Building a Better Student: A Typology and Toolbox MICHAEL GALLI, BCIT KEN BEATTY, ANAHEIM UNIVERSITY 1

Working backwards: What is the perfect student? 2

The perfect student …  Listens to instructions  Asks relevant questions  Is intrinsically motivated  Participates in class  Helps classmates  Speaks L2  And …? 3

Sadly, not all our students are perfect! 4

What qualities? What qualities or attributes make some students more challenging in the language classroom?

Sometimes it’s something physical: vision issues 6

Sometimes it’s hearing issues 7

Or it may be speaking issues 8

There are also mental issues 9

10 Challenges in the mixed ability classroom

 Culture  First language  Maturity  Aptitude  Intelligence  Learning styles  Autonomy 11

Culture: do we teach Christmas? 12

Culture What do we teach when it comes to culture-related topics and details? Do we teach “Canadian” culture as we see and experience it? How might this affect students who are sensitive to their instructor’s perspective? 13

Culture Santa Rudolf Science Politics Giving Family Christianity Church ReligionValues Pop- Culture Beliefs 14

First Language  Does one’s 1 st language make it more / less difficult to learn English?   What languages make it most difficult to learn English?  How do we predict, identify and remediate typical learner errors? 15

Maturity 16  Why do students act out?

Each and every student “In foreign language teaching, we customarily begin with the lives of others, with whom students may not easily identify, and then expect students to transfer the material to their own lives. However, transfer to the textbook is easier when the content starts with the student … then leads into the materials to be learned.” (Moscowitz, 1978, p. 197) 17

Aptitude 18

Aptitude  How do we identify and expand aptitude? 19

Aptitude starting points: finding out what students know don’t know think they know, but are wrong about 20

Intelligence  How do we define intelligence in the L2 classroom? 21

Create note-taking opportunities … … that help organize the learners’ brains. 22

It’s all about memory In 1970, Howe concluded that students were seven times more likely to recall information one week after it was presented if the information had been recorded in their notes. Howe argued that "the activity of note writing per se makes a contribution to later retention..." (p. 63). (Beecher, 1988, para. 5) 23

Learning styles Choose a learning style. How would you teach the simple past tense? 24

Critical thinking skills: developing collaboration a. Developing a skeptical approach to problem solving and decision making; b. Breaking down problems into their simplest outcomes; c. Searching for evidence that both supports and refutes a given conclusion; d. Maintaining a vigilant attitude toward their personal bias, assumptions, and values that may interfere with making an objective decision.  (Buskist and Irons, 2008) 25

Autonomy How could you turn a teacher- centered activity like a dictation into an autonomous task? 26

Ask students to self-assess 27

Provide opportunities to personalize learning 28

Back to that perfect student 29

Challenges in the mixed ability classroom  Culture  First language  Maturity  Aptitude  Intelligence  Learning styles  Autonomy 30

Questions? 31 Questions?