Successful Ways to Involve Families of English Language Learners

Working with English language learners has lately become the attention of many school actors. There are several aspects that they consider as the most important points in which to build a successful English learning environment for the students. One of them is involving families in students’ English language learning. Students do better in school when teachers and parents are on the same page about what’s happening in the classroom, what’s expected on tests, and what’s needed to support each student’s learning. In order to cover all of these points, there are some ways that the school actors can do with the families.

The first way how to get families involved in students’ English language learning is by communicating with the families. This is the very initial step to execute in order to embed a deep understanding into every family member’s mind that their contribution is very important. This is a kind of effort in order to tell them that their involvement is valued. Communicating with the families can be facilitated through many ways. Notes, newsletter, daily folders, phone calls, emails, visitations, open room nights, class web pages, postcards, and parent teacher conferences are some of the most popular methods to build an effective communication to the students’ families. This should be undergone frequently so that the interaction will run effectively and the families will get motivated to involve more.

The next approach to involve families in students’ English language learning is by providing a variety of ways to encourage their participation beyond the traditional activities. It needs a good preparation and creativity from the school actors to conduct some activities in order to reach the goal. Developing family leaders and engaging them in school decisions can be the first step to be considered. Family leaders should be the family representative at the school councils and other school governance. Their roles here are important to join every single school decision that are being made. It is also possible to nominate family members for committees in several kinds of program such as classroom volunteering and workshop/training.

After the two ways that has been mentioned, increasing help at home is also one of the most successful ways in order to maximize the role of families in students’ English language learning. As their contribution is valued by some personal interactions, it is important to help the families become involved in supporting students’ academic work at home. By figuring out ways to help them to do such stuffs, the families can be appreciated more for their work. For instance, the families can get some help to learn about the curriculum at their child’s school. This is better to help the students with homework rather than knowing nothing but expecting the best result from them.

In brief, the contribution of families is always needed in order to make the students’ English language learning become more effective and successful. When families are involved, students are expected to exhibit more positive attitudes and behavior in learning environment. By getting supported from the families, students tend to have more self-confidence and do better in school. Besides, they are also likely to get higher levels of test scores and homework completion, better grades, and also better attendance. Yet, the interaction between the families and school actors should be established consistently. So, the involvement of families can affect and give benefits to every side of students’ English language learning.

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[REVISION] Enhancing Students' Language Learning Through Language Learning Strategies

Learning is a kind of activity which is done by every student. Learning activity can cover all subjects, including English. Learning English for Indonesian students has become a big and also problematic challenge since it was introduced in Curriculum 1994. During the last two decades, many educational actors such as curriculum developers and teachers, intend to embed English as one of the alternative languages that students can use. But then, not so many teachers are well-trained to be an English language teacher. They are trapped in a frame of content which is already set in the textbooks. This is, of course, giving students such a boring experience and making them like a stationary learner. Yet, students should not think as the way the teachers think. They can enhance their learning through several language learning strategies that fit their own learning styles.

The first language learning strategies that students can use to enhance their learning is cognitive strategies. These strategies enable students to manipulate the language material in direct ways. Students can use these strategies to form and revise internal mental models and receive and produce messages in the target language. There are 6 main cognitive learning strategies contributing directly to language learning, as identified by Rubin (1987). They are clarification/verification, guessing/inductive inferencing, deductive reasoning, practice, memorization, and monitoring. These kinds of activities can be applied when students are given a particular topic for their lessons. The first thing they have to do is defining the topic in order to achieve a good comprehension. To facilitate it, students can transform or restate the former definition into their own sentence. So, they can memorize and practice it as the way they think.

 Besides cognitive learning strategies, students can also use metacognitive learning strategies. O’Malley et al. (1985) define metacognitive as an expression to indicate an executive function, strategies which involve planning for learning, thinking about the learning process as it is taking place, observing of one’s production of comprehension, correcting own mistakes, and evaluating learning after an activity is completed. In short, students can use these strategies to oversee, regulate or self-direct language learning. For example, they can design what they are going to learn. In order to regulating, students can monitor their self-development in learning. At the end of the learning process, they can evaluate and assess what they have learnt by themselves.

After the cognitive and metacognitive strategies, there is another learning strategies that can improve students’ language learning. That is memory-related strategies; aid in entering information into long-term memory and retrieving information when needed for communication. Memory-related strategies also entail the mental processes for storing new information in the memory (Oxford, 1990) and for retrieving them when needed. These strategies consist of four sets that include: A. Creating mental linkages, B. Applying images and sounds, C. Reviewing well, and D. Employing action. By these strategies, students can link one language item or concept with another without too much deep understanding. They can implement these strategies in form of grouping, imagery and associating. For instance, students can create some keywords, or even compose a song to memorize the materials they have learnt. In order to do this kind of activity, they are demanded to be more creative and aware of their own learning styles.

The next strategies for enhancing students’ language learning is the compensatory learning strategies. Compensatory strategies are needed to overcome any gaps in knowledge of the language (Oxford, 1990). These strategies enable students to use the language either in speaking or writing despite knowledge gaps. The examples of these strategies are guessing from the context in listening and reading, using synonyms and “talking around” the missing word to aid speaking and writing and strictly for speaking, and using gestures or pause words. Compensatory strategies are often being used for students who have disabilities or brain injuries, so that they can compensate their difficulties in language learning. The students can make and carry cards or notes if the information they have just grasped suddenly gets lost. Using a written template also benefits them to easily communicate their needs and wants.

In addition, students can also enhance their own language learning using the affective learning strategies. Affective learning strategies enable students to control feelings, motivations, and attitudes related to language learning. In other words, these strategies assist students to manage their emotions, self-encouragement, and behaviors associated with learning. They can be achieved through lowering anxiety, encouraging oneself, and taking emotional temperature. For example, students may hate the teacher who sometimes mocks or hurts their feelings. More than that, the students may even dislike the subject as long as it is taught by that teacher. Good students then try to create associations of positive affect towards the teacher and the subject as well as towards the learning activities involved.

Social learning strategies are the last language learning strategies that can help students to improve their learning. Language is a form of social behavior and learning it should involve other people. Social learning strategies facilitate this meaning through interaction with others, often in a discourse situation (Oxford, 1990). By these strategies, students are given the opportunities to be exposed to and practice their knowledge. More than that, social learning strategies help the students work with others and understand the target culture as well as the language. They can apply these learning strategies in form of asking questions, cooperating, empathizing and becoming culturally aware with others. Cooperative learning is one of the related approaches to cover all the strategies. Here, students build a group of learning to complete the task and share to their friends what they have learnt about it.

In brief, students can choose one or more learning strategies which are relevant to their learning context. However, all learning strategies mentioned above may have shortcomings for some cases. Therefore, students, guided by the parents and teachers, should identify their own characteristics of learning in order to decide which one of the learning strategies that work best to them. Furthermore, the role of language instructors is needed to incorporate language learning strategies into their teaching methods and approaches and encourage the students to use the strategies as frequently as possible. So, students will be encouraged to learn the target language and use language learning strategies to improve their language skills.

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