Lessons about learning: Comparing learner experiences with language research

Abstract

This is an account of how one class of English language learners compared and contrasted their language learning experiences with English language teaching (ELT) research findings during a five-week Intensive Academic Preparation course at an Australian university. It takes as its starting point the fact that learners, unlike teachers and researchers, are rarely, if ever, encouraged to view language research as a potentially valuable resource. Using an exploratory practice approach (Allwright, 2003, 2005; Allwright & Hanks, 2009), the class examined and discussed both the structure and the content of three language teaching journal articles during regular English lessons. The comparisons the students made between their own language learning experiences and the research in the articles helped us to recognize three important characteristics of the learners in our class: (1) their pride in their personal knowledge of English language learning, (2) their understanding of themselves as individuals within the language learning process, and (3) their obvious concern with how their wider lives impact upon their learning approaches. Most importantly from a pedagogical standpoint, I witnessed my students develop as reflective, critical language experts in their own right through this experience of engaging with both the processes and the products of language research.