations. Additionally, I have found I use metacognitive strategies, the process involved in this strategy included planning for learning, thinking about the learning, and monitoring. In addition to the above, I use Socioaffective Strategies by asking the native speakers of English or Spanish for repetition, explanation and feedback.
To optimize my language learning, I have been working on the avoidance strategies that are applicable to my learning experience such as phonological avoidance, syntactic avoidance and topic avoidance. For example, I have realized that I avoid words, structures, sentences and topics that seem difficult.
In conclusion, identifying learning styles and becoming aware of different learning strategies can lead to successful language learning.
Based on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, I would classify myself as having linguistic and interpersonal intelligences. I learn best when I have an opportunity to discuss my new knowledge with others, thereby also demonstrating social constructivism. I find that if I only listen to a lecture, I am left with lots of unanswered questions, so I need to get involved in dialogue and talk through the new concept. Also, as an interpersonal learner, I agree with Vygotsky's view that "children's thinking and meaning-making is socially constructed and emerges out of their social interactions with their environment" (Brown, 13). Unfortunately, as I proceed with ItalianPod101, I am still unable to incorporate these skills into my learning. I am limited to rote memorization and drills of repeating words and phrases without any sort of feedback. In an ideal world, I will have the chance to continue my language learning in Italy where I can have formal classes and opportunities to use authentic speech in my environment. In chapter 5, Brown discusses various types of learning styles. I believe that I definitely exhibit the left-brain style. When faced with a challenge, I try to find a practical, logical solution and work step by step to understand all the details. In addition, I think that I have a field independent style because I am able to easily distinguish parts from a whole. When faced with a task, I break it into smaller pieces and examine each detail on its own before constructing a main idea. As far as strategies go, as I complete my language learning online, I am limited to cognitive strategies, such as repetition and translation. I prefer socioaffective strategies, like cooperation and questioning for clarification, but through the online program, these are not really possible. The more I learn about the kind of learner I am, the better I am able to adjust and maximize my success. Through these styles and strategies, I am starting to understand how I learn best.
I believe my learning style to be something that is constantly developing and something that will always change as I learn more. For second language learning, with Italian for instance, what I've come to learn about myself is that I need to be completely immersed in the culture so I can socially construct meaning (Vygotsky). I also think that it is important to have meaningful learning. Ausubel describes subsumption as "a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in cognitive structure" (Brown, 91). It is necessary for me to make these connections in order for me to further myself in Italian. Since I have been having a hard time with these blogs, I have not been able to use these strategies .
I also figured out that listening and looking at the work sheets given is not enough for me because in the end thats all I get. I can't ask any questions that would relate to things that I would want to ask about or say to someone. It is a very impersonal. Learning a new language through technology is becoming harder every lesson, however it gives me a good perspective on what I need to do to learn at my best.
I would say that my learning style is definitely right brain, using "numerous alternative communicative strategies to get messages across" (Brown, 119). I feel like I take a more emotional approach, rather than a systematic, logical approach. I think that I am more field dependent because I tend to see the big picture rather than the small parts.
The strategies I use are mainly cognitive, such as repetition and auditory representation but my ideal method of learning would be through socioaffective strategies. As I delve deeper into understanding my own learning strategies I can adjust how I go about to do my work to best support my needs.
PART 2 Today, during my practice I was messaged by a native Spanish speaker learning English and had a very successful and inspiring interaction. We were able to communicate more meaningfully than through the prepared lessons and responses. We chatted in English and in Spanish each introducing the other to new language and providing the opportunity for more genuine conversation and so more meaningful use of our new languages. I am a reflective learner who thinks through each new movement in order to understand successes and failures. I am a bit impulsive in that although I try to think out what I will say so that it is grammatically correct, I like to keep things flowing so I speak, or write to keep communication going. My affective filter is decreasing as I grow more confidant in my language learning. This was reconfirmed with my chat on live mocha earlier today and with my willingness to initiate more Spanish speaking with my boyfriend and co-workers. I am ambiguity tolerant as describes by the book in that I am open to new ideas. Language strategies I use are metacognitive. It is my nature to organize things, so of course I organize my learning. I group learning techniques together and whenever I learn something new I try to connect it to something I already know. I use self management in that I set my learning up with each lesson by preparing the perfect atmosphere. I eat something and drink plenty of water first. Then I sit with coffee, water or juice to have something to sip during my 20 second to five minute breaks where I allow my mind to digest the information I am feeding it. My house has to be tidy to learn. I am distracted if everything is not in its place. My learning atmosphere must be silent so that I may focus on what I am learning. I use self monitoring when reading text to try to perfect my accent. Cognitive strategies I use include recombination. At the end of the lesson I write sentences as instructed by live mocha but always try to add a little more incorporating language I already possess. I always try to contextualize to remember what I am learning. With my new live mocha friend I used the collaboration socio affective strategy to practice my Spanish while helping her practice her English.
PART 1 My learning style is certainly an eclectic one. There is not one way of learning for me, but many. I am certainly very tactile. The feel of the keys as I type on the keyboard feels like a dance for my fingers, awakening my body and mind to the life I breathe into the words on my screen. I certainly subscribe to Ausubel's subsumption theory of meaningful learning and seem to retain only information that can be creatively assimilated into my mind with beautiful words, sounds or imagery. Visual learning is very important to me and highly connected to my kinesthetic inclinations. While learning in school, it has always been important for me to write while looking at the board, projections or face of the instructor and classmates speaking around me. Utilizing eyes, ears, and body help me to stay in tune with whatever I am learning, be it a live mocha lesson, a lecture or a captivating conversation. I am very introspective, relying heavily on my own interpretations of material around me. I like to digest the information surrounding me and allow it to sit inside of me before sharing with the world. Once digestion is complete I love to share my perceptions with those around me to see how the ideas dancing in my head take shape in the world around me. Sharing with others often leads me to re-examine or feel the subject matter again on my own for re-digestion. I suppose this makes me at first a introspective and then very communal learner. To optimize my learning experiences I will continue to draw from multiple styles of learning. In regards to my live mocha lesson learning, I have been leaning heavily toward visual and auditory learning. I listen to the recordings and read the typed words. This helps me to make a connection between the look of written words to the sound of spoken words, but my favorite part of the lesson is definitely the last section of each lesson where I must read text aloud. This practice incorporates visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning. I love the way it feels to workout the muscles of my lower face, tongue and throat necessary for speaking in Spanish; muscles often ignored speaking English. I love the challenge of trying to read the sentences cohesively and trying to sound as native as possible. The communal aspect of online learning has left something to be desired for me. Though the peer reviews are nice, I felt that my lessons were missing something to connect me to them a little more than just someone reading my prepared responses.
I am a visual, auditory and kinesthetic learner. I learn well with a combination of images, audio and interactive learning. I find I learn quite well through rote memorization and repetition. I find however, that I work best when I am able to interact in meaningful activities with a facilitator or peers. Social interaction (Vygotsky) is an extremely important part of my learning style. When social interaction is involved in learning, my motivation increases significantly. I am thoroughly engaged in classroom activity and find that I gain a deeper understanding of material through discussion and interaction with others. For me, interaction is key to understanding language and content. Like Roger’s Humanistic Psychology, I also find that I work best in a learning environment that is non-threatening. Though I believe I work best in an interactive classroom environment my affective filter still remains relatively high in the classroom. I am an extremely anxious person and this affects my participation in the classroom. To optimize my learning, I must be more willing to take more risks. Like Brown suggests (pg. 160) risk taking is an important characteristic of successful learning of a second language. Learners must take the risk of being wrong in order to get the most out of learning. Throughout middle school, high school and under grad I rarely participated in the classroom. Though a bit of that anxiety still remains, I fully participate in my graduate school discussions. This has to do with the classroom environment and how comfortable I feel. The environment at USD is non-threatening and therefore lowers my affective filter. This allows me to fully participate it class. I want to be sure to provide this kind of environment to my future students.
The strategies I am using right now for my language learning on livemocha.com take a structuralist and rationalist approach. I find myself learning through rote memorization, choral repetition, patterning and repeating to get a grasp on both pronunciations and meanings of words and sayings. Since I do well with memorization and repetition I find that I am learning well. I find that my affective filter is relatively low during my online language sessions. This is great as I am able to practice without embarrassment. There is nothing holding me back. As I mentioned above however, I learn my best in an interactive environment. This increases my motivation and pushes me to do my best (as long as it is in a non-threatening environment of course!). So although my affective filter is relatively low, I don’t find that I am fully engaged during lessons. I am of course absorbing a number of Spanish words, sayings etc., but I believe I would benefit greatly from a more interactive experience rather than an online learning experience.
I am a person who is more field independent and ambiguity tolerant. I am better at noticing details or tiny differences than comparing pictures as a whole. What happened to my second or third language learning is that I learn faster in the change of words than the structure of the whole sentences. As a person who is ambiguity tolerant, I am eager to learn new ideas or technologies and tend to accept everything new, and can accept ideas which are contradicted to my own, which helps me a lot in learning a foreign language. I remember that when I was learning English, I seldom questioned why the form is like this while some of my classmates were always asking why; instead, I tended to accept the new language form directly.
My learning style is always changing. I try to listen more and read more to develop the “feeling” of the language instead of simply remember the grammar of the language after I obtained the middle level of that language. For now, my experience on Livemocha of Spanish is more rationalist and structuralism because I have to translate and sometimes disintegrate the sentence into pieces to analyze and generalize the form of the sentence. My learning strategies are the combination of metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and socioaffective strategies. I often plan what I am going to learn in the next hours so that I ignored the irrelevant tasks which appeared in the learning process, and always force myself to imitating the pronunciation of native speakers and the grammar or vocabulary use. I translate a lot when I am learning a foreign language, it helps me remember the new terms or structure and understand what the new language mean. After an oral presentation or a writing work, I usually go to the teacher for help with polishing, better organizing or expression.
My learning style is Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Styles as well as Field Independence. In my second language acquisition, I prefer reading and studying charts, drawings, and other graphic information. If the teacher use video in class to facilitate language teaching, I will be more effective to learn. I find myself very sensitive to images and sounds. In addition, I am also social constructivism. After watching the video or listening to the teacher, I would like to discuss with others to share each other’s opinion, then I would learn more about the knowledge. This point proves Vygotsky’s Social constructivism theory. What’s more, I am good at finding those hidden monkeys. So I think I am also a field independent learner. However, I am always see only the parts and not their relationship to the whole. To optimize my learning, I must develop my field dependence to balance each side. I should also take more discussion activities to know more different ideas from others. My learning strategies are the combination of metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and socioaffective strategies. I often make a general but comprehensive preview of the organizing concept or principle in an anticipated learning activity and plan for and rehearsing linguistic components necessary to carry out an upcoming language task. In L2 acquisition, I often imitate a language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal. I also like to take notes; I like to write down the main idea, important points, outline and the like to help me remember things. When I sometimes could not understand what the teacher said, I will ask a native speaker for repetition, paraphrasing, explanation, and/or examples.
I am a Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic styles learner. I learn best if I can combine listening and reading together. From my experience on Livemocha.com, I have to note down the word first, and then practice spell for several times. After that I have to read after the video record again and again so that I can relate the pronunciation to the word. If I can only learn new words by reading or listening, I can hardly connect the sound with the spelling and I might think they are different words. Besides, I also need meaningful learning and interaction to have a deeper and precisely understanding of the meaning of the words. If I do not have chance to use the word in authentic context, I will forget it quickly because I merely memorize it by rote and barely have chances to use it.
As for me, I prefer compensation strategies more since I have seen the benefit I got from communicating with peers and talking in groups about confusing questions. My English have improved greatly since I spent more time talk with native speakers. However, my Japanese lesson barely benefit from compensation strategies. Now my Japanese lesson on Livemocha is all about memory strategies and some cognitive strategies. I practice pronunciation by using the web tool while learn vocabulary and grammar by reading the textbook. Most of the time I spent in Japanese classes is memorizing vocabulary in rote, analyzing sentence structure, and translating sentences. It is difficult for me to connect the new words with my priories knowledge without teachers’ help, which gets my meaningful learning stuck. Since there isn’t a teacher to give me directly feedbacks and I have few opportunities to interact with other Japanese learners, my language learning improves slowly.
According to the Myers-Briggs character types on page 177 of Brown, I have a sensing personality type. Thus, I use realistic things and past experiences to help me learn. I am also very practical when it comes to learning.
I see my sensing personality type as a useful tool while learning on Livemocha.com. Today when I learned the word "pen" in Spanish, I picked up a real pen to help me connect with my visual side. The pictures on Livemocha really help me to memorize vocabulary quickly.
I also think that I take on very small loads of work in my language study until I feel very comfortable. Livemocha helps manage the amount of work I take on without becoming overwhelmed with a wealth of information. The work is very systematic which keeps me interested. I also like work that is hard. Livemocha does a good job reviewing past vocabulary that I have learned while presenting new grammar and vocabulary. This keeps me interested and "in the game." They do a good job using Vyogotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.
A part of my personality that I used to feel hindered by is my introvert side. But while reading, I learned that Ausubel points out stereotypes about introverts and extroverts have influenced teachers perceptions of students (Brown, 167). But I also think that these stereotypes have influenced students as well. Sometimes I feel hindered by the fact that I do not like to work in groups, and would prefer to learn on my own. Luckily, I realized while reading Chapter 6 from Brown that this is not necessarily a hindrance. In Bush's study she found that introverts were significantly better than extroverts in their pronunciation (Brown 167). This will help motivate me further in my language studies.
Nihao, my learning is pretty straightforward because it involves a mundane, audio-lingual method of learning, the Pimsler Method. As far as learning styles, I feel the style which best defines how I use the the Pimsleur Method is by visual, (writing down the sounds I hear) and audio learning, by way of the ipod download. Basically I employ metacognitive and cognitive strategies. I self-direct my learning. Listening and repeating, lots of repetition, using my first language as a frame of reference, basis of understanding I collect word meanings and phrases. As part of my course of study I do take notes, I write the down words such as the English meaning of a Chinese word. I write the way I think the Chinese word sounds, using English phonemes. I am catching on to certain rules of Chinese, but not many, because not many are offered. Through repetition, I remember the voice of the Chinese speakers/teachers. On occasion, I've been able to use socioaffective strategies to reinforce my learning. I have Chinese classmates I can speak with, and my daughter has some bilingual friends who also are Chinese. I think I would learn best through Socioaffective strategies. I took Spanish in high school and college. I enjoyed the social interaction while learning. It was more meaningful to me, as well as memorable.
My learning style when using live mocha is dominated by a impulsive style in which I am quickly responding and guessing to the activities in Livemocha. Furthermore, I see more of a right-brain dominance in my lessons as most of my responses are based on a intuitive approach vs. a intellectual, calculated approach. My ambiguity tolerance is high in that I am allowing content that is not aligned with Spanish or English background (for example – the use of he/she in Spanish and Portuguese for certain words vary, forcing me to accept to those variations in order for my language learning to succeed).
On the other hand I am aware I am using cognitive strategies such as repetition, translation, deduction, contextualization and more… In the writing section of LiveMocha I am aware I am using avoidance and topic strategies in which because of my lack of portuguese I am leaving sentences incomplete or even topics without answering.
Finally, I would like to add that by understanding and creating awareness to all the strategies available to learners (in this case myself) we can make better use of the lessons in live mocha. In order for the livemocha lessons to be successful I think they should be combined and supported by extracurricular activities to fill in notorious gaps in the learning experience.
My learning style is a combination of seeing and doing what I am learning. I am a visual and tactile learner. I like to see pictures and I like to participate in activities that are meaningful. I can optimize my learning of a second language by taking a class where I can work with others, focus on understanding rather than producing language, and practice the language in an environment where there is less focus on error correction. I need to build my self-confidence in learning a second language and I need to lessen my fear of making mistakes. I need to take Italian lessons that are meaningful, reflect real life experiences, and can be of immediate use to me. Livemocha offered some opportunities for real life experiences. For example, some of the dialogues were reflective of conversations that I could see myself having if I were in Italy. Also, the website offered basic vocabulary that I would need to carry a daily conversation. When I took the Livemocha lessons, I maintained a positive attitude and put aside my fear of making mistakes. I think this helped me learn some new vocabulary and common phrases in Italian . However, if I wanted to take this learning further, I would enroll in an Italian class as soon as I had more free time.
ReplyDeleteMy learning style is quite complicated. With a generally Field independence style, I can concentrate on something in noisy environment, for example, I prefer to do my homework with light music. I can understand abstract concepts without much effort. If this is the case, I am more likely to be a Left-Brain dominant person because according to Brown (2007), “FI and FD generally apply well for left- and right-brain functioning, respectively”. I do discovered a lot of the descriptions of left-brain characteristics fit into my learning style. For example, I favor logical problem solving and I respond to verbal instructions and explanations. However, I found the description of right-brain characteristics fit into my learning style as well. For example, I remember faces better than names. I rely on images in thinking and remembering instead of language and I believe that’s why I rarely mutter to myself. Also, I have tolerance for ambiguity. I appreciate different or contradictory perspectives, although I want clear answers for everything. Sometimes I am reflective—I will listen quietly and think about what others are saying, but sometimes I am impulsive—I will speak without much attention to logic and word choices. Additionally, I prefer to learn through watching movies, graphic novels and acting. Therefore, I believe my learning style is more like a mixture of different styles.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, in order to optimize my language learning experience, I believe the first thing to do is to make a plan. With a clear objective in my mind, I can choose different strategies to direct myself and monitor myself to my goal in language learning.
While learning the new language, my strategies applied are mainly learning strategies due to the limitations of online learning. For example, in the dialogue session, my main goal is to understand the meaning and relate the meaning of the print to the sound. So I apply cognitive strategies such as resourcing, translation, note taking, imagery, auditory presentation, keyword, contextualization, transfer and inferencing. In the vocabulary session, my goal is to learn pronunciation, thus, the strategies applied are repetition, translation, and auditory representation. No matter what my specific goal is, I always use several different strategies together.
As I continue this course, I am constantly working on making sense of my language learning whether it was in the past, or in my current Livemocha endeavors.
ReplyDeleteI see my experience online through this audiolingual method as primarily Skinnerian in nature. I want to achieve my high percentage- similiar to Qi and therefore am rewarded for efforts when I do. This response to my operant behavior is a positive reinforcer and hopefully allows me to commit the material to memory and be able to repeat it in the future.
I also see the aspects of Roger's Humanistic Theory present in my positive self regard. Because the program is online, I see myself as doing well and I want to continue learning. I worry that if I were to transfer my knowledge from this "safe" online experience that lowers my affective filter, I would fail. For example, if I were to go to Prague and try to orally communicate, I would receive punishment through confused looks, perhaps laughter or rude comments, or just not receiving what I wanted or needed. In that sense, my operant behavior would change all my responses and unfortunately my self regard would lower a lot.
I also see Rogers as present when I continue learning each week due to an intrinisc desire to do so. My extrinsic motivation is just to complete it (quickly if I wanted) on order to get the screen shot for my points. But instrinsically, I am following his actualizing tendency and seeking to be the best "me" possible. I want to truly learn in it and feel like I can truly speak another language. I also want to be a star student or "good girl," which also follows his theory.
Learning a language this way is clearly a combination of these two theories, with operant conditioning standing out the strongest for me. Personally, I don't see a Pavlonian conenction here and will be interested to see who makes that connection in their blog responses below.
I will continue to make sense of my language learning as I proceed through this course. I already have learned a lot about how to move from traditional behaviorist methods and cognitively make connections to make Livemocha a more valuable experience.
Part 2 of 2
ReplyDeleteIn terms of strategies that I am employing in my Portuguese learning on livemocha, I find that I am using the memory strategy of creating mental linkages, the cognitive strategy of analyzing and reasoning and the compensation strategy of guessing intelligently. I find Spanish and Portuguese to be fairly similar. Since I already have a Spanish learning background, when I learn new words in Portuguese, I often try to remember them by associating them with Spanish words I already know. This is an example of creating mental linkages throough associating.
Previously I mentioned remembering rules in Portuguese by their differences to rules in English (like the adjective-noun v. noun-adjective patter). This exemplifies the cognitive strategy of analyzing contrastively across languages.
Finally, when I meet a word in review that I am completely clueless of I employ the compensation strategy of guessing intelligently based on linguistic clues. Some times in the review activities in livemocha I am given a sentence in English that I must reconstruct in Portuguese by selecting words from a list and placing them in order. I am not always exactly sure which word is correct by definition, but I often can eliminate certain prospects based on their part of speech or whether I can tell if the noun is feminine or masculine.
Part 1 of 2
ReplyDeleteI find that metacognitively analyzing oneself is a particularly difficult task to achieve objectively. Prior to this class, I had heard of general learning styles such as left-brained vs. right-brained thinking and attempted to place myself into either category but I’m not sure if what I was really doing was aligning myself with what I thought “sounded best”. Throughout my reading of Brown’s chapter 5 on Styles and Strategies I did my best to analyze the styles and strategies presented in relation to my perception of my own learning.
In terms of the aforementioned Left and Right-Brained dominance, after critically analyzing myself as a learner I believe that I exhibit more left-brain-dominant qualities. Some specific qualities of left-brain-dominant people that I identify with include remembering names, reliance on language (over images) in thinking and remembering, preferring talking and writing (over drawing), and making objective judgments (I am a Libra!) (p. 125). Possibly my strongest reason for identifying with the left-brain is Krashen’s support for the idea that left-brain-dominant second language learners do better in an deductive classroom (Brown, p. 126). Interestingly, while I agree with recent research supporting inductive reasoning over deductive reasoning in the L2 classroom (Brown, p. 104), while studying on livemocha I often find myself frustrated wishing, “they would just tell me the rule already instead of making me work out the pattern on my own!”
In terms of ambiguity tolerance, I was able to easily identify myself as highly ambiguity tolerant. According to Brown ambiguity tolerant learners are willing to tolerate ideas that run counter to their own belief system. Personally, I enjoy being introduced to ideas, events and people that contradict my own views and perceptions (perhaps that is why I enjoy this program so much—there is plenty of discussion on controversial opinions). Lucky for me, this seems to be a helpful characteristic to have when learning a second language as Brown states, “In second language learning a great amount of apparently contradictory information is encountered: words that differ from the native language, rules that not only differ but that are internally inconsistent because of certain “exceptions,” and sometimes a whole cultural system that is distant from that of the native culture. Successful language learning necessitates tolerance of such ambiguities…” (p. 126). When learning Spanish and Portuguese, I found that a helpful strategy for me was actually remembering words with negative transfer. It actually helps me to think of how the language rules and terms differ. For example, In Portuguese (and Spanish) the adjective is placed after the noun it describes, which is contrary to the adjective-noun pattern of English. This is really easy for me to remember because I just remember it as being opposite. It is easy for me to tolerate such differences in language because I’ve never felt that one particular way is the “right” way and the other is breaking the rule.
When reviewing this chapter, I also couldn’t help but analyze my preference for particular learning styles in my own students. I found that in terms of reflectivity and impulsivity, I definitely favor students who exhibit impulsivity. In my own classroom I am very tolerant of errors. In fact, I would rather have a students speak often with more errors than less often with higher accuracy. If I am not careful, I can find myself frustrated by students with a highly reflective style because I just want them to forget about accuracy and get to work on fluency (though I realize this is a personal prejudice).
This is Ilana-
ReplyDeleteMy learning style is to be immersed in a language because everything is contextualized and meaningful. It also increases my motivation. I work at an afterschool program where most of the parents do not speak English. I have attempted to communicate with them through gestures and using the few words of Spanish I know. I also listen so much more attentively when I have a translator explain what I want to say to the parents. I noticed that in these situations where I feel a real need to communicate and feel a trust that the parents won't make fun of me for trying, I forget about my inhibitions. I also realize how little I have retained from what I am learning through this language study. I tend to remember one or two words, but not fluid sentences (even when I've practiced them on multiple occasions). My monitor comes into play much more with my boyfriend because he is a fluent Spanish-speaker and I feel embarrassed mispronouncing words around him (affective filter).
I think I am the type of learner that learns best through social interaction (Vygotsky) and through constructivism where I build schemas. I need to have concrete schemas in place because rote memorization has never worked very well for me. If I were around the parents a lot more or in social settings where the need to speak Spanish was the only way for me to communication, I think I would learn much faster because my motivation would increase.
Also, rather than simply memorizing words, I could use some explicit phonics instruction to help transfer knowledge from my L1 to my L3. For example, when I wanted to pronounce a street name that had to LL's in it, I was told the LL's make the Y sound. This association allowed me to remember this phonetic rule. I believe this example would fall into the cognitive constructivism realm, because of the strategic association to my L1 and because it happened in context of attempting to ask for directions and having no one understand the street I wanted to go to (meaningful learning) :).
It has taken me many years and many teachers with the "wrong" style to realize what type of learner I am. I am a type of learner that needs a teacher, someone to give me strict guidelines to follow. I am a visual and kinesthetic learner, if I just hear it, it'll go in one ear and out the other. I am the type of learner that needs endless practice in order to learn. I believe that I would do well with a Roger's Humanistic Psychology program, one that emphasizes learning to learn and that offers a non-threatening environment. I know that this approach would give me the freedom to approach language in the way that I need to, but I don't know if I could work with the teacher simply acting as a facilitator. Because I thrive on strict guidelines, this may not be the best approach to take with my learning, unless the facilitator is strict, but that would not likely be the case. I think that I may also do well with a Behavioral Approach type of program, the rote learning would provide me with the practice I need to feel comfortable in speaking at least the most basic elements of the language.
ReplyDeleteThe best way to optimize my language learning experience would be to have stricter guidelines and to be more accountable for my language learning. I know I am accountable for it, but because there is no test, no series of written or oral exercises, I don't give it the effort it really requires to learn it.
The strategies that I am currently using to learn Catalan are Behavioralist in nature. The screen shows a picture, says the word, and I repeat once or twice. If necessary, I write down the word to facilitate its memorization. Even when the practice is not requiring me to repeat the word aloud, I do it. I want to sound as similar to the lesson as possible.
I definitely begin learning by repetition and memorizing. Once I have a good sense of being able to recall words and phrases, and am able recognize them, I begin to relate the words with other words I know. The more I see and hear something the more I can remember what I’m learning. I remember when I went to Japan last summer, I thought I would never be able to remember how to say hello. To this day, although I haven’t spoken or heard Japanese for almost a year, I can recall and say hello in Japanese without hesitation. I definitely use many different approaches to optimize my learning experience. Initially I see myself learning by responding, and responding correctly, much like the behavioral approach. I also believe that social interaction and relating new learning material to what I already know optimizes my learning. I think that how I am learning (in this case livemocha) and instructors and their instruction plays a large role in how much I will take away from the learning. For example, although I am learning basic skills and parts of language through livemocha, I know I would benefit a lot more from having and instructor fact-to-face and individuals to interact with on a regular basis. I would also feel more confident about my language development. Right now, I know I hear and communicate with livemocha, but when you are learning something from an animated system I always think it sounds different. Not authentic is what I mean.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the strategies I am using right now to get through my livemocha experience are very different than the learning strategies that have worked for me in the past. The strategies I am using throughout the livemocha process are aligned with ALM. The computer recites a word or phrase and I repeat that phrase over and over again. I am not learning these words and phrases how they are naturally used in conversation; instead, I am learning the word in one isolated context. Although this strategy allows me to do well on the exams and memorize the vocabulary, I know this strategy is not helping me to truly acquire the language. Although this rote learning is helping me to memorize vocabulary and pass the mini-quizzes, I am not retaining much of the language because I am not learning it in a way that is meaningful to me. One of the strategies I find myself using in order to make my learning more meaningful is to create index cards of all the words. By writing the words down, I find it helps me to better internalize that new word. On the other hand, I find myself retaining some key words that constantly come up and forgetting the words that I only need to pass the one section exam (cognitive pruning). In each chapter I remember how to say “she is,” “he is,” “the woman,” or “the man” because those phrases have now been deemed important because I use them all the time. Also, those words were amongst the first I learned, and the constant repetition of them in every chapter is solidifying that vocabulary knowledge. However, I do not remember the vocabulary words that had to do with money and coins because I only needed that knowledge for a short amount of time. This further illustrates how rote learning is not an effective style of learning for me. Thus far my experiences learning a language have been straight out of the school of Behaviorism. I repeat and repeat until I sound exactly how the automated voice does. One good thing about my learning experience is that I am utilizing my monitor hypothesis. If I repeat the word and sound wrong, I immediately correct that mistake because I can hear the difference between my pronunciation and that of the computer.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, my learning is normally optimized through social interaction (Vygotsky). For example, when in class I always gain a deeper understanding of the readings and concepts because I am learning from and interacting with other learners. It is for this reason that I have always struggled with online courses. I need the social interaction in order to enhance my learning. In addition, when I take online courses my affective filter is high because I know I will not have that interaction to aid my own learning. My learning style typically takes the role of constructivist as well. I always learn better through doing and through creating my own knowledge. Unlike what Catalina discussed, I need a teacher who acts as a facilitator, scaffolds, and makes bridges for me to cross on my own. I retain knowledge and gain a deeper understanding when I am constructing that knowledge for myself. Rote learning has never worked for me, instead I need those connections and to be able to see why what I am learning is important. I am also a very kinesthetic learner. Having danced my entire life and been teaching dance for many years now, I find my memory is in high gear when I am doing something physical. For example, when I was preparing for our midterm interview I was always pacing and walking around. When I am active in my learning I gain a deeper understanding and create meaningful learning as opposed to rote memorization.
I am a reflective learner with a high ambiguity tolerance. These aspects of learning styles help me to approach my language learning with a somewhat lower affective filter and a willingness to analyze and take risks. I am open to new, unfamiliar situations, so the idea of learning a new language is exciting to me. I tend to be reflective, so I approach the language in a deliberate way, as I try to figure out the grammar and syntax. I also use my inductive reasoning in doing this.
ReplyDeleteI tend to be more of a visual and auditory learner than kinesthetic. I use the picture drills and the flash cards to learn the language, as well as the recorded passages in the lessons.
Some of the strategies that I am acquiring are: functional planning, delayed production, and repetition. Before starting a new lesson, I review previous lessons through the review exercises and flash cards (functional planning). I use delayed production by listening to the recorded passages one or two times through before I try to repeat them. I do use repetition when I begin practicing how to say the words. Even when the particular exercise does not specifically call for vocalization, I practice repeating the words to myself. I also learn through the cognitive strategy of contextualization. I remember the words best when they are in a meaningful context. I use the socioaffective strategy of cooperation in using peer feedback. This has value in the evaluation of my written work. It is difficult to effectively use the feedback on accent or in actually carrying out back and forth communication with other Live Mocha users.
I would say that my learning style is preferably a visual, auditory or kinesthetic style. I prefer reading and looking over charts to help with organizing ideas. Demonstrations and physical activity involving movement and doing helps me connect to the material being presented. With that being said, I am right brain dominant. The right hemisphere perceives and remember visual, tactile and auitory images. In learning a second language as we are doing with this class, I find myself taking my own notes and putting things on paper with the audio I listen to. I can listen and need to make that connection visually as well. This is an example of a cognitive strategy. I like to summarize and of course highlight material as I'm doing the lesson. I also compensate, another effective strategy I often use. When I was living Japan and Indonesia, I didn't have a solid command of the language so often times, I mimed or gestured to help communicate. I also incorporate some indirect startegies in my learning. I have a few colleagues who are from Brazil, so I often get them to help me with my Portuguese or try to communicate in the language rather than English. This would fall under the metacognitive strategy- seeking practice opportunities. I'm not afraid to take risks with this language as the context of the situation is not intimidating. I think if I were in Brazil or Portugal using the language alone, I would have a higher affective filter. Since I am surrounded by friends when I use the language, it doesn't get me anxious, rather its encouraging. This would be an example of the affective strategies associated with my learning as well as the social strategies. The social strategies are evident in the cooperative learning I am implementing, by asking for correction and clarification with native speakers of the language.
ReplyDeletePS.. I had posted my blog last Tuesday, and I even saw it go through, but today it was gone? I rewrote the blog response. Not sure how or why that happened??
ReplyDeleteI think overall as a person, I am right-brain dominant. I do really well with whole images and generalizations and I often times find myself trying to create metaphors for my life and for my learning. How I deal with problems and issues in my life and in learning often relies on my intuition and my feelings. So, as I'm using this language program, I am finding my feelings to really guide my motivation to learn the language. I feel somewhat frustrated and overwhelemed by the expectation to be able to learn a language without receiving any feedback. The more frustrated I feel, the more self-conscious I become and often find myself needing to turn off the CD for a little while, listen to some calming music, and then try again once I feel better. I think my experience in learning Italian also reflects my learning style as a visual learner. I prefer to read and look at words and language while I simultaneously speak them. Thus, this program is proving to be difficult for me. As far as learning strategies, I think the two that I employ the most are self-monitoring and self-evaluation. I am constantly check my outcomes and comparing them to the pronunciation and output of the CD's native pronunciation. I also am a perfectionist so am constantly self-monitoring to make sure that I am pronouncing words exactly as I hear them. I believe that these strategies and my learning of the language as a whole would be more optimized if I was able to marry these strategies to some visual input. Therefore, I think I would feel better about my learning, as well as more confident and motivated.
ReplyDeleteDescribe your learning styles?
ReplyDeleteIn order to answer this question, I need to identify my learning style. Although my primary learning style is a combination of Auditory and Kinesthetic styles, I do prefer visual style some time. In addition to these categories, and according to Oxford’s (1990a) Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), I enjoy working with other people in group, I personally want to learn language gradually, I like to use language that fits correctly in the context, I try to find other ways to learn language outside classroom, I got embarrassed sometimes when I made mistakes and so forth.
How you can optimize your language learning experience? What strategies are you using in acquiring this new language?
One way to optimize my language learning experience is by becoming aware of my learning preferences and the strategies I am using. As an individual grow up in a country where English is not the native language, it is reasonable to adopt the Cognitive Strategies. In other words, I have noticed that I am using the first language to learn the second language. For instance, I am often looking for equivalence in my native tongue in order to understand the target language. However, I got benefit from analyzing, summarizing, repeating, etc as well.
Also, I have experienced the importance of the auditory representation in which I store the words that have similar pronunciations. Additionally, I have found I use metacognitive strategies, the process involved in this strategy included planning for learning, thinking about the learning, and monitoring. In addition to the above, I use Socioaffective Strategies by asking the native speakers of English or Spanish for repetition, explanation and feedback.
To optimize my language learning, I have been working on the avoidance strategies that are applicable to my learning experience such as phonological avoidance, syntactic avoidance and topic avoidance. For example, I have realized that I avoid words, structures, sentences and topics that seem difficult.
In conclusion, identifying learning styles and becoming aware of different learning strategies can lead to successful language learning.
Based on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, I would classify myself as having linguistic and interpersonal intelligences. I learn best when I have an opportunity to discuss my new knowledge with others, thereby also demonstrating social constructivism. I find that if I only listen to a lecture, I am left with lots of unanswered questions, so I need to get involved in dialogue and talk through the new concept. Also, as an interpersonal learner, I agree with Vygotsky's view that "children's thinking and meaning-making is socially constructed and emerges out of their social interactions with their environment" (Brown, 13). Unfortunately, as I proceed with ItalianPod101, I am still unable to incorporate these skills into my learning. I am limited to rote memorization and drills of repeating words and phrases without any sort of feedback. In an ideal world, I will have the chance to continue my language learning in Italy where I can have formal classes and opportunities to use authentic speech in my environment.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, Brown discusses various types of learning styles. I believe that I definitely exhibit the left-brain style. When faced with a challenge, I try to find a practical, logical solution and work step by step to understand all the details. In addition, I think that I have a field independent style because I am able to easily distinguish parts from a whole. When faced with a task, I break it into smaller pieces and examine each detail on its own before constructing a main idea.
As far as strategies go, as I complete my language learning online, I am limited to cognitive strategies, such as repetition and translation. I prefer socioaffective strategies, like cooperation and questioning for clarification, but through the online program, these are not really possible.
The more I learn about the kind of learner I am, the better I am able to adjust and maximize my success. Through these styles and strategies, I am starting to understand how I learn best.
I believe my learning style to be something that is constantly developing and something that will always change as I learn more. For second language learning, with Italian for instance, what I've come to learn about myself is that I need to be completely immersed in the culture so I can socially construct meaning (Vygotsky). I also think that it is important to have meaningful learning. Ausubel describes subsumption as "a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in cognitive structure" (Brown, 91). It is necessary for me to make these connections in order for me to further myself in Italian. Since I have been having a hard time with these blogs, I have not been able to use these strategies .
ReplyDeleteI also figured out that listening and looking at the work sheets given is not enough for me because in the end thats all I get. I can't ask any questions that would relate to things that I would want to ask about or say to someone. It is a very impersonal. Learning a new language through technology is becoming harder every lesson, however it gives me a good perspective on what I need to do to learn at my best.
I would say that my learning style is definitely right brain, using "numerous alternative communicative strategies to get messages across" (Brown, 119). I feel like I take a more emotional approach, rather than a systematic, logical approach. I think that I am more field dependent because I tend to see the big picture rather than the small parts.
The strategies I use are mainly cognitive, such as repetition and auditory representation but my ideal method of learning would be through socioaffective strategies. As I delve deeper into understanding my own learning strategies I can adjust how I go about to do my work to best support my needs.
PART 2
ReplyDeleteToday, during my practice I was messaged by a native Spanish speaker learning English and had a very successful and inspiring interaction. We were able to communicate more meaningfully than through the prepared lessons and responses. We chatted in English and in Spanish each introducing the other to new language and providing the opportunity for more genuine conversation and so more meaningful use of our new languages. I am a reflective learner who thinks through each new movement in order to understand successes and failures. I am a bit impulsive in that although I try to think out what I will say so that it is grammatically correct, I like to keep things flowing so I speak, or write to keep communication going. My affective filter is decreasing as I grow more confidant in my language learning. This was reconfirmed with my chat on live mocha earlier today and with my willingness to initiate more Spanish speaking with my boyfriend and co-workers. I am ambiguity tolerant as describes by the book in that I am open to new ideas. Language strategies I use are metacognitive. It is my nature to organize things, so of course I organize my learning. I group learning techniques together and whenever I learn something new I try to connect it to something I already know. I use self management in that I set my learning up with each lesson by preparing the perfect atmosphere. I eat something and drink plenty of water first. Then I sit with coffee, water or juice to have something to sip during my 20 second to five minute breaks where I allow my mind to digest the information I am feeding it. My house has to be tidy to learn. I am distracted if everything is not in its place. My learning atmosphere must be silent so that I may focus on what I am learning. I use self monitoring when reading text to try to perfect my accent. Cognitive strategies I use include recombination. At the end of the lesson I write sentences as instructed by live mocha but always try to add a little more incorporating language I already possess. I always try to contextualize to remember what I am learning. With my new live mocha friend I used the collaboration socio affective strategy to practice my Spanish while helping her practice her English.
PART 1
ReplyDeleteMy learning style is certainly an eclectic one. There is not one way of learning for me, but many. I am certainly very tactile. The feel of the keys as I type on the keyboard feels like a dance for my fingers, awakening my body and mind to the life I breathe into the words on my screen. I certainly subscribe to Ausubel's subsumption theory of meaningful learning and seem to retain only information that can be creatively assimilated into my mind with beautiful words, sounds or imagery. Visual learning is very important to me and highly connected to my kinesthetic inclinations. While learning in school, it has always been important for me to write while looking at the board, projections or face of the instructor and classmates speaking around me. Utilizing eyes, ears, and body help me to stay in tune with whatever I am learning, be it a live mocha lesson, a lecture or a captivating conversation. I am very introspective, relying heavily on my own interpretations of material around me. I like to digest the information surrounding me and allow it to sit inside of me before sharing with the world. Once digestion is complete I love to share my perceptions with those around me to see how the ideas dancing in my head take shape in the world around me. Sharing with others often leads me to re-examine or feel the subject matter again on my own for re-digestion. I suppose this makes me at first a introspective and then very communal learner. To optimize my learning experiences I will continue to draw from multiple styles of learning. In regards to my live mocha lesson learning, I have been leaning heavily toward visual and auditory learning. I listen to the recordings and read the typed words. This helps me to make a connection between the look of written words to the sound of spoken words, but my favorite part of the lesson is definitely the last section of each lesson where I must read text aloud. This practice incorporates visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning. I love the way it feels to workout the muscles of my lower face, tongue and throat necessary for speaking in Spanish; muscles often ignored speaking English. I love the challenge of trying to read the sentences cohesively and trying to sound as native as possible. The communal aspect of online learning has left something to be desired for me. Though the peer reviews are nice, I felt that my lessons were missing something to connect me to them a little more than just someone reading my prepared responses.
I am a visual, auditory and kinesthetic learner. I learn well with a combination of images, audio and interactive learning. I find I learn quite well through rote memorization and repetition. I find however, that I work best when I am able to interact in meaningful activities with a facilitator or peers. Social interaction (Vygotsky) is an extremely important part of my learning style. When social interaction is involved in learning, my motivation increases significantly. I am thoroughly engaged in classroom activity and find that I gain a deeper understanding of material through discussion and interaction with others. For me, interaction is key to understanding language and content. Like Roger’s Humanistic Psychology, I also find that I work best in a learning environment that is non-threatening. Though I believe I work best in an interactive classroom environment my affective filter still remains relatively high in the classroom. I am an extremely anxious person and this affects my participation in the classroom. To optimize my learning, I must be more willing to take more risks. Like Brown suggests (pg. 160) risk taking is an important characteristic of successful learning of a second language. Learners must take the risk of being wrong in order to get the most out of learning. Throughout middle school, high school and under grad I rarely participated in the classroom. Though a bit of that anxiety still remains, I fully participate in my graduate school discussions. This has to do with the classroom environment and how comfortable I feel. The environment at USD is non-threatening and therefore lowers my affective filter. This allows me to fully participate it class. I want to be sure to provide this kind of environment to my future students.
ReplyDeleteThe strategies I am using right now for my language learning on livemocha.com take a structuralist and rationalist approach. I find myself learning through rote memorization, choral repetition, patterning and repeating to get a grasp on both pronunciations and meanings of words and sayings. Since I do well with memorization and repetition I find that I am learning well. I find that my affective filter is relatively low during my online language sessions. This is great as I am able to practice without embarrassment. There is nothing holding me back. As I mentioned above however, I learn my best in an interactive environment. This increases my motivation and pushes me to do my best (as long as it is in a non-threatening environment of course!). So although my affective filter is relatively low, I don’t find that I am fully engaged during lessons. I am of course absorbing a number of Spanish words, sayings etc., but I believe I would benefit greatly from a more interactive experience rather than an online learning experience.
I am a person who is more field independent and ambiguity tolerant. I am better at noticing details or tiny differences than comparing pictures as a whole. What happened to my second or third language learning is that I learn faster in the change of words than the structure of the whole sentences. As a person who is ambiguity tolerant, I am eager to learn new ideas or technologies and tend to accept everything new, and can accept ideas which are contradicted to my own, which helps me a lot in learning a foreign language. I remember that when I was learning English, I seldom questioned why the form is like this while some of my classmates were always asking why; instead, I tended to accept the new language form directly.
ReplyDeleteMy learning style is always changing. I try to listen more and read more to develop the “feeling” of the language instead of simply remember the grammar of the language after I obtained the middle level of that language. For now, my experience on Livemocha of Spanish is more rationalist and structuralism because I have to translate and sometimes disintegrate the sentence into pieces to analyze and generalize the form of the sentence. My learning strategies are the combination of metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and socioaffective strategies. I often plan what I am going to learn in the next hours so that I ignored the irrelevant tasks which appeared in the learning process, and always force myself to imitating the pronunciation of native speakers and the grammar or vocabulary use. I translate a lot when I am learning a foreign language, it helps me remember the new terms or structure and understand what the new language mean. After an oral presentation or a writing work, I usually go to the teacher for help with polishing, better organizing or expression.
My learning style is Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Styles as well as Field Independence. In my second language acquisition, I prefer reading and studying charts, drawings, and other graphic information. If the teacher use video in class to facilitate language teaching, I will be more effective to learn. I find myself very sensitive to images and sounds. In addition, I am also social constructivism. After watching the video or listening to the teacher, I would like to discuss with others to share each other’s opinion, then I would learn more about the knowledge. This point proves Vygotsky’s Social constructivism theory. What’s more, I am good at finding those hidden monkeys. So I think I am also a field independent learner. However, I am always see only the parts and not their relationship to the whole. To optimize my learning, I must develop my field dependence to balance each side. I should also take more discussion activities to know more different ideas from others. My learning strategies are the combination of metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and socioaffective strategies. I often make a general but comprehensive preview of the organizing concept or principle in an anticipated learning activity and plan for and rehearsing linguistic components necessary to carry out an upcoming language task. In L2 acquisition, I often imitate a language model, including overt practice and silent rehearsal. I also like to take notes; I like to write down the main idea, important points, outline and the like to help me remember things. When I sometimes could not understand what the teacher said, I will ask a native speaker for repetition, paraphrasing, explanation, and/or examples.
ReplyDeleteI am a Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic styles learner. I learn best if I can combine listening and reading together. From my experience on Livemocha.com, I have to note down the word first, and then practice spell for several times. After that I have to read after the video record again and again so that I can relate the pronunciation to the word. If I can only learn new words by reading or listening, I can hardly connect the sound with the spelling and I might think they are different words. Besides, I also need meaningful learning and interaction to have a deeper and precisely understanding of the meaning of the words. If I do not have chance to use the word in authentic context, I will forget it quickly because I merely memorize it by rote and barely have chances to use it.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I prefer compensation strategies more since I have seen the benefit I got from communicating with peers and talking in groups about confusing questions. My English have improved greatly since I spent more time talk with native speakers. However, my Japanese lesson barely benefit from compensation strategies. Now my Japanese lesson on Livemocha is all about memory strategies and some cognitive strategies. I practice pronunciation by using the web tool while learn vocabulary and grammar by reading the textbook. Most of the time I spent in Japanese classes is memorizing vocabulary in rote, analyzing sentence structure, and translating sentences. It is difficult for me to connect the new words with my priories knowledge without teachers’ help, which gets my meaningful learning stuck. Since there isn’t a teacher to give me directly feedbacks and I have few opportunities to interact with other Japanese learners, my language learning improves slowly.
According to the Myers-Briggs character types on page 177 of Brown, I have a sensing personality type. Thus, I use realistic things and past experiences to help me learn. I am also very practical when it comes to learning.
ReplyDeleteI see my sensing personality type as a useful tool while learning on Livemocha.com. Today when I learned the word "pen" in Spanish, I picked up a real pen to help me connect with my visual side. The pictures on Livemocha really help me to memorize vocabulary quickly.
I also think that I take on very small loads of work in my language study until I feel very comfortable. Livemocha helps manage the amount of work I take on without becoming overwhelmed with a wealth of information. The work is very systematic which keeps me interested. I also like work that is hard. Livemocha does a good job reviewing past vocabulary that I have learned while presenting new grammar and vocabulary. This keeps me interested and "in the game." They do a good job using Vyogotsky's Zone of Proximal Development.
A part of my personality that I used to feel hindered by is my introvert side. But while reading, I learned that Ausubel points out stereotypes about introverts and extroverts have influenced teachers perceptions of students (Brown, 167). But I also think that these stereotypes have influenced students as well. Sometimes I feel hindered by the fact that I do not like to work in groups, and would prefer to learn on my own. Luckily, I realized while reading Chapter 6 from Brown that this is not necessarily a hindrance. In Bush's study she found that introverts were significantly better than extroverts in their pronunciation (Brown 167). This will help motivate me further in my language studies.
Nihao, my learning is pretty straightforward because it involves a mundane, audio-lingual method of learning, the Pimsler Method. As far as learning styles, I feel the style which best defines how I use the the Pimsleur Method is by visual, (writing down the sounds I hear) and audio learning, by way of the ipod download. Basically I employ metacognitive and cognitive strategies. I self-direct my learning. Listening and repeating, lots of repetition, using my first language as a frame of reference, basis of understanding I collect word meanings and phrases. As part of my course of study I do take notes, I write the down words such as the English meaning of a Chinese word. I write the way I think the Chinese word sounds, using English phonemes. I am catching on to certain rules of Chinese, but not many, because not many are offered. Through repetition, I remember the voice of the Chinese speakers/teachers. On occasion, I've been able to use socioaffective strategies to reinforce my learning. I have Chinese classmates I can speak with, and my daughter has some bilingual friends who also are Chinese. I think I would learn best through Socioaffective strategies. I took Spanish in high school and college. I enjoyed the social interaction while learning. It was more meaningful to me, as well as memorable.
ReplyDeleteMy learning style when using live mocha is dominated by a impulsive style in which I am quickly responding and guessing to the activities in Livemocha. Furthermore, I see more of a right-brain dominance in my lessons as most of my responses are based on a intuitive approach vs. a intellectual, calculated approach. My ambiguity tolerance is high in that I am allowing content that is not aligned with Spanish or English background (for example – the use of he/she in Spanish and Portuguese for certain words vary, forcing me to accept to those variations in order for my language learning to succeed).
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I am aware I am using cognitive strategies such as repetition, translation, deduction, contextualization and more… In the writing section of LiveMocha I am aware I am using avoidance and topic strategies in which because of my lack of portuguese I am leaving sentences incomplete or even topics without answering.
Finally, I would like to add that by understanding and creating awareness to all the strategies available to learners (in this case myself) we can make better use of the lessons in live mocha. In order for the livemocha lessons to be successful I think they should be combined and supported by extracurricular activities to fill in notorious gaps in the learning experience.