New Teacher Tips: How to Maximize Your Teaching Strategies of ESL Students

In order to best maximize classroom instruction and nurture ESL students' learning, teachers need to understand how language learning strategies work with their ESL students. When an ESL student is motivated, he or she will choose the right strategies he needs to better his/her learning. This of course depends on the language learning context of a particular ESL class. For example, in the United States, students learn a second language under an instrumental setting; that is, they study French, Spanish or any other foreign language to get a better job, higher salary, more qualifications for their resume, etc.

You might also be suprised to learn that the personal experience ESL learners have with learning a second language can greatly influence how they learn in the classroom and what learning strategies they choose to use. For example, Ehrman (1990) found that professional linguists reported using more strategies more frequently than untrained instructors and students. (Ellis 543)

Finally, the comfort level of second language learner is important for determining his/her success. The general trend is that the more experience a language learner has with a second language, the more sophisticated and flexible s/he will be in her/his strategy use. Experienced learners feel they have the language knowledge and so, they approach tasks calmly with the strategies they learned. (Ellis 543)

Situational and social factors also play a role in the learners' choice of strategies. Classroom settings provide a trigger for more strategy use than natural settings. There are little social and affective strategies employed. However, several instances of "questioning for clarification, cooperation, and self-talk" have been used on occasion. (Ellis 544)

Also, the type of language setting is important with regard to strategy use. English (second language learners) focus on higher strategies regarding vocabulary and oral skills and fewer strategies regarding listening comprehension, inferencing and oral presentation whereas foreign language learners rely on cognitive strategies and do not use some strategies such as rehearsal, translation, note taking, substitution and contextualization. (Ellis 544)

Finally, specific learning tasks determine the type of strategies used however, it may not always be possible to determine the kinds of strategies that a second language learner will resort to in a particular learning task.

To sum up, language learners beliefs about language learning, situational and social factors, motivation and age all affect strategy use. Teachers can use this knowledge to help better their instructional methods so they can successfully teach all level of ESL students in their classrooms.

Works Cited

Ellis, Rod. Second Language Acquisition. Oxford UP, 1994.