Reflective Dialogue

Advising in Language Learning

Satoko Kato, Jo Mynard

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781138825925
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317577546
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Reflective Dialogue presents professional educators with the necessary background and skills to engage in reflective dialogue with language learners effectively. It draws on work in the fields of advising in language learning, reflective practice, sociocultural theory, language learner autonomy, counseling, and life coaching to provide both an introduction to the field and guidance for researching advising in action. The book also includes a wide variety of practical ideas and over 30 sample dialogues that offer clear demonstrations of the concepts discussed in practice. This dynamic textbook's practical approach illustrates how reflective dialogue can promote language learner autonomy and how language advising can be implemented successfully both inside and outside the classroom.

Chapter 1
From Research to Implications

Introducing Advising

I. The Value of Advising in Language Learning

Overview

In this chapter, we’d like to provide the theoretical basis for the rest of the book. We’ll start with a brief account of our theoretical stance, followed by an overview of the field of advising and some definitions. As reflection is an important part of the advising process, we will discuss what reflection is and why it is so important in more detail. We will then look at some of the fields and practices that have influenced our work, and finally present a model and learning trajectory that takes into account the theoretical perspectives.

Theoretical Underpinnings

Our view of advising is situated within a sociocultural theory of learning. This means that we view learning as a social process and that people learn by interacting with other people and the world around them using ‘psychological tools’ (Kozulin, 1998). The main example of a psychological tool is, of course, language, but other tools include artifacts, signs, and symbols. The process of drawing upon psychological tools to interact with the world results in shifts in thinking, and this process is known as ‘mediation’ (Lantolf, 2000; Lantolf & Poehner, 2008). This kind of interaction provides opportunities for reflection. As we will see in other sections of the book, a learning advisor intentionally promotes deep reflective processes and mediates learning through the use of dialogue and other tools. For more details about sociocultural theory, see Kozulin (1998), Lantolf (2000), Lantolf & Poehner (2008), Little (2004), Vygotsky (1978; 1981), and Wertsch (2007).

What Is Advising in Language Learning?

Advising in language learning is the process of helping someone to become an effective, aware, and reflective language learner. Dialogue between an advisor and a learner is central to the process of helping learners to reflect. The advisor is usually a professional learning advisor, but could also be a language teacher or more experienced peer. Although the term ‘advising’ is used, the meaning of advising is not the same as the use of the term in other professions. One good example of this is ‘financial advising,’ where you might expect the expert financial advisor to provide you with some expert advice or information so that you can make decisions. This is not the case in our view of advising in language learning. To get over the misnomer, in some educational contexts advising in language learning is known as ‘language counseling,’ ‘language coaching,’ or ‘mentoring.’

So, if advising is not the dispensing of knowledge by an expert, what is it? Well, in our view advising in language learning is an intentional dialogue whose aim is for the learner to be able to reflect deeply, make connections, and take responsibility for his or her language learning. This means that advising, wherever possible, shifts control to the learner rather than situating the advisor as an ‘expert’ who prescribes a course of study. Advising can take place either inside or outside the language classroom. It is usually one-to-one, but can also take place in small groups. Various tools may facilitate the advising and reflective processes (Mynard, 2012).

We take the view that language learning is a unique discipline as it will have an impact on a learner’s identity (Norton, 1997) and life outside the classroom. The process of helping someone to become an effective, aware language learner will draw upon factors related to his or her life, experiences, beliefs, and motivations. Consequently, our view of advising will draw upon practices associated with humanistic counseling and life coaching in addition to learner-led, autonomous language teaching. Increased language proficiency is always a student’s aim and is the overarching purpose of advising in language learning. However, the learning advisor’s focus is on helping a learner to reflect deeply and to become aware of the processes that impact the development of language proficiency. Hence, the learning advisor will take a long-term view and help the learner to be aware of and implement ways to develop his own language skills. Whereas teaching or tutoring may focus on the mastery of linguistic competences, i.e. grammatical or phonological knowledge, advising focuses on working with learners to support them in identifying, focusing, and achieving what is important to them in terms of language learning. As Mozzon-McPherson (2012) observes, “a careful, skilled use of language, together with a balanced negotiation of roles, tasks and behaviors, is necessary to create a successful advising session” (p. 44).

Why Do Learners Come to Advising Sessions?

Language learners come to see a learning advisor because they want to discuss something related to their language learning. Generally, there are two types of initial advising conversations. One is related to language proficiency and the other is related to affective issues. Examples of problems related to language proficiency:

• “I want to improve my TOEFL score.”
• “I want to increase my vocabulary but don’t know how.”
• “I have to improve my listening skills as I don’t understand what my teacher is saying.”
• “I have to write an essay but my writing skills are very poor.”

Examples of problems related to affective issues:

• “I can’t keep my motivation up.”
• “I am studying hard but not satisfied with what I am doing.”
• “I am not sure whether the way I’m studying is right.”
• “I cannot see the results that I was expecting.”
• “I don’t know where to start.”

However, it is often the case what the learner brings in as a ‘problem’ is not actually the real problem. Therefore, advisors need to carefully listen to help learner find out the real issues. Depending on a learner’s previous experience or level of awareness, she will initially have certain pragmatic expectations from a learning advisor. For example, a student who has only experienced a teacher-centered classroom and has never been involved in any decision-making about ways to learn languages might expect a learning advisor to tell her what to do. In this case, the advisor needs to start the session by making sure that the learner understands what advising is and what it is not. If you skip this process, learners will probably see the advisor as a tutor and keep coming back to seek answers for linguistic questions. On the other hand, learners who are have an understanding about the role of an advisor might be more likely to discuss better, more efficient ways to learn. Every learner and advising session is unique, but as this book will show, there are certain commonalities that might be helpful to know in order to best help learners and to work with them at the level of metacognitive awareness that the students have.

How Do Learners Transform Through Advising?

Advising language learners is a rewarding activity because it is so personalized and individual, and the advising relationship will usually take place over a long period of time. Many learners continue to meet with their advisors for several years and build a strong relationship. In addition, at one institution we have worked in, about 60–70% of the learners came back for a second session although visiting advisors was not compulsory. This means that advisors get to know their learners very well and witness milestones and ‘aha’ moments as they develop their awareness and confidence as language users. Of course, we also witness phases of frustration, but can usually help the learner to turn the situation around and develop a deeper sense of awareness and connection with what is happening. For example, if a learner fails an exam time and time again, a learning advisor will help him or her to reflect deeply on the reason for the failure and to develop a successful course of action.

II. Reflective Dialogue and Learning

What Is Reflection and Why Is It Important?

There are different ways of defining reflection and in this section we will give a brief overview of some work from key thinkers in the area. Distinctions can be made between ‘common sense reflecting’ (Moon, 2004), ‘reflective thinking’ (Dewey, 1933), and ‘reflective practice’ (Schön, 1983). Common sense reflecting is similar to the everyday definition of the term, for example a reflection in a mirror. Common sense reflection occurs naturally t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures and Tables
• Copyright Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 From Research to Implications: Introducing Advising
• 2 From Implications to Application: Advising in Practice
• 3 From Application to Implementation: Advising in Context
• 4 From Implementation to Research: Researching Advising
• References
• Index