Language Learning Strategies

Cognitive

• Listen attentively
• Perform actions to match the words of a song, story or rhyme
• Learn short rhymes or songs, incorporating new vocabulary or sentence patterns
• Imitate sounds and intonation patterns
• Memorize new words by repeating them silently or aloud
• Seek the precise term to express meaning
• Repeat words or phrases in the course of performing a language task
• Make personal dictionaries
• Experiment with various elements of the language
• Use mental images to remember new information
• Group together sets of things—vocabulary, structures—with similar characteristics
• identify similarities and differences between aspects of nēhiyawēwin and the English language
• Look for patterns and relationships
• Use previously acquired knowledge to facilitate a learning task
• Associate new words or expressions with familiar ones, either in nēhiyawēwin or English
• Find information, using reference materials such as dictionaries, textbooks, and grammars
• Use available technological aids to support language learning; (e.g., recorders, computers, CD –ROMs)
• Use word maps, mind maps, diagrams, charts or other graphic organizers to make information easier to understand and remember
• Place new words or expressions in a context to make them easier to remember
• Use induction to generate rules governing language use
• Seek opportunities in and outside of class to practise and observe
• Perceive and note down unknown words and expressions, noting also their context and function

Metacognitive

• Check copied writing for accuracy
• Make choices about how you learn
• Rehearse or role-play language
• Decide in advance to attend to the learning task
• Reflect on learning tasks with the guidance of the teacher
• Make a plan in advance about how to approach a language learning task
• Reflect on listening, speaking, viewing, representing, reading and writing process
• Decide in advance to attend to specific aspects of input
• Listen or read for key words
• Evaluate their own performance or comprehension at the end of a task
• Keep a learning checklist
• Experience various methods of language acquisition and identify one or more they consider particularly useful personally
• Be aware of the potential of learning through direct exposure to the language
• Know how strategies may enable them to cope with texts containing unknown elements
• Identify problems that might hinder successful completion of a task and seek solutions
• Monitor their own speech and writing to check for persistent errors
• Be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, identify their own needs and goals, and organize their strategies and procedures accordingly

Social/Affective

• Initiate or maintain interaction with others
• Participate in shared reading experiences
• Seek the assistance of a friend to interpret a text
• Understand that making mistakes is a natural part of language learning
• Reread familiar self-chosen texts to enhance understanding and enjoyment
• Work cooperatively with peers in small group
• Experiment with various forms of expression, not their acceptance or non-acceptance by more experienced speakers
• Participate actively in conferencing and brainstorming as a pre and post writing exercise
• Use self talk to make themselves feel competent to do the task
• Be willing to take risks, try unfamiliar tasks and approaches
• Repeat back new worlds and expressions which occur in conversations in which they participate, make use of them soon as appropriate
• Reduce anxiety by using mental techniques, such as positive self-talk or humour
• Work with others to solve problems, get feedback on tasks
• Provide personal motivation by arranging rewards for themselves when successful

Language Use Strategies Interactive

• Use words from own first language to get meaning across, e.g., use a literal translation of a phrase in the first language, use a first language word but pronounce it as in the second language
• Acknowledge being spoken to
• Interpret and use a variety of nonverbal clues to communicate, e.g., mime, pointing, gestures, drawing pictures
• Indicate lack of understanding verbally or nonverbally, e.g., kēkwāy ōma? (What is this?), kēkwāy anima? (What is that?), blank look or shoulder shrug
• Ask for clarification or repetition when you do not understand, e.g., kika-kaskihtān cī-pē-wīcihin cī? (Can you come help me?)
• Use other speakers’ words in subsequent conversations
• Assess feedback from a conversation partner to recognize when a message has not been understood, e.g., raised eyebrows, blank look, shoulder shrug
• Start again, using a different tactic, when communication breaks down use a simple word similar to the concept to convey and invite correction, e.g., nēhiyawē (speak Cree “you” singular), nēhiyawēk (speak Cree “you” plural), nēhiyawētān (Let’s speak Cree “you sg/pl and me”)
• Invite others into the discussion
• Ask for confirmation that a form used is correct
• Use a range of fillers and hesitation devices to sustain conversations
• Use circumlocution to compensate for lack of vocabulary
• Repeat part of what someone has said to confirm mutual understanding
• Summarize the point reached in a discussion to help focus the talk
• Ask follow-up questions to check for understanding, e.g., tānisi? (how?) tānispīhk? (when?) tānēhki? (why?) tāniyikohk? (how much?) tānisi animal kā-ki-isi-itōtaman? What is it you are doing?)
• Use suitable phrases to intervene in a discussion
• Self-correct if errors lead to misunderstandings

Interpretive

• Use gestures, intonation and visual supports to aid comprehension
• Make connections between texts on the one hand, and prior knowledge and personal experience on the other
• Use illustrations to aid reading comprehension
• Determine the purpose of listening
• Listen or look for key words
• Listen selectively based on purpose
• Make predictions about what you expect to hear or read based on prior knowledge and own experience
• Use knowledge of the sound – symbol system to aid reading comprehension
• Infer probable meanings of unknown words or expressions from contextual clues
• Prepare questions or a guide to note down information found in the text
• Use key content words or discourse features to follow an extended text
• Reread several times to understand complex ideas
• Summarize information gathered
• Assess own information needs before listening, viewing or reading
• Use skimming and scanning to locate key information in texts

Productive

• Mimic what the teacher says
• Use nonverbal means to communicate
• Copy what others say or write
• Use words that are visible in the immediate environment
• Use resources to increase vocabulary
• Use familiar repetitive patterns from stories, songs or rhymes
• Use illustrations to provide detail when producing own texts
• Use various techniques to explore ideas at the planning stage, such as brainstorming or keeping notebooks or logs of ideas
• Use knowledge of sentence patterns to form new sentences
• Be aware of and use steps of the writing process: prewriting (gathering ideas, planning the text, researching, organizing the text), writing revision (rereading, moving pieces of text, rewriting pieces of text), correction (grammar, spelling, punctuation), publication (reprinting, adding illustrations, binding)
• Use a variety of resources to correct texts, e.g., personal and commercial dictionaries, checklists, grammars
• Take notes when reading or listening to assist in producing own text
• Revise and correct final version of text
• Use circumlocution and definition to compensate for gaps in vocabulary
• Apply grammar rules to improve accuracy at the correction stage
• Compensate for avoiding difficult structures by rephrasing

General Learning Strategies Cognitive

• Classify objects and ideas according to their attributes, e.g., objects by colour, meat or plant eating animal
• Use models
• Connect what is already known with what is being learned
• Experiment with and concentrate on one thing at a time
• Focus on and complete learning tasks
• Write down key words and concepts in abbreviated form – verbal, graphic or numerical – to assist in the performance of learning tasks
• Use mental images to remember new information
• Distinguish between fact and opinion when using a variety of sources of information
• Formulate key questions to guide inquiry
• Make inferences, and identify and justify the evidence on which these inferences are based
• Use word maps, mind maps, diagrams, charts or other graphic representations to make information easier to understand and remember
• Seek information through a network of sources including libraries, the World Wide Web individuals and agencies
• use previously acquired knowledge or skills to assist with new learning tasks

Metacognitive

• Reflect on learning tasks with the guidance of the teacher
• Choose from among learning options
• Discover how own efforts can affect learning
• Reflect upon own thinking processes and how you learn
• Decide in advance to attend to learning tasks
• Divide an overall learning task into a number of subtasks
• Make a plan in advance about how to approach a task
• Identify own needs and interests
• Manage own physical working environment
• Keep learning journals, such as diaries or logs
• Develop criteria for evaluating own work
• Work with others to monitor own learning
• Take responsibility for planning, monitoring and evaluating learning experiences

Social/Affective

• Watch others’ actions and copy them
• Seek help from others
• Follow own natural curiosity and intrinsic motivation to learn
• Participate in cooperative group learning tasks
• Choose learning activities that enhance understanding and enjoyment
• Be encouraged to try, even though mistakes might be made
• Take part in group decision-making processes
• Use support strategies to help peers persevere at learning tasks, e.g., offer encouragement, praise, and ideas
• Take part in group problem-solving processes
• Use self-talk to feel competent to do tasks
• Be willing to take risks and try unfamiliar tasks and approaches
• Monitor own level of anxiety about learning tasks and take measures to lower it if necessary, e.g., deep breathing laughter
• Use social interaction skills to enhance group learning activities