Attributes of an Effective Language Learner

Written by Dr. David E. Shaffer

Everyone is different and everyone goes about learning in a slightly different manner. This applies to language learning as well. We often talk about “good” language learners and their characteristics, which include intensely applying oneself, keeping to a schedule, and studying long hours. But when students, after a decade or more of English study, still struggle in English to communicate their name, where they live, and what they do, it is difficult to refer to them as “good” English learners. This is the end result for far too many English learners in this nation: They study hard, unknowingly using flawed methods and applying mannerisms that are of little help in leading to improvement of their language proficiency.

Here we will look at several language learning attributes that are considered to be highly effective in language acquisition. We do this with the expectation that the language teacher will keep these attributes in mind and pass them on to students so that they have the opportunity to become more effective language learners.

Discovering One’s Own Path
Playing Follow the Leader can have detrimental effects for language learners who blindly adopt the ineffective methods their peers are using. All too often, learners will decide to memorize long lists of vocabulary items and scores of grammar rules for no other reason than that is what their peers are doing. One’s learning methods should feel comfortable and pleasing – no one enjoys rote memorization! – and they should produce results. The learner needs to try out different methods for improving the same skills, at times measuring their effectiveness, and go with the method that both feels right and is effective. This is an ongoing process throughout one’s language learning career.

Organizing Language-Related Information
How many times have you heard students complain that they forget things as soon as they “learn” them? Such students’ main problem is probably that they do not organize their intake well. Students should keep their own “collections” of new vocabulary, useful expressions, collocations, chunks, etc. Take vocabulary, for example. Students could keep a vocab journal. When they meet a new word, they enter it in their journal, paper-based or digital. They may add their understood definition or a dictionary definition. They can add the pronunciation and even a sketch. With time, after re-meeting the word, they can fine-tune the meaning and add example sentences and notes. They should, of course, review their entries regularly. Having many different associations with a single vocabulary word, or any language item, makes it so much easier to learn. We should encourage good language organizing habits in our students.

Making Opportunities for Language Practice
Communication is an interactive process: It takes at least two people to communicate. As such, it makes perfect sense that language practice should include communication with others. In mainly monolingual communities such as Korea, English-speaking opportunities may not be so frequent or obvious. The teacher should therefore offer guidance. For college-aged learners, there are volunteer opportunities at the Gwangju International Center (GIC) and frequent events there held in English. Numerous churches hold English services; several restaurant-bars around town have mainly English-speaking clientele. And then there are Skype, Hangouts, and Kakao that learners can use to keep in long-distance contact with their English-speaking acquaintances. Rather than allowing learners to spend all their time pouring over language learning books alone, we should encourage them to seek out ways to practice their English.

Making Guesses
Part of the language learning process involves making guesses – in both listening and speaking. The more comfortable learners become with guessing, the better language learners they will become. At least part of the message that a language learner hears is often not completely understood. Learners must consider the context and the understood portion of the message to make an intelligent guess at what was not understood in order to make an intelligent response to the message. Similarly, language learners must often make guesses at how to formulate what they want to say or write in English: What word is best to use for the situation (e.g., made vs. built vs. constructed), what sentence structure (e.g., question or statement form), what tense (e.g., simple past vs. present perfect vs. past perfect), or what level of politeness or formality? As teachers, we must make our students aware of guessing strategies and make them feel confident in using them.

Feeling at Ease with Mistake-Making
Not being correct in Korean society is not merely embarrassing; it is often face-losing. And nothing is more of a mistake-ridden task than language learning. We need to convince our students that mistake-making is an inherent part of the language learning process and that it is a positive part of that process. Effective language learners will take note of their mistakes, draw conclusions as to why their choice was a mistake, and make informed adjustments for the next time they wish to say the same thing. As an aside, I remember that my early Korean pronunciation had me asking for flesh rather than rice (sal vs. ssal / 살 vs. 쌀) and rat poison instead of toothpaste (jwiyak vs. chiyak / 쥐약 vs. 치약). But I did not let these mistakes get in the way of my language learning. I learned from them and never again asked for rat poison to brush my teeth!

Using Communication Strategies
We have all seen it happen: A student does not understand something in English or does not know how to say something, and freezes, not knowing what to do. We need to make students aware that there are more pleasant alternatives available. They can ask the speaker to repeat or speak more slowly, or they can ask for confirmation (“Do you mean A or B?”). If they do not know the right word for something, they can use circumlocution: explaining or describing the item. (I recall a student once successfully referring to an ashtray as a “cigarette goodbye station”!)

These are but a few of the characteristics of an effective language learner, but they are important ones. As language teachers, it is our duty to see that our students are aware of and armed with these strategies to make them more effective language learners.

The Author
David E. Shaffer is vice-president of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the chapter, he invites you to participate in their teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings (always on a Saturday). For many years, Dr. Shaffer has been a professor of English Language at Chosun University. He is a long-time member of KOTESOL and a holder of various KOTESOL positions; at present he is national president. Dr. Shaffer credits KOTESOL for much of his professional development in English language teaching, scholarship, and leadership. He is chairman of the board at the GIC and also editor-in-chief of the Gwangju News.