Qualities to Look for in a Second Language Mentor

Let’s be clear about one very important issue: your success in learning a second language ultimately depends upon you, not your mentor. However, a good teacher will make a big difference to how you learn a language.

What determines how a mentor teaches is obviously their own teaching preparation. There are so many second language teacher preparation programs on the market that if your mentor does not have a formal qualification then your alarm bells should start ringing and you should start looking for someone who does. As a bare minimum, your teacher ought to have a Certificate level qualification. But this is a minimal qualification and any second language teacher worth their salt will probably have a Masters degree. I’m not saying that a formal qualification guarantees that the teacher can teach well, but if they have only minimal qualifications you’d have to question their dedication and curiosity about the language learning process.

The language mentor’s expertise should consist of two aspects:

1. Language expertise. They should have native-like proficiency in the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
2. Teaching methodology. They should be qualified in a range of approaches to the teaching of a second language so that they are able to vary their approach to suit the needs of the learner.

It is worth remembering that just as you have a particular learning style, so your mentor will have a unique teaching style. Styles depend on personality, so that the classroom of an extroverted teacher may not be a comfortable place for the introverted student. Similarly, the analytical teacher will appeal to the student who likes to be shown how the grammar of the language works, while the student who likes to be immersed in lots of communicative situations may find grammar a drag.

There is no one right way to learn a language, just as there is no one right way to teach a language. But what of the students who find themselves in the class of a teacher whose style is incompatible with theirs? My advice is to adopt a two-pronged approach:

1. Honest and polite discussion with the teacher. Talk to the teacher about your preferred learning style and ask for advice. A good teacher can accommodate a variety of student learning styles.
2. Take personal responsibility for your own learning. Be clear about what you want to achieve with the language and develop your own learning program (in consultation with the teacher).

“When the pupil is ready, the master will appear.”

I ended the previous blog with this enigmatic quotation, the key to which is the first part of the proposition (“when the pupil is ready…”).  The pupil is never ready until they take personal responsibility for their learning. When they do, they will have no trouble attracting a “master”. We often think that learners depend upon teachers but equally teachers depend upon learners – real learners; the ones who are prepared to take personal responsibility for their learning. As we said at the beginning of this post:

Let’s be clear about one very important issue: your success in learning a second language ultimately depends upon you, not your mentor.

Metacognitive Strategies for Second Language Learning

Metacognitive Strategies & Good Language Learners

When in my last post I discussed what good language learners do to make their language learning successful, I highlighted the importance of learning strategies. If you consult the large and growing literature on the topic, you’ll find that there are literally hundreds of strategies mentioned and not all good language learners use exactly the same ones to learn a second language. It is clear that like everything else, language learning strategies come down to individual preferences, and that you’ll end up totally confused if you try to adopt all of the strategies mentioned in the literature on the topic.

However, don’t despair! There is a class of strategies that is so finite (only 4 of them!) that they are guaranteed not to make your head spin and good language learners use them all the time. They are known as metacognitive strategies and if you use them it’s guaranteed that your learning will improve.

Metacognitive strategies involve thinking about your learning in a 4-step process consisting of:

• Planning your learning
• Implementing your learning plan
• Monitoring your learning
• Evaluating your learning

All successful learners adopt these strategies and unsuccessful learners invariably overlook one or more of them.

How a learner implements particular strategies will depend upon the individual but, if they are to be successful, they cannot avoid the use of strategies .

Metacognitive strategies apply to the learning of anything, but since this blog addresses second language learning let’s see how they apply specifically to learning a second language.

Planning your second language learning

This involves deciding what tasks you want to perform in the language and what vocabulary and grammar will be involved.

You need to consider the goals you will set yourself. For example, you might decide that in the coming month, you will learn how to ask for and comprehend directions. Or you might watch the TV news with a view to improving your comprehension over the next couple of weeks. Or, how about reading a different film review each week for the next month and viewing the films and following up with your own review that you might display on the class noticeboard?

Having decided on a task that you’d like to complete (e.g. making a doctor’s appointment?) you will need to plan how you might prepare yourself for this (e.g. consulting native speakers? consulting textbooks? etc.)

Implementing your second language learning plan

This is where you focus on the implementation of what you have planned.

You need to think about your preferred learning style and work out how you will go about matching this with what you are planning to learn. For example, if you’re an outgoing sort of person you might choose to practise using the language in the community. Or if you know you’re rather introverted, you might choose a more textbook-oriented approach and only use the language with native speakers when you feel a little more confident as the result of practising privately.

Having decided on the sort of practice that suits your learning style, it’s now a question of how much time you can afford to spend on language learning and when and where you will practise. You might, for example, draw up a timetable in which you set aside a certain number of minutes each day that you can devote to your language learning. You might include in the timetable details of the task you have chosen and where you intend to engage in it.

Good language learners spend a significant amount of time managing the conditions for their language learning, realising that this is time well spent and will lead to success later on.  I have found that if I think in terms of tasks that I want to be able undertake using the language, I find it easier to analyse what language I’ll need to learn and what I’ll need to do to facilitate my learning. If this is done carefully and in a fairly detailed way, it helps you to feel ownership of the learning process and satisfaction when you experience success.

Monitoring your second language learning

As you implement your language learning plan, you need to monitor (observe and reflect on) your progress. Ask yourself whether you are doing what you had planned to do. What part of the task are you finding difficult and will it require more of your attention and effort? If so, how do you plan to address these issues?

Ask yourself how well you are comprehending the language you’re listening to or reading. Are you getting the gist but missing the detail? Is this what you want?  If not, how do you plan to bring about an improvement? Are you getting anxious and frustrated because you are feeling lost? It may be necessary to find ways to get your emotions under control.

Look critically at your production of the language. How are you being received? Are your listeners understanding you? If not, what is causing them difficulties? What aspects of your language need more attention? How do you plan to bring about an improvement?

Evaluating your second language learning

Good language learners continually assess how well they have accomplished their learning tasks. This can occur at a macro level such as deciding how effective you have been in making a medical appointment or at a micro level such as learning 10 items on a vocabulary list.

The evaluation process will guide you in deciding what will be the next stage in your learning. In other words, it gives you a basis for on-going planning of your language learning.

It should be clear that what I’ve been describing is a “Metacognitive Cycle” which begins with planning on which the implementation of the language learning is based. During the implementation phase, monitoring allows the learner to check on the effectiveness of the implementation. This then leads to an evaluation of the learning, pointing the way to the planning of subsequent learning, and so the cycle starts again.

If you structure your language learning around what I’ve described as the Metacognitive Cycle, you will be truly in charge of the process. You will be an active learner who has a much better chance of success than those “learners” who learn what they are told to learn but who have no idea of why or how.

I suggest that you apply the Metacognitive Cycle to your second language learning from now on. If you need help, please contact me through the Comments Box below and I promise to get back to you.