Learner characteristics: Classtime reflection

In this week's class, we focused on specific principles for second language teaching and paid closer attention to intrinsic motivation. I think Aaron's presentation went very well, since he managed to touch almost all the main issues and engaged the class into an interesting discussion.

One thing that i found quite inspiring during the discussion was the issue of reward. As far as i am concerned, rewards in language teaching to some extent are a form of teacher's positive feedback. However, the matter of when and how to give rewards is very much controversial. As an English learner, I have experienced a large, if not excessive number of such extrinsic motivation as rewards. Many of the times when my teacher held an in-class activity, he/she often pointed out clearly from the start what kind of rewards were awaiting us at the end of the process, which very often made us work harder and more concentiously to finish the task. Another thing about this principle which was brought up in class is the fact that not every student in the class will be able to receive the reward. And most of the time this prestigious "ball" are tossed among a group of "elite" ones who conceivably outperform others. In my opinion, in order to decrease the frequency of this and help all students in the class feel good about teacher's rewarding, teachers can make it clear to the class that this particular student has done a really good job and receives the treat, but this does not mean he is the single best student, and that anyone in the class could catch up to achieve similar good result provided that they have the desire. Besides, i like the way Dr Smidt modeled the use of rewards when she asked us to go around the classroom and put an aterisk next to the point we felt strongly about. Clearly this activity has the drawback of "making public things which should be private" (as she put it) and caused some disappointment to some individuals, but it directly told how students would feel when they receive rewards and comments from the teacher. The follow-up discussion proved how teachers should consider different techniques of reward-giving so that they will work best for their students.

An activity that we did in class which i am interested in was the diagnostic of learner's learning style. This very much directs my attention to the fact that as language teachers, it is important to bear in mind different learning styles that students might have in order to design various activities that cater for a wide range of students' needs and strengths. In my opinion, one's learning style has a close connection with his intelligences and here the theory of multilple intellengences should be taken into account when we examine the effectiveness of language teaching. Even though language teachers cannot cover and strengthen every field of learner's intelligence, it is important that the acivities carried out in the class provide a good diversity.