Bonnie,


>From a teacher's perspective it is difficult to help the learners to become

more independent. It is easier to push the program at them "because it is
good for them". The challenge is to find something to offer them that might
strike their curiosity or interest because we know from research that the
brain learns best when the content is relevant.

Not all learners can be stimulated or turned on. However, some teachers are
better than others at turning on learners. The ability to turn on learners
is more important than all the technical pedagogical theories. It is in part
the enthusiasm of the teacher, and in part the ability to connect with the
learner at some level, and therefore to become relevant.

If I accept the direction of my Russian tutor it is because she chose as
content a Russian podcast that I found interesting. When I study language
and am confronted with the usual stale content about local folk festivals,
or other material that is irrelevant to me, I am turned off. So it still
comes down to relevance.

On Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 7:37 AM, Bonnie Odiorne
<bonniesophia at sbcglobal.net>wrote:


> Steve, I so agree with the last part of your blog: "part of students'

> freedom is the freedom to be directed." Some I've found experience high

> insecurity even when I ask them to find a handout in the blackboard shell

> that every day course has. I "wasn't fulfilling my function as a teacher."

> As if every handout had to be put into her hand by a teacher.... She didn't

> talk about barriers for herself, just put it back on me. Some find it hard

> to choose, since they feel they don't "know enough." And perhaps they don't.

> yet. It's the perennial answer to students being questioned about their

> goals: "And what do you want to learn in English?" "I want to learn

> English," rather than articulating specific goals, breaking down skills so

> that they can *do* something....

> Very interesting.

> When I ask college students to do self-directed learning, generally they

> don't, feeling it's an extra burden.

> Best,

> Bonnie Odiorne, Writing Center, Post University, Waterbury CT

>

>

> --- On *Sun, 1/11/09, Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>* wrote:

>

> From: Steve Kaufmann <steve at thelinguist.com>

> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 3315] Re: quantifying student interest in

> material

> To: "The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List" <

> englishlanguage at nifl.gov>

> Date: Sunday, January 11, 2009, 6:48 PM

>

>

> Further on the subject of the importance of student interest in the content

> they are studying, you may want to refer to my most recent post on my blog

>

> <http://thelinguist.blogs.com/how_to_learn_english_and/2009/01/independent-language-learning.html>where

> I talk about students who are creating their own course, on a subject of

> interest to them, in collaboration with their tutor.

>

>

>>

>>

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