LEARNING STRATEGIES: A GUIDE FOR STUDENTS

 

The learning strategies could help learners to determine the goals to be more directed. Learners will confuse and get bored without the right learning methods because they do not have a benchmark of what they have to achieve. Learning strategies could regulate and manage the learners to learn and stay focused on the learning goals.

The book “English for Computer: Communication skills in ICT” contains integrated language skills. Theoretically, learners will learn several ways to improve communication skills. They sometimes read some books related to the strategies to enlarge vocabularies. The learners may also ask the teachers the methods to make their pronunciation better. Then, they try to search for ways to make them fluent in English from the internet. In comparison, practically, all these skills could not be separated. They are integrated and interconnected among others.

Whether the learners realized it or not, they will carry out a series of processes to gain benefits in improving vocabulary, pronunciation, and speaking fluency that involves input, process, and output. So, this cognitive strategy is an activity undertaken to facilitate the human throught process, including the acquisition, storage, retrieval, understanding, and use of knowledge.

In line with this investigation, specifically, the author proposes five steps of learning strategies based on the study done by herself in 2019-2021. It is introduced as a Neuro-cognitive learning strategy.

The flow of Neuro-Cognitive Strategy

 

Practically, EFL learners do a series of actions to improve their speaking or communication skills: getting input, taking notes, reviewing, imitating, and practicing. Based on the figure, the author proposes these strategies to the users of this book, especially for the learners. Below are the explanations:

At school, the students may get the inputs from listening to material such as podcasts, songs, movies, some YouTube contents, or other internet sources. Other inputs can be from reading texts and writing materials given by lecturers, teachers, or facilitators. Then, the vocabulary inputs can be noted in various ways, such as grouping the words, defining, finding synonyms or antonyms, making sentences, etc. The strategies are believed to enhance vocabulary. The vocabularies noted or listened to can be then reviewed by rereading or relistening many times in every opportunity to be stored well in users’ minds. The actions can be done silently. After reviewing, the users imitated the words or sentences loudly. The imitating is done to make a copy of good pronunciation. In this strategy, the users relisten the source, then they can follow it directly. The users can also check the articulations in the dictionary to make them sure. This way is aimed to improve the pronunciations. Lastly, the users practice all the words or sentences daily or set speaking activities with friends.

 

Source:

Pratiwi, W. R. (2021). EFL Learners’ Motivations and Speaking Learning Strategies in an English Village-based Immersion Program at kampung Inggris Pare (Unpublished Doctoral thesis), State University of Makassar, Indonesia.