Teaching and Learning

Teaching and Learning Strategies

Students must have frequent opportunities to speak, listen, write, read, represent, and view in various situations, for different purposes and audiences. They also need to be aware of the strategies they use to construct and communicate meaning. Whether speaking, listening, writing, reading, representing, or viewing, skillful learners make deliberate use of the learning strategies that will serve their purposes.

In English language arts classrooms, teachers can help students grow in their language abilities by making explicit what is implicit in language learning. They can explain and model the needed language strategies, give students opportunities to use and practise the strategies, and give students opportunities to apply the strategies.

Teachers can model a variety of strategies during a lesson and can help students draw on the strategies appropriate to the task at hand. A range of strategies are outlined as possible choices in each of the speaking, listening, writing, and reading sections of this guide. The following are general guidelines for selecting strategies.

Before students speak, write, represent, listen, read, or view, they may need to:

• connect their own experiences to the task at hand
• build background knowledge
• establish a purpose
• learn strategies that will allow them to succeed at the task or with the resource
• obtain direction that will guide them into the task or resource.

During their speaking, writing, representing, listening, reading, or viewing they may need to:

• become actively engaged with the task
• use and adjust a variety of strategies to help them "through" the task or resource.

After they speak, write, represent, listen, read, or view, they may need to:

• respond, review, and reflect on their learning
• expand and extend their experiences
• apply their understanding and experiences.

Suggestions are given in each section to help students learn a repertoire of language strategies as they speak, write, represent, listen, read, and view in various contexts for various purposes.

The development of students’ repertoires of language learning strategies requires teachers to:

• introduce a strategy

• explain why, how, and when it is used

• model or demonstrate its use

• provide students with an immediate opportunity to use the strategy in the context of the course

• follow up with other opportunities for students to use the strategy and to reflect on its use

• discuss other possible uses (Ellis, Deshler, Lenz, Shumaker, and Clark, 1991, p. 22).

In addition, teachers can facilitate transfer of strategies by asking students to respond to the following questions as they use a strategy (Fogarty, 1992):

• Why am I using this strategy?

• How does it work? Can I do it again or do it another way?

• What other strategy could I use in this situation?

• How would I help someone else use it?

• In what other situations can I use this strategy?

Gradually transferring responsibility for learning to students empowers them to become lifelong learners.

With this in mind, the following section presents a range of teaching-learning strategies that might be useful in helping students reach the objectives of the English language arts curriculum.