Reflection (Week 10)

I would like to talk about my opinions about learner autonomy for English learners who are weak in English, since the students in my work school are generally weak. By “weak” I mean they are in the beginner’s level with little motivation in their studies.

Supposing that there is a CALL program here which is suitable for weak English learners, among the three approaches of learner autonomy mentioned in the reading, “social-interactive” approach would be the most suitable one for weak students, since it emphasizes that through interaction with others, the learner could be aware of things like his mistakes when producing the language. The interaction includes conversations with others in English, or feedback provided by the teacher. Why aren't the rest two approaches suitable in my opinion? It is because my students do not have the ability to be aware of the need for improving the way they learn English. They are also not motivated enough to take the responsibility of their learning.

With the help of technology, students could learn English with greater autonomy. The teacher's role as a facilitator becomes stronger when compared with what it was in the past. If I really had to suggest a way of using technology to learn English to my students that provides them with autonomy and a chance of reflection, I would suggest me chatting on msn with them. In the chat, the student could think and write in English through talking with me. I could also correct the mistakes immediately by typing the correct words and expressions for the student. The topic of the chat could be chosen by the student as long as we chat in English. He could be aware of his mistakes that I point out when we are chatting. In addition, after the chat, I could print the history of our conversations on msn for the student to reflect on what mistakes he usually makes. The printout could be discussed face-to-face. All these interactions help the student know what mistakes he usually makes.

However, there might be some problems that I need to think about when doing the above. For example, I may be too busy to chat with them on msn with follow up activities such as discussing the conversation history for the mistakes made. Probably I could only do it during the summer holidays when my workloads are less heavy.