Promoting the use of English through acquisition and
learning:
Self-directedness through self-directed learning
by G. H. Asoka
Continued from last week
'It is commonly accepted that successful learners are reflective,
self-directed and able to use a range of learner strategies in effective
and appropriate combination. The more strategies the learner uses the
more they can investigate, process and be thorough in their learning.
Thus there is a close link between self-directed learning and strategy
practice.'
Self-directedness achieved in learning through self-directed learning
in bilingual education has made the Sri Lankan bilingual learner fairly
independent and autonomous. In the Sri Lankan environment, this is a
very positive because Sri Lankan learners mostly and usually try to
depend on teachers in their formal classroom set-up. This situation can
be eradicated through encouraging self-directed learning which has
already become a learning habit of bilingual learners. Consequently
independent thinking can be geared to create products with differences
through learning and what learners want to do in real life.
The third conceptualisation of self-directed learning (Long) on
psychological control can be noticed more than the other two
(independent learning and distance learning) when the achievements that
bilingual learners have experienced in Sri Lankan context are examined:
'Self-directed learning is a purposive mental process, usually
accompanied and supported by behavioural activities involved in the
identification and searching out for information. The learner
consciously accepts the responsibility to make decisions about goals and
effort, and is, hence, one's own learning change agent.'
Bilingual learners
In this regard, bilingual learners' personality traits and cognitive
skills developed in Sri Lankan context are very important:
self-confidence, inner-directedness and achievement-motivation through
learning in two languages. In the Needs Survey, bilingual learners have
expressed their interest in bilingual education, interest in continuing
their studies in bilingual education and positive attitudes expressed in
terms of students' views and others (principals', bilingual teachers',
parents' and in-service advisors'). Expectations and experience of
learners also show their inner-directedness, self-confidence and
desireable achievements in line with education and languages.
Bilingual learners in Sri Lanka usually have two major challenges in
their learning: learning the subject and their second language (English)
unlike the learners of monolingual education either in Sinhala or Tamil
do.
The needs survey has clearly shown that the more they use
self-directed techniques the more they have become successful in their
learning even in the presence of teacher shortage, scarcity of quality
text books, lack of other resources and facilities. Such learners have
attempted to find ways and means of learning and planned their learning:
then they have implemented their plans and completed an informal
self-evaluation.
Consequently they have become very active in their learning through
testing their own strategies of learning. This is a very successful and
rewarding experience for them to be intrinsically motivated to continue
their studies in bilingual education.
The kinds of cognitive skills promoted by the Sri Lankan bilingual
learners are obvious in six categories: goal setting skills, information
processing skills, other cognitive skills, aptitude in their studies in
bilingual education, decision making skills and self-awareness. In
information processing skills, strong reading ability through exposure
to information in two languages has pushed them to a large pool with a
large number of alternatives to observe, explore and elaborate
information appropriately. It is clear that the learners mix their deep
processing skills and surface processing skills to empower in learning.
Proficiency of achieving competency of English as a second language
in systematic and methodical, and depends on both acquisition and
learning. Use of English has become comparatively an easy practice among
bilingual learners due to their deviation from the need for learning
English: they are opened to acquire English: natural way of grasping
language. Learning is always conscious and needs learners' conscious
attempt. Yet acquisition is a sub-conscious attempt of grasping a
language. Bilingual learners, without fear, anxiety and demotivation,
process in their natural way of becoming proficient in a language. In
this situation, learners have become self-directed to communicate in
English in a progressive and systematic manner. Thus within maximum
around three years, bilingual learners have become fluent in their
general English (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills).
At micro level
It is another positive remark to see that the self-directed learners
identified in the survey have become confident. At early stages of
learning in bilingual stream, they had not used self-directed learning
as a formal process. Yet they have tried out various techniques which
reflect characteristics of self-directed learning, especially to
overcome their language difficulties as a medium of instruction. Mainly
initial use of learning strategies at micro level has allowed them to
use more of them later than at the beginning.
Independence is quite obvious and common in bilingual learners'
communication in English. They are not reluctant to make errors in their
learning process of language development. Acquisition supports them a
lot in this regard and consequently they have become confident in
learning and using English parallel to their academic aspects related
the target subjects learnt in English.
Self-directed learning, as it influences learners' responsibility in
learning, has promoted practical value of responsibility with an
awareness of it. This, in return in their future, will gift responsible
citizens to our society. Thus they may not wait till all the resources
necessary for a task are provided: instead they may try to activate
possibilities available to achieve the optimum out of the available.
Once learning process and outcomes have become meaningful for them as
a result of their active contribution, bilingual learners have been able
to create more learning situations like the previous or better than them
through monitoring.
Subsequently they have become curious and willing to try new things,
view problems as challenges rather than difficulties or barriers, desire
expected challenges and enjoy their learning. Furthermore, these
learners have become self-disciplines, self-confident and goal-oriented.
It has encouraged them to develop their leadership patterns critically
thinking by adapting their learning contexts using various strategies in
given situations: therefore their participation in curricular activities
is exceptionally admirable.
Bilingual learners utilise fairly a large number of sources for
seeking what they need both as subject related information and language
related aspects for communication. Rather than learning English as a
second language, they try to use it for the need for communication, and
their use of sources is in a wide variety as knowledge seekers.
Mainly reading
Sri Lankan bilingual learners' use of sources is closely linked with
their fondness of reading, and consequently bilingual learners have
become usual intensive and extensive readers. The majority of bilingual
learners progress and complete their first three years in reaching
proficiency in Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS-social
language): within this period, they silently develop laying a strong
foundation for developing their academic English (CALPS-Cognitive
Academic Language Proficiency Skills) through mainly reading.
Thus, reading has become a quite popular technique of bilingual
learners to be self-directed in their learning. Even at early stages,
they start using dictionaries, encyclopedias and online sources. Their
bilingual capacities have allowed them to look at a topic in different
ways with different cultural settings and interpretations. Differences
that they have identified make their thinking different from that of
their monolingual peers.
They seek support of their peers in monolingual stream by requesting
the latter's textbooks in Sinhala or Tamil. Before the lesson, they have
read those books in addition to extra reading materials available in
mother tongue and English as well. They have done this with two
purposes: to minimise their challenges in internalisation of academic
concepts through forward transmission, and to be knowledge seekers to
support what they have already learnt or to be learnt. This practice has
influenced them to test knowledge transfer with language transfer
demonstrating neurolinguistics findings related to bilingual brain.
Gradually such learners have self-confident, self-motivated and
self-evaluated through exploring different situations inquisitively. At
the same time they have been capable of extending learning beyond the
classroom challenging themselves in their learning process in English.
This is not an attempt of exaggerating benefits gained through
bilingual education. Yet this is the reality. It has been experienced
that some try to downgrade and justify the talents and flexibility of
bilingual learners telling that the system has selected the most
brilliant learners to learn in bilingual education.
However, one prominent fact is obvious in human beings' success in
learning: that is how mental and social capacities are enhanced through
multilingualism, by using at least two languages.
Teachers' role for making learners self-directed in their learning:
The workforce today is changing dramatically. Jobs require some form
of postsecondary education and novelty in educational outcomes as
lifelong gifts for shaping one's behavioural pattern. In this challenge,
it is important to raise learners' awareness of their role in learning
with responsibility for their own learning. The Self-directed Learning
Readiness Scale developed by Lucy M. Guylielmino (1977) consists of
eight factors in its factor analysis for supporting learners to access
their self-directed learning capacities:
1. Love of learning
2. Self-concept as an effective, independent learner
3. Tolerance of risk, ambiguity and complexity in learning
4. Creativity
5. View of learning as a lifelong, beneficial process
6. Initiative in learning
7. Self-understanding
8. Acceptance of responsibility for one's own learning
A key factor supporting self-directed learning is teachers'
facilitating and enabling teaching style by acting as catalysts for
their learners and serving as a reflective mirror without being the only
source of feedback and reinforcement for them. In this process teachers
are expected to gradually move learners toward peer scaffolding through
collaborative activities for peer assisted learning. In this
environment, teachers give minimal input, ask open-ended questions,
offer diplomatic validations of differences, relinquish learner-centred
and controlling instructional methods and guide learners in appreciating
significance, meaning and applicability of new learning. In this manner,
teachers are able to create inclusive, affirming and humanistic
experience for their learners in formal settings of education to be
self-directed in their learning.
Starting point
In self-directed learning environment, teachers' facilitation-role
has a lot of responsibilities. Helping the learner identify the starting
point for a learning project is a necessity. There should be discussions
with learners to set goals, select strategies and decide evaluation
criteria. In this process, the teacher is a manager of learning
experience rather than an information provider. Such teachers usually
develop positive attitudes and feelings of independence relative to
learning in learners' minds.
Learning assignments, projects and group attempts emphasizing
individual responsibilities from childhood can be practised without
doing everything for learners. However, learners should not be given
total freedom. Instead, they can be given choices to work out addressing
their interests and preferences addressing their individual and group
experience.
Teachers are expected to tolerate uncertainty and encourage
risk-taking capitalising learners' strong points instead of focusing on
weaknesses. Learning tasks and activities should be developed in such a
way to sustain their interest allowing them to win over errors and
transcending frustration eventually to break barriers to reach target
achievements.
Reflection can be made a usual practice among learners and they can
be encouraged to maintain diaries as reflective journals to keep records
daily about something important about their learning process.
Self-directed learning promotes life-long learning, too. Increasing
interest and desire for seeking ways to learn using learners-strategies
open the door for this through individualization of learning. Hence
learner becomes autonomous. Thus self directed learning should be
encouraged from school level itself. This is the year of IT and English:
this can be extended linking its different facets to create a marvellous
combination to achieve desirable targets. Use of computers and school
net can be systematically progressed to support learners to be
self-directed. School libraries can be equipped not only with books and
other reading material, but also with a methodical procedure which
enhances learners' search for information and knowledge through both
extensive and intensive reading. A few questions identified as pre,
while and post reading questions can be easily set and attached to each
reading material.
Today self-directed learning is an increasingly popular topic in
education in its general methodology of both pedagogy and androgogy. It
is a 'purposive mental process' supported and accompanied by behavioural
activities to identify and search for information and knowledge through
learning by doing with learner initiative. The learner continuously
accepts the responsibility and becomes one's own learning and changing
agent through self directed learning.
Self-directed learning provides strength and willingness for
individuals to take control that develops potential of their lives.
Learners have choices about the direction they pursue. Along with this
goes responsibility for accepting any consequences of one's thoughts and
actions as a learner.
Learner's individual personality characteristics and teaching and
learning process are starting points for understanding self-direction.
The social contexts provide the stage in which learning tasks and
activities are created.
Currently the Cell of Language Coordination at the National Institute
of Education is attempting to promote bilingual education through
encouraging self-directed learning and has been in the process of
preparing teacher-supportive, pedagogic material based on self-directed
learning for facilitating bilingual education. The Cell targets to
continue this practice providing further support at school level.
Self-directed learning which has become mainly now in informal
practices among bilingual learners can be further developed as a regular
habit through teacher involvement and curricular modifications in
bilingual education, (even in monolingual education, too).
Balanced combination of self-directed learning with other specific
methods under Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) can ensure
efficiency and effectiveness of achievements through bilingual education
and produce an effective human capital for development of the country
ensuring life-long learning.
The writer is the Chief Project Officer and Head of the Cell of
Language CoordinationProject Leader of Bilingual Education Faculty of
Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences National Institute of
Education, Maharagama |