Chapter 3 page 2

THE AMERICAN ENGLISH EXPRESS Chapter 3 page 2

The Learning Process

So far, the discussion has been from the point of view of teaching. The object has been to clue you in as to (let you know about) what is involved in the process as the teacher sees it (from the perspective of the teacher). This is a necessary part of becoming a self-confident learner: one who understands the process he or she is undergoing (experiencing) and who is aware of the contribution (input) required.

Now let us take a look at the teaching/learning process as the student sees it (from the perspective of the learner).

Think of a situation where you had to learn something or wanted to learn something. Maybe this was for work, or school, or family or even for recreation, such as a sport or a hobby. This could be learning to play football, to bake a cake or to read and write English. What did you do?

The first thing you probably did was to think about who could teach you. Perhaps, finally, you went to a school or a formal class or course of instruction. But, for this example, let us say that you asked your neighbor, friend or relative to teach you. Whatever the situation, you will have chosen someone whom you believe can get the job done.

Next, you would have had to ask them to teach you. It is likely that you would explain your reasons for wanting to learn and why you think that this person would be a good teacher. Assuming this person agrees to teach you, then you would undoubtedly discuss what was needed to be done (accomplished), the time it would take, scheduling arrangements, and so forth.

After all this was decided, you would begin to attend sessions where you would be taught and you would learn. You would be given tasks and information. You would be instructed to learn, read and understand the information presented. Eventually, you would be asked to demonstrate the skills you have learned.

Consider the steps in the learning process described above (or any process when you have had to learn something):

Step 1: Once again, the first step could be considered to be identifying your motivation. The student must want to learn. Without this component, no learning will occur. As a student, you determine how much time and effort you invest in the learning process.

This fact is critical for you, a student of English. Your success depends on the extent that you invest your time and effort to think about the language, to acquire new vocabulary words, to learn formal ways of expressing yourself, and to adjust to the rules of discourse in an academic setting.

Step 2: As in any learning/teaching situation, the specific terms and concepts that govern the task must be clearly defined. Whether you are learning to play football, to bake a cake or to read and write English, you must be aware of the vocabulary appropriate to these tasks.

Step 3: Understanding both the whole and the parts of what is being learned. There is a saying: “one must be able to see the forest and the trees”. A forest is made up of many trees. The student of the forest must study each tree individually, in order to understand the differences in the way each grows, how each one looks, and what each needs to live. In this way the student learns about each tree.

Yet the student of the forest must also be able to “rise above” the individual trees and see the entire forest as important. Is the whole forest safe or is it in danger? Is the whole forest growing or shrinking? Is the forest threatened by human development?

Do not let yourself be stuck only looking at trees; make sure you sometimes see the entire forest.

Do not be someone who “cannot see the forest for the trees” (someone who only looks at the trees and doesn’t see that they, taken all together, are a forest), that is, do not be someone who forgets about the ‘bigger picture’.

Step 4: As a learner (student), it is your task to ask questions. Your teacher will spend some time explaining the entire situation or task, but will look for clues from you as to whether you actually understand what is said. One way, as a student, that you can make sure that you understand is to ask questions.

It is important to realize that there are two types (or categories) of questions: those that seek to clarify a specific fact, term or concept and those that show that the student is thinking on his or her own and is attempting to understand the subject as part of a general body of knowledge. Only you know how well you understand. In order to communicate this to the teacher, you must ask questions: whether to clarify your understanding or to demonstrate what you understand.

Whenever I am teaching, I make sure to tell my students that they must ask questions. Without this, I am liable to think (I may think) that the students have not understood: you see, I don’t think that I am such a great communicator that everything I say is clear as a bell (perfectly clear) the first time I say it. Sometimes a single misunderstood word or idea can affect the way in which a student understands.

For this reason, I warn my students: if they don’t ask questions, I am likely to repeat what I have said. To avoid this, I tell them, ask questions!

In your case, Look it up!

Step 5: Practice: this is the time and effort you invest in the learning process. You must practice the skills, the recall of information, and perform the tasks required. Once again, success is up to you. You can simply go to class, sit passively, and listen. Or you can become actively involved in your learning, by seriously devoting yourself to learning.

In the case of learning to read and write formal English, you must read, read, read!

There is no substitute for this practice. In my classes, I always require all of my students to be reading on their own, that is, to read in addition to any school assignments. They read books, short stories, magazines, and newspapers. I encourage them to ‘own’ the new words they encounter (find, meet) while practicing.

One way to do this is to write down the definition, look up a synonym and write a sentence that helps you remember what the word means and how it is used. Or use the sample sentence from the dictionary. Consider keeping an English word journal where you record all the new words you are learning.

Remember what you learned about Jack London: he hung up little pieces of paper with new words to learn. Try it!

Step 6: Demonstrating what you have learned (the proof that you have learned) is the final step. As discussed above, this often takes the form of a test. At the college level, a test could be a multiple-choice exam, an in class essay, a take home exam question, or a research paper or project.

Once again, if we summarize these steps, we have:

Step 1: Motivation.

Step 2: Understanding of the terms

Step 3: Understand the whole and the parts

Step 4: Asking questions

Step 5: Practice: Time & Effort

Step 6: Demonstration (or proof)

You will notice that the steps in the learning process are almost identical to the steps in the teaching process. These processes could be thought of as mirror images of each other.

As a self-confident learner, you should always maintain an awareness of the process you are engaged in and at which stage in the process you are at any time. Knowing this will help you to understand what is happening and what will happen next. This awareness will enable you to set realistic expectations for yourself, in terms of how much you can expect to learn in a specific period of time.

For example, here you are learning English. At a standard college, this course meets three hours a week for 15 weeks. That is, 45 hours of class time. However, college students are expected to spend at least three times as much time studying outside of class as in class.

This means that, as a college student, you would be expected to study (read and write) for 135 hours (3 x 45 hours = 135 hours) at home, at a library or other study place. Altogether, this class requires 180 hours of your time (45 hours of class time + 135 hours of study time).

You began this course without the skill to read and write formal English (or with some skills and lacking others or with ‘rusty’ skills that need to be ‘brushed up”.). During the course of studying, you are learning what is expected of you (how to read and write at the college level) and you are beginning to acquire and apply some skills (by reading and writing). At the conclusion, you will be expected to perform at a certain level (in this case, at freshman college level).

You really need the entire 180 of work to achieve this result. If you put in 18 hours, how much should you expect to learn? 10% (18 hours / 180 hours) I don’t even know what it would mean to learn 10% of what is in this book! To the extent that you invest the proper amount of time, you will learn what is offered here. This is up to you.

My students often come to me during the semester upset with themselves for not making as much progress as they expected. I always point out that the goal is to write at the college level when the class is finished. I remind them that learning is a process with stages. I tell them that, just as each of us thinks differently, each of us learns differently. Everyone learns in different ways and at different rates. I also tell them that, over the course of 180 hours of studying, many, many students do learn to read and write English at the college level. And then I tell them to read, read, read!

hourglass sand timer

As a self-confident learner, you will understand all this. You will recognize that the effort put into learning is the engine that determines how much you will learn and how well you will learn it. In this way, your destiny is in your hands.

This much is up to you!

The final stage in both the learning and teaching processes, as defined above, is demonstration (proof). Now let us discuss proof or the proving process.