Wenden, A. (1986 ) “Helping language learners think about learning”. (Journal article).
Based on the analysis of semi-structured interviews of thirty-four ESL students about their beliefs on how to learn a second language, this article proposes an orientation program to be developed in postsecondary language courses.
Anita Wenden quotes statements from the interviews to show the influence of specific beliefs about how best to learn a language on the students’ self-directed learning. Some students place the success in learning a new language on the study of grammar, others on personal aptitudes, and others on being exposed to the language and being challenged to use it. These beliefs determine their preferred methods of study.
Given this relation between beliefs and approach, Wenden’s program urges teachers to discover their students’ beliefs about language learning, to give their students the opportunities to think about learning, and guide them through alternative views on how to learn a language.
The orientation program consists of 8 modules, each one containing objectives, resources, procedures and a discussion on its potential educational value. Here are the objectives of each module:
- Students consider the origin and function of beliefs. They examine their beliefs about succeeding in college (p.4).
- Students discuss their beliefs about learning (p.5).
- Students compare language learning with other kinds of learning (p5).
- Students examine the beliefs of other language learners. They relate beliefs to approach (p.6).
- Students will consider the importance of personal factors in language learning (p.6).
- Students determine what their beliefs are (p.7).
- Students analyse the beliefs of successful language learners. They note that good language learners are guided by more than one belief. They note the relationship between beliefs and approach. (p.7)
- Students compare their approach with the approach of the good language learner. They determine whether or how they will modify their approach (p.8).
The assumptions of this program are that effective learning needs the acceptance of new approaches to learning, and that taking the beliefs and experiences of the students into account will help them to accept new approaches to learning. Thinking about their beliefs and explaining the significance and potential effectiveness of learning strategies can help students to develop metacognitive skills, or clarify and label what they do and know, and “allow them to assume more control over their learning” (p.10). This article supposes the role of the language teacher as responsible for forming autonomous language learners.
