Psychology of English Learning
for Japanese
Senior High School Students
Fujieda Nishi High School
Kareem Douglas and Mai Saavedra
How can I find out
what they’re
thinking…?
What are they
thinking?
What are they talking
about…?
Focus of the Conversation.
• Psychological
framework behind
our teaching and
students’ thinking.
• How to uncover
what the students
are thinking and
feeling.
Task for students.
Repeat after me.
Imitate me.
1
Thoughts and feelings of students
1
Thoughts and feelings of students
Who am I?
Framework:
Major
Researchers:
Self- Concept, SelfEfficacy, and SelfEsteem
Identity
A. Bandura,
H.W. Marsh,
S. Mercer
B. Norton, N. Morita
Personality
Jean-Marc Dewaele,
Costa-McCrae
Task for students.
Read the textbook,
try to understand
the story, and fill in
the blanks!
2
Thoughts and feelings of students
2
Thoughts and feelings of students
How do learners view their
language learning?
Framework:
Major Researchers:
Motivation
Implicit theories
Attribution theory
Affect
Willingness to Comm.
Z. Dornyei, E. Ushioda
B. Norton, N. Morita
P.S. Hsieh, D. Schunk
E. Horwitz, R. Gardner
T. Yashima, P.D. MacIntyre
Task for students.
Present a
speech to the
class about a
given topic!
3
Thoughts and feelings of students
3
Thoughts and feelings of students
What do learners do to
learn a language?
Framework:
Major Researchers:
Strategies
Learning Styles
Metacognition
Goal Orientations
Self Directed Learning
Group Dynamics
A. Cohen, A. Chamot
Z. Dornyei, J. Reid
J. H. Flavell, Z. Dornyei
L. Woodrow, R. Gardner
H. Holec, P. Benson
T. Murphey, J. Fallout
Research Methods
How do we know what our students are
thinking?
Longitudinal Studies
Quantitative
Questionnaire
Journal Entries
Qualitative
Case studies
Interviews
Mixed Methods
Journal Entries
Benefits
•Highly personalized, specific responses.
•Easy for students to reflect on later.
•Can raise student’s awareness of
various constructs.
Questionnaire
Benefits
•Generalized data.
•Easy for students to learn about others.
•Wide range of questions at once.
Questionnaire
Example:
FLCAS
Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety
Scale
• Developed by Horwitz, E. K., Horwitz, M. M., & Cope, J (1986).
• Adapted by Kareem Douglas
Now it’s your turn to create a tool to better
understand you students.
Self-Efficacy
• A person’s belief in their own
ability to attain specific goals.
• 4 sources of self-efficacy…
①Mastery
Experiences
③Verbal
②Vicarious
Persuasions
Experiences
④Emotional
Indicators
How to make an efficacy question
1.
2.
3.
4.
Choose a situation.
Choose a domain.
Choose a task.
Think of activities, routines, or practices that can provide
efficacy from sources to…
5. Complete the main efficacy question:
How confident I am that I can … ?
How confident I am that I can … ?
• For example…
(1-10)
Domain: Adult Educational conference.
• I am confident that I can say my speech to
_____
my partner without looking at the script.
• I am confident that I can use hand gestures _____
when I say my speech.
Self-Assessment tasks
•Aid in metacognitive awareness.
•Aid in pedagogy.