Diane Larsen-Freeman

160 Strategies. Cooperative Learning, and Multiple Intelligences
Strategies. Cooperative t eam ing. and Mult i/lie Intelligences 16 1
(1985) observed that language teachers' time might be profitably spent in
learner training, as much as in language training. Such suggestions led co
the idea of learni ng strategy tra ining-training students in the usc of
learning strategies in order to improve their learn ing effectiveness.
Experi ence 1
Let us now see one model for such training. We enter into a secondary
school in Japan. There arc 32 student'> in the class at intermed iate-level
target language proficiency. Prior to the lesson, the teacher has read the
students' learnin g journals and has interviewed the students. One of the
problems that students have been complaining about is that thei r read ing
assignments are lengthy. There is a 10( of new vocabulary in the read ings
and it takes a long time for them to look up all the new words in the dictionary.
Based on these com ments, the teacher has decided to teach the
strategy of ad vance organization.
He begins the class with a presentation. He tells students tha t they are
going to work on a learni ng strategy called advance organization. The y
will be wor king on improving their reading by learn ing to preview and co
skim to get the gist of a read ing passa ge. Learning this strategy will
improve their comprehension and the speed at which they read. he
expla ins. He hegins by modeling. He uses the think-aloud technique,
telling stude nts wha t he is doi ng as he is modeling. He has distributed a
reading passage. Let us listen in.
'W h ~H I do first is read the title. r try to figure out what the passage is
about. I look at the subheadings and pictures , too, if there arc any. I ask
myself what r know about the topic and what quest ions I have. Next, I
read the first pa ragra ph. I do n't read every word. however. I lcr my eyes
skim it very qu ickly-just picking out what I think are the main ideas. 1
especially look at the content or meanin g-hearing words-usually the
nou ns and verbs.'
The teacher calls out the words that he considers key in the first paragraph.
'From do ing these things, I know that this passage is about wild
horses, I do not know very much about the top ic, but from skimming the
first para graph , [have gotten the impression that the passage is about the
challenges of catc hing and tamin g wild horses.'
I Th" I~sn n oUllin". n"l con renr, is haSC'd nn a presentation by Anna Chamnl (1998). cnrirkd
'Language I.car rung Slralrgil.'"§ Instruc tion : Prorm-e, and Pitfall, at the Twcnrv-third Ann ual
Cnngress of (hc:- App lied linguisli, s As'\O(ialion of Auslralia. (iriflilh U ni>' e ~i(y. Bnsbane,
Auslr .lli.l. Chamoe and .\ lichac:-] O'M.lllcy has·" developed Ih" ("." ~ n i l i \" ,, Academic language
l. e a r n ll1 ~ ,\ ppmach (CAI.I.Al. which inrcgrnres content, academic language J es·d " pm"nl. and
explicit instruction in learni ng ,u;llc:-gi",.
'I'd like yOll to practice just this much now. I am going to han d out a
new reading passage for you to practice on. When you get it, keep it face
down. Don 't read it yet. Docs everyone have one? Good. Now remember,
before you turn the paper over, you arc going to he practicing the strategy
that I have just introduced. Ready? Turn over the paper. Take a look.
No w quickly turn it face down again . What do you think tha t this passage
is about? Who can guess?'
One student says he thin ks that it is about wha les. 'W hy do you think
so?' asks the teacher. The stude nt says he has guessed from the title,
whic h is ' Rescuing the World's Largest Mammal.' 'What do vou kno w
about whales?' the reacher asks the class. One student replies'that there
a~e man y diffe.rem kinds of whales. Another adds that they travel long
distances. A third says that they arc very intelligent. 'What do you think is
mean t by ..rescuing" ?' the teacher asks. No one knows so the teacher asks
them to keep this question in mind as they read .
'Turn you r page over again. Read through till' first paragraph quickly.
Do not read every word. Skip those you do n't know the meaning of.
Don't usc your diction aries.' The teacher gives the stude nts two minutes
to read the first paragraph.
lie .then a~ks .:W ho can tell us what the main idea of the passage iswhat
ISthe g,ISt? A student replies that the passage is about ccrrain types
of whales being put on the endangered list. Another student immediately