VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 17:40:34 10/16/05 Sun
Author: Luis Antonio Morad Stefani
Subject: Re: Final draft: Factors Affecting Second Language Learning
In reply to: Fernanda Helena Vargas Costa 's message, "Final draft: Factors Affecting Second Language Learning" on 16:37:52 10/16/05 Sun

Dear Fernanda,

I really liked reading your essay. Your organization is very good and the topic iseally interesting. I’ve made a few comments on the points I think you can improve it. If anything is not clear enough, please get in touch.

Foreign or second language (L2) learning strategies are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques students use, often consciously, to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the L2 (Oxford, 1990b). A specific student seeks out conversation partners and groups words to be learned and then labels each group. Another student uses gestures to communicate in the classroom when the words do not come to mind. And YET ANOTHER, (the other OMIT THIS : once) learns words by breaking them down into their components. Young people consciously use guessing when (THEY she/he) read(s). Strategies are the tools for active, self-directed involvement needed for developing L2 communicative ability (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990). Research has repeatedly shown that the conscious, tailored use of such strategies is related to language achievement and proficiency.
Early researchers tended to make lists of strategies and other features presumed to be essential for all good L2 learners. However, being uninhibited has not been confirmed as an essential characteristic of every good language learner.(THE PREVIOUS SENTENCE IS MISPLACED, SINCE IT REFERS TO “are often unhibited”.I THINK YOU COULD INSET IT AFTER THIS PHRASE. THIS WAY IT WOULD BE CLOSER TO WHAT IT REFERS TO, AND AT THE SAME TIME YOUR SENTENCE WOULD BE SMALLER.) (A- NO ARTICLE WITH PLURAL NOUNS) good L2 learners are willing and accurate guessers; have a strong drive to communicate; are often uninhibited; are willing to make mistakes; focus on form by looking for patterns and analyzing how they are organized in a sentence; take advantage of all practice opportunities; monitor their speech as well as that of others and pay attention to meaning of how their school friends express their opinion.
Additionally, it is likely that different kinds of learners might benefit from different
( DON’T YOU THINK THAT : “SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING STRATEGIES” WOULD BE BETTER?)modes of their own second language studying strategy. Research supports the effectiveness of using L2 learning strategies and has shown that successful language learners often use strategies in an orchestrated fashion. Use of appropriate language learning strategies often results in improved proficiency, or achievement overall or in specific skill areas(I BELIEVE THAT : “ OFTEN RESULTS IN IMPROVED PROFICIENCY,OVERALL ACHIEVEMENT, OR DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC SKILL AREAS.” WOULD BE BETTER.) (Thompson & Rubin, 1993). Successful language learners tend to select strategies that work well together in a highly orchestrated way, tailored to the requirements of the language task (Chamot & Kupper, 1989). According to O'Malley & Chamot (1990), well tailored combinations as cognitive (e.g., translating, analyzing) and metacognitive (e.g., planning, organizing) strategies are often used together, supporting each other. These learners can easily explain the strategies they use and why they employ them (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990).
IN THIS PARAGRAPH, SINCE YOU LISTED FACTORS AND STRATEGIES, USING FIRSTLY, SECONDLY, ETC WOULD MAKE READING IT EASIER :
Oxford (1990a) synthesized existing research on how the following factors influence the choice of strategies used among students learning a second language.FIRSTLY, Motivation(;)COLON more motivated students tended to use more strategies than less motivated students, and the particular reason for studying the language (motivational orientation, especially as related to career field) was important in the choice of strategies. SECONDLY,Gender(;)COLON females reported greater overall strategy use than males in many studies (although sometimes males surpassed females in the use of a particular strategy). THIRDLY,Cultural background(;)COLON rote memorization and other forms of memorization were more prevalent among some Asian students than among students from other cultural backgrounds. Certain other cultures also appeared to encourage this strategy among learners. FOURTLY,Attitudes and beliefs(;)COLON these were reported to have a profound effect on the strategies learners choose, with negative attitudes and beliefs often causing poor strategy use or lack of orchestration of strategies. FIFTLY,Type of task(;) COLON the nature of the task helped determine the strategies naturally employed to carry out the task. SIXTLY, Age and (CAPITAL L) l2 stage(;)COLON students of different ages and stages of L2 learning used different strategies, with certain strategies often being employed by older or more advanced students. SEVENTLY,Learning style(;)COLON learning style (general approach to language learning) often determined the choice of L2 learning strategies. For example, analytic-style students preferred strategies such as contrastive analysis, rule-learning, and dissecting words and phrases, while global students used strategies to find meaning (guessing, scanning, predicting) and to converse without knowing all the words (paraphrasing, gesturing). And FINALLY, tolerance of ambiguity (;)COLON students who were more tolerant of ambiguity used significantly different learning strategies in some instances than did students who were less tolerant of ambiguity.
Teachers must (have training relevant – BE TRAINED ACCORDINGLY) to their own instructional situations in three areas: identifying students' current learning strategies through surveys, interviews, or other means; helping individual students discern which strategies are most relevant to their learning styles, tasks, and goals; and aiding students in developing orchestrated strategy use rather than a scattered approach.
I RECKON THERE’S A PROBLEM IN YOUR FIRST SENTENCE. I’M NOT SURE THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO CORRECT IT :
So far, CONSIDERING all those points, IT remains difficult to make precise prediction about (a) HOW particular individual(’s) characteristics influence student’s success as a language learner. Nonetheless, in a classroom, a sensitive teacher, who takes learner’s individual personalities and learning styles into (an) account, can create AN (learning) environment in which virtally all (learners) STUDENTS can be successful in learning a second language.I THINK YOU ARE REPEATING LEARNING AND LEARNER TOO MUCH IN THIS SENTENCE !

I hope you find the suggestions useful.
Congratulations on your job.
Best wishes,

Luis

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

  • Re: Final draft: Factors Affecting Second Language Learning -- Rodrigo Nunes Pinto, 18:41:03 10/16/05 Sun
    [ Contact Forum Admin ]

    Forum timezone: GMT-8
    VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
    Before posting please read our privacy policy.
    VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
    Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.