Learning strategies or study skills ⇑ determine the approach for achieving the learning objectives. The strategies are usually tied to your needs and interests to enhance learning and are based on many types of learning styles.
¤ Learning strategies ←
¤ Guessing meaning from context ←(A favourite strategy)
•→Better English speaking skills
•→Improve English fluency with chunks!⇐
♦ Study Phrases ↓ Not Individual Words!
∞ Learning strategies ⇓ ‘Make’ & ‘Do’
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¤ Communicative Strategies
· · · «THINGAMABOB»/»THINGAMAJIG» ↓ ‘stuff’ – ‘what-do-you-call-it’
No matter how good your English is, you’ll never fail to come across situations where you’ll find yourself with a shortage of words, or -perhaps more likely- a blank spot in your memory.
There are various compensatory strategies which can be used to make up for the lack of specific language…
• Generalisation – “fruit» for «apricot»; «tool» for «screwdriver» . . .
• Approximation – «a kind/sort of mammal» . . .
• Description – «a sort of wild mammal, much the same as a dog» (a wolf?) (a fox?)
• Definition – «too much water after heavy rain…» = flood;
• Exemplification – «something you use to open bottles with» = a corkscrew
• Transfer – literal translation from your mother tongue.
• Word coinage – Creating a nonexisting English word, like «airball» for «balloon».
• Appeal for assistance – Asking for aid from the interlocutor either directly (e.g., «What do you call…?») or indirectly (e.g. rising intonation, pause, eye contact, puzzled expression).
«I don’t know the English word for . . . What do you call it?» «Can´t remember the word; I’ve got it in the tip of my tongue. What do you call . . .? »Now most foreign learners tend to abuse one of these strategies (namely, transfer) and ignore the others. Bear in mind that the majority of (both, grammar and vocabulary) errors have to do with negative transfer from your mother tongue. Try and use a variety of these strategies and your oral exchanges will certainly be upgraded: people will understand you more easily and, more important than that, they’ll be willing to hold a conversation with you and perhaps get some fun in return…
Φ How to remember vocabulary ↓
∞ Contextual learning ↓ collocations [Robby Kukurs’ E Harmony’s Videos]
When it comes to spoken English fluency, it’s all about contextual learning. There are English words that are more likely to pair up and collocate with certain words, and if you memorize such word combinations instead of learning new English words out of context, you’ll achieve English fluency much, much sooner!
«detrimental effect» / «adverse weather conditions» /
«precarious work» / «untenable position» / «impertinent behaviour» …
¤ Learn from your own mistakes ⇒50-common-grammar-mistakes ⇐[engvid.com]
♦ Learning Languages on Your Own ↓
⇓ . . . 5 great ways to improve your English!
¤ What kind of Learner Type are you? ↓ Know Thyself
People learn English for many reasons. Unfortunately, learners
often think that there is only one way to learn English and that the same things are important for everyone. Students who are aware of why they are learning English can also be persuaded that different things are important for different learners. This lesson uses a quiz first placed online and helps identify learners as:
- English for Career Purposes Learner
- Global English Learner
- Learner Who Wants to Live (or already lives) in an English Speaking Culture
- English for Fun and Pleasure Learner
- Score the quiz using the following chart:
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- English for Career Purposes Learner – Type 1 learner
- Global English Learner – Type 2 learner
- Learner Who Wants to Live (or already lives) in an English Speaking Culture – Type 3 learner
- English for Fun and Pleasure Learner – Type 4 learner
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- Answers 6 questions or more as type 1 learner = English for Career Purposes Learner
- Answers 6 questions or more as type 2 learner = Global English Learner
- Answers 6 questions or more as type 3 learner = Learner Who Wants to Live (or already lives) in an English Speaking Culture
- Answers 6 questions or more as type 4 learner = English for Fun and Pleasure Learner
- Obviously, these learner types are approximates. However, by doing the quiz, you’ll be made aware of why learning English is important to you and the ‘learner type’ profile will help you to better judge which activities are most important to you.
- Question 1 – When do you use your English outside of class?
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- Speaking with other non-native English speakers (i.e., not American, British, Australia, etc. but with people who have learned English as a second or foreign language).
- Speaking with native English speakers.
- When I travel on holiday.
- With colleagues on the telephone or by email.
Question 2 – Why are you learning English?
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- To live in an English speaking country.
- To use English to get a better job – Improve English for my current job.
- To speak English on holidays.
- To use English to stay informed by reading newspapers, magazines, Internet.
Question 3 – Which statement best expresses your opinion about English?
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- It’s important to speak English for my job.
- It’s important to speak American English OR British English.
- The most important thing is communicating. It doesn’t matter whether you make a few mistakes.
- I need to ask directions and order breakfast when I go on holiday.
Question 4 – Which is the most important English task for you?
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- Understanding native English speakers.
- Writing excellent communication through email, or in letters.
- Exchanging ideas with other people in English (both native and non-native speakers).
- Asking for and understanding basic things in English.
Question 5 – How often do you use your English?
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- Quite often at work.
- Every day at work, shopping and speaking to people.
- Not very often, only when I travel or meet foreigners in my country.
- On a regular basis when reading, speaking to friends via the internet, watching TV in English, etc.
Question 6 – How do you use English on the Internet?
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- Only to learn English. Otherwise, I visit sites in my language.
- I like looking at pages in English from all around the world.
- Doing research for my job.
- I like visiting American or British sites to learn the slang and lifestyle.
Question 7 – Which statement is true for you?
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- Basic pronunciation is important, excellent pronunciation is impossible.
- Pronunciation should be clear, it doesn’t matter if it is British or American, etc.
- Pronunciation is not so important, I need to understand and write English well.
- Pronunciation and the correct accent is very important for me. I want native speakers (Americans, British, Australian, Canadian, etc.) to understand me.
Question 8 – Do you think that…
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- English learning is stressful, but important for work.
- English learning is essential to improve my life where I live.
- English learning is fun and one of my hobbies.
- English learning is one of my favorite hobbies.
Question 9 – Do you dream in English?
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- Never
- Sometimes
- Often
- Rarely
Question 10 – How often do you study English?
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- A few hours every day
- Once or twice a week
- A little bit every day
- At weekends
As a Career English learner, you are interested in communicating in English for your job. You need to know the correct forms of English used on the job such as letters, vocabulary and more. Things like slang, advanced grammar formulations, etc. are not so important to you. Here are some recommend resources to begin getting the most out this site for your style of English learning.
As a global English learner, you are interested in communicating in English. American or British culture and their inflections are not so important to you because you just want to communicate in English. You may communicate with people from a number of countries and things like idioms, phrasal verbs and slang are really not that important to you. Here are some recommend resources to begin getting the most out this site for your style of English learning.
As a Enviornment English learner, you are interested in learning English to live in an English speaking country or enviornment. You need to be able to pronounce well, know idioms, phrasal verbs and slang. Here are some recommend resources to help you learn the most important aspects of English for your style of English learning.
As a Fun English learner, you are interested in using English to get across the basics. You need to be able to do basic tasks like ordering food in a restaurant, talking to other people etc.. Things like slang, advanced grammar formulations, etc. are not so important to you. Here are some recommend resources to help you learn the most important aspects of English for your style of English learning.
Quiz Lesson by Kenneth Beare
Thanks for the nice videos.